Monday morning & Gratitude list #356-#395

My favorite pastor was "off" on Sunday, but we had the privilege to hear "Pastor K" preach

 on James 4: 13-16. Sunday marked our congregation's 4th anniversary. We've only been here for 6 months....but these dear people have been together for much longer. What a blessing it has been for our family to be here, and to bear witness to God's goodness. How thankful we are that God's strong hand has held onto His church and kept this core group together through so many ups and downs. Pastor K's sermon was such a good reminder to me that all our plans and purposes are in God's loving hands and dependent upon His goodness. I just wanted to share a few of my notes. These are all Pastor K's words:

~The culture we live in (our affluence) can make us blind to our absolute dependence on the goodness of God. . . especially in regard to our expectations of tomorrow. 

~It is a cultural fact that people with pantries don't need God. We think we: control our calendar, control our money, control our comfort. . . .yikes.

~ Actually we are ignorant.

:: We don't know what is going to happen today or tomorrow::

~God in His kind providence has kept tomorrow in the dark. (I'm so thankful for that!!)

~Our problem: this passage (James 4:13-17) for the most part doesn't seem to be true.

::Our Mondays will be the same as the past 72 Mondays::

~Instead we should say 'Lord willing.' If it is in the sovereignty of God I will....do this tomorrow. 

~Do not separate your drive from your dependence on God. 

~God is already in the game. 

::HE IS MONDAY MORNING::

~Every dream that is in your heart is dependent on God's kindness to you. 

~If we can break through the soft pride of our affluence, then we can catalogue the immeasurable goodness of God. 

"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'-yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." James 4: 13-14

Boy, those are convicting words for me! 

My life is a mist? It appears and then vanishes? 

What a visual of that we have seen these past weeks in Japan. 

Teach me to number my days, Lord. 

To take what Your gracious, good hand gives me....

with thanks. 

Whether it may appear good or bad. 

May what I do every day, every minute, every second, 

count for eternity. 

And about my plans. 

Forgive me Father for my arrogant planning. 

Thank you for reminding me that my time is not my own. 

It is all Yours. 

The Lord providentially gave our family a vivid reminder Sunday night that our plans are not our own. 

Sweet Abby was jumping off of a lamp post in our yard, right in front of her daddy,

and her dress got caught causing her to land very hard on her left wrist. 

We got through the night, and took her in to have it looked at this morning....

and it was fractured. She came home with a purple splint, and will have it casted,

LORD WILLING, on Thursday morning! (She is doing well. Thanks for praying!)
In a split-second our plans for the week were changed. Wow!

God is so good to us. 

He gently reminds us that our ways are not His ways. 

Our plans may not be His plans. 

His plans are best. 

We can trust Him. 

As Pastor K said, "We cannot calculate God's goodness in our life."

O, that I may see just a glimpse of that goodness in my life and the life of my family.

Help me, dear Father, to daily count the ways You love me. 

long country walks

glorious mountains 

old barns

a puppy on a leash

cool, crisp air

dinner at Num Num and Papa's

Abby's two nights with them

safe travel

take-out

an unrevealed future here on earth....

but a sure eternity

community group

sweet fellowship

Mama Jo and Pop

the Covenant family

coffee with my sweet hubby around the corner

a new "era" of older children baby-sitting younger children

a HUGE, BEAUTIFUL, full moon

days at home

milk

sourdough bread made from a starter

chicken feet

music

walking around the block with #4

Wal-mart finds

lunch with Mike and Sandy and their encouragement

Ed showing Nate how to prune our fruit trees.

that my dear hubby actually saw Abby fall...

or we probably would not have taken her into the doc (no swelling or bruising)

that I stayed in the Dr.'s office

Monday mornings that are His

x-rays

Wendy's drive through

the library...many books and DVDs

God's goodness

God's forgiveness

Grace

the Cross

His plan