Feeling Thankful for These 10 Things!

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Thanksgiving is of course a time to reflect upon the things for which we are thankful. But like I told Faith the other day, I think we both thank God every day for the blessings he has bestowed upon us.  Each night, we read a scripture together (it's usually one Faith has memorized such as Psalm 23 or John 3:16-21). After our scripture, we recite "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). At the end of that verse, we add our little cheer, "Do good deeds! Say nice things! Be kind!"  This little cheer is just a way to remind both of us, that's how God wants us to act every day. Then we pray, which often begins by thanking God for all that He has done for us and then we pray for others. But the other night after prayer time, I asked Faith to tell me some things she was really thankful for. I told her what I was thankful for as well.  This year, we are feeling especially thankful for ...
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Waiting for Spring

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It was 35 days ago that our calendars told us it was the first day of spring. In North Dakota, we usually can't depend on the calendar to determine when spring actually comes. We know this, but every year, we still wait expectantly for spring to come - for the weather to turn warmer, for all the snow to finally be gone, and for the grass to start turning green again. 

We also look forward to putting away all of our winter garb and donning our spring jackets. None of that has happened so far. Thirty-five days later, we are still waiting.

Faith isn't thrilled about still having to wear her winter coat and mittens

Just last week Bismarck broke their one-day snow fall record when we got over 17 inches of fresh white stuff. Church services were canceled on Sunday and on Monday the whole city shut down. Faith got a snow day from school, and I did as well from work. Thanks to a few days that the temperatures climbed above freezing, most of the snow has melted, but there are still mounds of snow wherever you go.

Every morning, I look at the temperature and every morning I am somewhat disheartened. This morning it was only 18 degrees (that's Fahrenheit for my Canadian family and friends!) Rob is still getting up to start the van and scrape off the windshield. I am still wearing my winter coat and we are still bundling Faith up to go outside. I know I shouldn't complain but I am really, really looking forward to warmer weather! Rumor has it, the temperature is supposed to reach 80 degrees this weekend - I will not believe it until I see it!

Faith's schoolyard one week after our big blizzard

All this waiting for spring has got me thinking though. Sometimes we go through seasons in life that are more difficult than others. We start getting impatient and we find we are complaining more than usual - all we want is for our next season to come. 

Challenging seasons in life are not something that even we as Christians can escape. The Bible promises us there will be trials and tribulations. But the Bible also promises something else - that God will be with us every step of the way, and that he will never leave us nor forsake us. He will also never waste any hard time that we go through - He promises to use them for good.

We often find that after making it through our dark season, we find the light that has been awaiting on the other side. All we have to do is keep pressing on, keep moving forward, keep praying and having others pray for us. The next time another tough season comes along, we will have an even stronger confidence that we will make it through this one, too.

And so it is with winter and spring. Soon winter will be behind us and there will be lots of bright, warm, sunny days ahead. Winter will eventually come around again but it is wonderful to know there is always the promise of Spring! 
A sign of Spring!

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