30 days of Thanksgiving

I know. I know.  Its already the 2nd of November, and so it's not really 30 days of thanksgiving.  It's 29.
The year is catching up with me.  One of my goals for the year of 2013 was to do the 1000 gifts joy dare and make a list of 1000 gifts by listing three things each day for which I was thankful.  My last post I said how thankful I was for grace.  And this is one of the reasons why.  I have not failed on ALL my goals, but this one I have not done well with at all.  I made it to March and have only posted 219 gifts.

So, here I am.  So thankful for God's grace.  And still convinced that thankfulness is something that I really need to work on.  Hopefully, I can be faithful to post here for the month of November and create a habit that I will sustain into 2014.

God has been so good.  And my lack of thanksgiving is not in any way related to God's blessings in our life.  My lack of posting is related to my season of life, how busy we are, and how generally overwhelmed I am by adding work to my list of responsibilities.

Sorting priorities, limited time and energy, and walking my walk with integrity and not hypocrisy seems to be impossible.  Walking with integrity is so important to me.  Yet, I fail daily.  I get overwhelmed and cannot figure out how to get my work hours in, not let the kids watch television, and keep the house in working order.

Enough about me.  It is ultimately God who I have wronged.  And Jesus who has paid for my sins.  And me,well I can choose to give thanks in all things.  And God has blessed me so much.

I am thankful for:
my husband
my four children
my job
my home
the challenges that come with having all of the previous things like
all the clothes that we wear (and wash)
the food that we cook and eat
the dishes that we eat on (and wash)
the ability to get braces for my daughter
my kids talents and the chance to help them pursue grow their gifts
my babysitter
my old paid for car that holds us all
God's provision for safety in that old car despite things needing repairs etc
God's grace for my mess ups and his love for me despite being messed up

I am thankful that when we suffer we become more like Christ, but I am thankful that I my family has not had much suffering this year.  Just the day to day trials that we all have.
And in the past year, I have learned much about God, which brings much responsibility.