Bouquet of Thankfulness

God really does send you signs to hone you in on what He wants to say.  This week of Thanksgiving I could see that God wanted me to go deeper into this whole thing of giving Thanks.  I have been going through 'Jesus Calling' by Sarah Young, the one for Nov. 23th talked about God giving you little gifts throughout the day that if you diligently collect them will become a beautiful bouquet of thankfulness.

What bouquet did God prepare for me today?  Did I stop to pick the flowers or just breeze on by?

A day to be with my family, cuddling my kids, playing games

Quiet time for reading

Encouragement from God's Word and a good reminder of how to be content

The blue sky above

Swinging in the backyard

Picture of my cute nephew

Goofy husband curled up with me for some TV time

Nov. 26th 'Jesus Calling'
You give Me thanks (regardless of your feelings) and I give you Joy (regardless of your circumstances).  

This spiritual act of obedience will open up your heart to the presence of God and your mind to His thoughts. 

Psalms 89:15-16
Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you.  Who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.  They rejoice in your name all day.

Acclaim means to praise enthusiastically and publicly.  But notice how this is a learned act and one that takes action as you 'walk' in the light of God's presence. 

So how to notice God in your everyday?  Focus your mind on the gifts that He provides, big and little.  Pick up these gifts throughout the day and at the end you will have a beautiful bouquet of thanksgiving to offer up to God. 

Phil. 4:8 may help you get the perspective you need to be able to notice the gifts that God gives you daily.  Realign your thoughts with the truth.  The truth of your situation, the truth of your feelings and the truth of who God is.  If you bring your thoughts back to the truth of who God is; all powerful, loving, good, just, gracious, in-control.  Our feelings and circumstances may not change but God's grace to help us handle, with thanksgiving, the day before us will work to line us up with right thinking. 
Phil. 4:8
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praise worthy - think about such things."

Happy Thanksgiving and may you go into this Christmas season with a thankfilled and joyful heart.

When Stuck at Home - Things to be Thankful for.

So sad to be stuck at home these last couple of days missing out on all the rushing around, prepping for Thanksgiving (not totally true as later today I will have to go to the grocery store).  Both of my children have been having some tummy trouble so we are sticking close to home today to rest to be able to be with family on Thanksgiving.  My son was well enough this morning, however, to whine at me about what we would do today.  His sister assured him that she was too sick to go out (she threw up in front on him, eliciting the reply "oh I guess I did give her my sickness"), so we went on Pinterest to look up some holiday crafts.  Here is what was inspired.

Happy Thanksgiving note for Papa and Grandma complete with stickers and a leaf press.

Fall decor scored from the trees across the street and 'hand' made turkeys.

May your holiday be filled with Thanksgiving.  From my family to yours.

It's All About Attitude

If you can't change your fate, 

change your attitude.  

Dr. Reda Bedeir

Ephesians 4:23 "To be made new in the attitude of your minds"
Everything starts in the mind, our attitude, outlook on life, where we process our day and then make the conclusions.   If God's word is not the filter then our mind can not be sound and we won't be solid and firm.  The verse after this talks about putting on a new self that is "created to be like God in righteousness and holiness."  How does this new self come about?  In the attitude of our minds.  A definition of attitude is: a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person's behavior. 
Attitude starts in your head but then is quickly reflected in how you behave.  So the question is how do you change your attitude?  Colossians 3:2 gives a clue on how this might be accomplished.  "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." Change your perspective!  Look up, play the thankfulness game, count your blessings, turn worship music on, infiltrate your mind with things above.  So many times we get bogged down with the day to day things of life.  Overwhelmed with money issues,  making breakfast for four kids that all want something different, how to fit in laundry, making dinner, and school pick up?  The list goes on and on and it is discouraging how much does not get checked off.  The circumstances of your life may not be able to change or really need to, just how you look at it in your head.
Ann Voskamp's " One Thousand Gifts" is a great book to change your outlook and get some great pointers on how to look for the 'gifts' that God sends your way every day.  During this month, leading up to Thanksgiving many have taken up the challenge of being thankful for something every day.  If you are having a hard time finding 'gifts' to be thankful for then maybe you need to look at your life differently.  Lots of laundry?  Think of your kids that are out enjoying life and getting their clothes dirty.  Arguing kids at the breakfast table, take a deep breath focus on the food your making and being thankful that you have food.  Then start listing off things your thankful for and make your children add to the list to get their breakfast.
It is all about attitude and that is one way to step into the new self that God offers.  Start today and give me a few things your thankful for and find a verse to memorize that speaks to where you are.  When the challenges of the day come you will have resources at hand to get your mind focused on things above.

How to have a Sound Mind - and not lose it.

This is a Mommy Mayhem original series, first installment. 
Do you feel like your loosing your mind at times?  That thing on top of your shoulders is just going to spin off your body and explode if one more little voice whines at you, or your spouse nit picks or misses dinner.  All the  noise you interact with on a daily basis starts to fill up that space between your ears until you just want to crawl into a hole and never come out. 
The crawling into the hole solution is, well, not a solution or even an option so what do you do?  Hide in the bathroom, take a long bath, drink a cup of hot tea while reading a good book?  These are all relaxation tools that are ways to keep sane but there may be a deeper issue that needs to be settled in your mind.
Philippians 1:27 "standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel."  Though I think this verse is more talking about being of the same mind and working with others towards spreading the gospel it got me thinking...How many minds do I have every day?  The crazy mind that over thinks every situation drawing the worse possible conclusion.  The mind that shakes with frustration when the kids wake up and start to cry about whats is on their plate for breakfast.  The mind that decides to hole up at home all day, not engaging the world.   We blame it on hormones, our crazy kids or an unreasonable spouse and out of control life.  Would you consider, however, that it may just all be in your head?
In thinking through this issues I thought I might not be the only one struggling with my mind so I thought I would share my findings with you.  
Some very wise advice that I have received from my Pastor's wife is to always go back to what is true.  God's Word is the ultimate truth so I started there.  Jeremiah 31:33 "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God and they will be my people." For God to be able to write His word in our minds and hearts we have to be willing.  Open up our mind to the truth of His word and search it out.  Take a minute, use an above mentioned relaxation tool and meditate on the truths you can remember from God's word, look up your favorite verse or passage and see what knowledge God would like to put in your mind and impress on your heart. 
Stay tuned for Installation #2 Having a New Attitude.