Day One

For quite a while now, for one reason or another, I have been reminding myself to remember my blessings. Sometimes it is because I feel so incredibly blessed. Other times it is because I feel quite the opposite and need to give myself a swift kick in the rear and remember all that God does for me all the time. Each time as these thoughts go through my mind, a song I used to sing in church runs through my head, "Count your blessings; name them one by one. Count your blessings; see what God has done. Count your blessings; name them one by one. Count your many blessings; see what God has done." That is all I could remember of that song, so I decided to look it up today to see what the verses say. I think it is worthy of documenting, at least some of the lines. The first, "When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, count your many blessings; name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done." Another, "Count your many blessings; every doubt will fly, and you will be singing as the days go by." It's just so important to remember what God has done, especially in times of discouragement.

The end of Nehemiah 8:10 says, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." Sometimes life is too much, and it tries to take me down. I become weak in all the grief I experience. It is important or me to remember that my joy comes from God, and that joy from/of God is my strength. I think one way to maintain that joy is to remember the blessings. My goal is to think of blessings for 365 days. I don't know if I will actually post every day, especially once my break from school is over, but I am going to keep track in a notebook and then post when I can. When Brent and I were first married, we had a book called 14000 Things To Be Happy About. It was a pretty silly book, though I must say it's pretty impressive that someone took the time to think of all those things, even if some of them were superficial. I figure if someone can come up with 14000 things, I should certainly be able to come up with 365 blessings.

I'm going to start off tonight with something I think I take for granted, but I was reminded tonight. God blessed us with our neighborhood. Our friends, the Pelishek's, have been leading a little Bible study for the kids in their cul-de-sac. They just live down the road, so we attend. Tonight as I looked at the backs of all the kids' heads, I realized how grateful I am. On our cul-de-sac alone, we have kids galore. Next door is a rental, and God saw fit to have a family move in who has a daughter Sarah's age and a son David's age. Really? What were the chances of that? I am so thankful! They are such a nice family, too. The kids are well-behaved, and we enjoy the parents. Plus we live in a cul-de-sac! Our kids can run and play in the front, ride their skateboards, play crazy games like skateboard tag, and we don't have to worry about them getting hit by a car. Almost all of the people on the street have kids, so they are careful when they turn on the street. I love that our neighborhood is full of kids, and that our kids are a close walking distance to their friends.

Thank you, God, for our neighborhood!