31 Days of Thankfulness: Unexpected Blessings

"Give thanks for unexpected blessings already on their way." -Native American Saying


Evidently I need to pay a little more attention next time I schedule posts. You see, somehow I scheduled this post for next month, instead of this past Thursday. Same things happened with the posts that were supposed to go up on Friday and Saturday. So, in order to keep from flooding you with four posts in one day, I'm going to put up two posts today (this post & today's post) and just rearrange the rest of the posts to schedule at a later time.

I am thankful for...

72. Getting cable installed so I can watch football and basketball games
73. Getting a big fat paycheck from work overtime last week
74. Being able to leave work early-for-me (same time as everyone else) twice in one week
75. Fulfilled prophecies that show Jesus is truly the Messiah
76. Notes from a friend that make me smile

31 Days of Thankfulness: More Than I Deserve

Source: thegirlwhoworeyellow.tumblr.com via Tammy on Pinterest

I am thankful for...

 67. Forgiveness
68. Payday coming exactly when I need it
69. A God who loves me.
70. A supervisor who encourages me in my walk with the Lord.
71. Breakfast with friends

31 Days of Thankfulness: The Greatest Virtue

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues. -Marcus Tullius Cicero\

I am thankful for...

61. Allergy medication (my allergies have been driving me nuts the past few days!)

62. Homemade brownies

63. Crazy coworkers who make the night more exciting

64. No overtime this week, which means a 3 day weekend!

65. Facebook posts by friends that seem to be just what we needed to hear.

66. Friends who remind you to be careful what you say about others.

Note: This was supposed to post yesterday afternoon, but I messed up when I scheduled it, so here's yesterday's post today.

31 Days of Thankfulness: Thorns & Rosess

Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses. - Alphonse Karr

So many times we think of only the good things, the roses, in our life when we're counting what we're thankful for. That's only natural, of course, as those are the first things that pop into our minds when we think of thankfulness. However, we should also be thankful for the bad things, the thorns, in our lives. After all, every thorn has a rose. Every bad thing that happens in our lives happens for a reason. Many times that bad things bring blessings that we never would have experienced otherwise. So next time you're tempted to complain about all the "thorns" in your life, think of the "roses" that those thorns have, and be thankful for them.

I'm thankful for...

69. Weekend that allow for catching up on sleep

70. Finding some cute fall shirts for work

71. Chocolate!

72. Blogs that let me keep up on the lives of friends and family who live far away.

73. Discovering some new Christian bands.

74. Knowing that this the last Saturday I have to miss a Buckeye game because of not having cable

75. Gas prices going down

31 Days of Thankfulness: Without Thankfulness

"Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road." -John Henry Jowett

The quote that I shared with you all today really made me stop and think. Maybe one of the things we should be thankful for is thankfulness itself. Without thankfulness, what would we have? If we went through life without ever be thankful, it would be a pretty sad and miserable life. We would never realize just how blessed we are to have all that we have. Next time you're having trouble being thankful, think back to this quote, and realize just how much thankfulness brings to your life. 

I'm thankful for...

56. Fall candles that make my apartment smell amazing

57. A good chat over the phone with my dad on the way home this morning

58. Getting off on time!

59. News that more overtime is coming up

60. Waking up to a nice text message

61. A good book (and time to read it!)

62. the weekend!

63. Sleeping in

64. Friends blowing up my phone with goofy texts that make me laugh till I'm crying

65. A cold snap which killed off a lot of allergens, which means I can now open my windows!

66. Knowing that a friend is spending her birthday in heaven even though we miss her here on earth.

67. An opportunity for one of my friends to witness to one of the security guards at work.

68. A new manager at work who means business about putting a stop to some problems that are going on.

31 Days of Thankfulness: A Definition

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” — William Arthur Ward

Today is Day 5 of the 31 Days challenge. So far, so good. I've been able to have a post every day, and I realize each time I write a blog post how very much I have to be thankful for. You may have noticed that I don't start counting at one every day. Instead, I pick up where I left off the previous day. I thought that it would be neat to do this so that at the end of the month I could look back and see just how much there is to be thankful for.

I realized today that I have yet to give a definition of what thankfulness is. Here I am, counting all that I have to be thankful for, and I haven't even looked at what it means to be thankful. Well, let's remedy that.

Thankful-conscious of benefit received; expressive of thanks; well pleased

Seeing as the definition mentions the words thanks, let's go ahead and look at the definition for that, too.

Thanks-kindly or grateful thoughts; an expression of gratitude

And, since grateful is often used interchangeably with thankful, let's go ahead and look that up as well.

Grateful-appreciative of benefits received; expressing gratitude; affording pleasure or contentment; pleasing by way of comfort supplied or discomfort alleviated.

I think that the definition of grateful is the one that best expresses it. "Appreciative of benefits received." After all, isn't that what we're doing when we count what we're thankful for, expressing appreciation for what we've received? I think so.

Looking at these definitions has definitely made me look at thankfulness in a new way, as strange as that may sound. I shouldn't just be listing off things that I have just to list them; they're things that I should be grateful and appreciative of. I need to make sure that during this month I don't just put down something because I need more items to list on here to make it look good. I should be appreciative of and grateful for every single thing that I list here. With that in mind, let's take a look at my list for today.

I'm thankful for...

37. Encouraging words from a friend.

38. Finding a note from a friend left on my desk meant to make me smile.

39. Hugs. (I just love hugs, don't you?)

40. Back rubs that help me relax and help lessen the pain from a migraine.

41. Rainy days that are wonderful for sleeping.

42. Finally getting my appetite back after over a month with no appetite.

43. Making plans with friends for the weekend.

44. Cell phone and unlimited texting.

45. Discovering new Christian artists and bands via facebook.

46. Knowing that God hears and answers our prayers.

What are you thankful for today?

31 Days of Thankfulness: A Gift

"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?" ~William A. Ward

I'm thankful for...

27. The ability to write posts ahead of time and schedule them to post at a later date.

28. Overtime at work, which means extra money for me!

29. The beautiful color on the trees as their leaves change color

30. Discovering new music on Facebook

31. Walmart clearance!

32. Caramel apples and apple cider-two of my favorite things about Fall!

33. Hulu, which allows me to watch episodes of my favorite shows that I can't see because I don't have cable...yet.

34. Scheduling a date for my cable installation

35. Getting a text that makes me smile.

36. Encouraging talks with my supervisor at work, and knowing that both she and her mom pray for me every day.

What are you thankful for today?

31 Days of Thankfulness: Day 1

"What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?"


Today I am thankful for...

1. My family-God has given me an amazing family, and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. I have parents who love and support me, a sister who is also one of my friends, and a brother-in-law who is amazing with computers. I have one set of grandparents that is still alive, Granny and PawPaw, and they live close enough that I am able to see them regularly. I also have several aunts and uncles and cousins who, although most of them live far away, I'm able to keep up with on Facebook.

2. Facebook-I know this seems like an odd and frivolous thing to be thankful for, but Facebook is really a great tool when used properly. I'm able to keep in contact with friends and family who live far away. I've also discovered many great things through Facebook that I never would have otherwise, such as the 180 movie that I shared with you all here.

3. My job-The Lord has blessed me with an amazing job. Though a lot of times it gets busy and crazy and stressful, and I don't always get along with everyone that I work with, I absolutely love it. I've made some great friends during the time that I've worked there, and I've also had the opportunity to share Jesus with several people. I have Christian supervisor, which is a huge blessing and encouragement. I'm so very thankful to have a stable job in this economy. I know several people who are without a job right now. Every time I start to get frustrated or upset about something that happens at work, I just have to think of all those that would give anything to have a job right now.

4. My friends-I have some awesome friends. They're always there for me when I need them.I know that whenever I need them they're just a phone call of text away. I love that I have friends that I can text when something comes up and I need prayer and I know they'll pray for me. Some of my friends are pretty crazy, but that's okay, that just makes them fun to be around! I'm blessed to be good friends with my supervisor at work as well. It greatly helps to have a good relationship with her, because I know that whenever I need anything I can count on her.

5. My apartment-If you had told me this time last year that I would be sitting in my own apartment right now typing this, I wouldn't have believed you. Getting my own place was just a distant dream at that time. I had no idea that it would become a reality as quickly as it did. God really provided; I was able to find a cute little apartment in a nice neighborhood for a good price. It's a bit on the small side, but since it's just me it doesn't matter. I have a landlord who is here at least once a week, talking to the tenants and checking up on everything. I've also been blessed to have quiet neighbors so it makes it easy for me to sleep during the day.

6. My salvation-I have been so blessed to grow up in a Christian home and to have been saved at a young age. I was only three years old when I trusted Christ as my Savior. Although during the past couple of years I have struggled with my face, and even went through a period not all that long ago where I was sick of everything God and wanted nothing to do with Him, He never gave up on me. When I finally repented and turned back to Him, He blessed me in ways that I never could have imagined. Because of my salvation, I can have a personal relationship with Him and I know for certain that I will spend eternity in Heaven with Him when I die.

7. My health-This is a big one for me. For a couple of years, mainly while I was down at college, I struggled with my health. I was having severe asthma attacks nearly every week, constant allergy problems, I was sick all the time, and I had no energy. Although we're still not quite sure what caused all of that, we suspect it may have been the environment and such down where I attended college in combination with the stress of being in college, my health has greatly improved over the past year and a half since I've graduated. I was without a job for nearly four months after I graduated, which although a source of frustration and discouragement at the time, enabled me to get plenty of rest and gave my body some time to recover from everything it had been through.

What have you thanked God for today?

Faith

"Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time." -Oswald Chambers