Pure Thankfulness

Hmmm...it's that time of year again! Thanksgiving! And leading into thanksgiving I have made a serious commitment to stop whining and stressing and start being thankful for the many blessings God has given me. After a heart to heart conversation with a close friend recently, God helped me to see how self-focused I've been...and at times overly dramatic. On a side note...I am learning that selfishness is something I think I'll deal with forever. Hopefully I'll be able to become more selfless with God's grace and maturity...anyway...So I was talking with my friend...and God really convicted me to examine my life. So I did. I spent some serious time looking over my reactions and responses to situations, how I viewed myself and others, and ultimately how I was responding to God's call on my life. As it turned out, a few weeks before this conversation with my friend, I was talking with an adult whom I respect a lot, and he asked how I was doing. I responded, "stressed, but good nonetheless." He responded with "Faith...you are always stressed". hmmm...this rendered me speechless...I didn't know what to say because it was true. It bothered me but I didn't think too much about it until I had a heart to heart with my friend, and the truth came back to bite me. Then after my 6 month appraisal at work my boss encouraged me to memorize 3 verses on dependence on the Lord, and also write a personal vision, or mission statement. Well these things all sort of came at the same time, and it was clear God was telling me I needed to make an adjustment to my life. So while praying through my mission statement, God really showed me that I was allowing my faith to be determined by my circumstances. But my faith should really be determined by Christ alone...who is UNCHANGING! This reality washed over me for the next few days as I realized just as Christ is unchanging in my life, my stress level and joy should also remind unchanged by life's storms...and that some of life storms didn't really need to be storms. I was making them storms through my overly-emotional perspective. So since this point I have been praying fervently over my mind, as well as a few close friends who I trust with my life. And I must say the work God has been doing in my heart and mind has been amazing. I still have moments where I would just like to start to stress and fret, but God is showing me that something as simple as taking a minute or two to stop breathe/pray can totally transform your life. God has been trying to teach me this all throughout my teenage years, but I haven't been willing to change my life. Well now as an adult I really desire to live a steady and consistent life.

While reading in Ephesians 4 recently, verses 13-6 spoke to me in a way it never has before. It states:
"Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

WOW! I do not want to be tossed around by the waves around me, I desire to remain steadfast and grounded. I want to be unified in my faith and knowledge of God. I long to remain joyful in all situations, and I intend to start by nurturing my thankful spirit. The more I can see and recognize the blessings the easier it will be to handle the trials.

So I have a list of 100 things I'm thankful for!
1. the saving grace of Jesus Christ
2. the kenosis of Christ - look it up! amazing!
3. God abounding, everlasting, and unconditional love
4. Galatians 6:9
5. the Holy Spirit dwelling in me.
6. The Bible - specifically my ESV journal Bible
7. the apostle Paul
8. the sound of childrens laughter
9. the love contained in a child's hug
10. Brooklynn Jeanette Dunkle - best niece ever
11. my parents who put up with my independent, zealous, and spirited nature, and love me nonetheless
12. the opportunity to develop a relationship with each of my grandparents and learn from them
13. a job where I am surrounded by like-minded Christ followers
14. a job where I get to interact with children
15. a job where spiritual growth is the focus, not only in our guests lives, but the staff's lives as well
16. the opportunity to grow my mind through college
17. the opportunity to grow spiritually through college
18. campers...FYI - I'm talking about little people
19. Day Campers ....aka Miss Faif's babies!!
20. a youth pastor, Lee Nunemaker, who takes my ranting seriously...most of the time. haha
21. Tanya Pearell - best office buddy ever
22. Steve Rice - best boss I could ever ask for...seriously he's great
23. Mikie Megonnell, a friend like no other
24. 4.12 leadership training program students...they make my life interesting and my heart happy
25. Anielka Patricia Espoinoza Rivera - Compassion child I sponsor
26. Frankley Diaz - Food for the hungry child I sponsor
27. Shannon Garland - she makes cheerleading worthwhile
28. my brother....we may fight but he can almost always make me laugh
29. Rachel Gehman - best cousin ever
30. Sunflowers
31. Janelle Wenger and Diana Stottlemyer - who helped me make it through my first summer on leadership team
32. William Bishop...who holds a very special place in my heart
33. the pain in my life...for it has made me who I am today
34. Matthew 11:28
35. the smell of cinnamon
36. the taste of cinnamon
37. the memories of canning things with my grandma and mom in the summer
38. the smell of books...yes I'm a little weird
39. the ability to read books
40. Music
41. Barlowgirl
42. Hillsong United
43. Candles...for making my house smell goooodd
44. the privilege to get a college education and work in my dream job at the same time
45. that I live in the same house all my life
46. Niagara falls - beautiful!
47. boys...young and old...they make me laugh
48. girls...they like to talk as much as I do!
49. the silence and peace that you feel when it snows late at night
50. tissues - they've gotten my through some tough times
51. Walt Disney - for creating so much imagination and wonder
52. DISNEY WORLD
53. sleep....is wonderful...zzzz....
54. sunsets - because I never wake up early enough for sunrises
55. the colors of the trees against the sky in the fall
56. C.S. Lewis
57. my baby grand piano - seriously a blessing
58. the ability to live within walking distance to 2 grocery stores
59. Eric and Lesi Ludy
60. Christmas lights
61. the glitter I get to wear to cheerleading competitions
62. my VW bettle!! I love my car
63. Smiles
64. a campfire and it's ability to draw people closer together
65. the great camping programs team I get to work with, Steve, Valerie, Josh, and Stephanie
66. the freedom of religion
67. the freedom of speech
68. Camp Joy El summer staff girls 2009 - I miss those times
69. Kristen Marie Urlacher...should have been much higher on this list!! but seriously best friend forever...love you!
70. mentors, leaders, parents, friends, people who have kicked me in the butt spiritually
71. a simple, yet magnificent rainbow
72. thunderstorms
73. the smell of rain
74. photographs
75. pink highlighters
76. purples pens
77. pencils
78. the opportunity/privilege to share Christ with others...also should be much higher up on this list...
79. SHOES
80. air conditioning
81. my name...Faith
82. vanilla lotion
83. pumpkin ice cream
84. Burts bees lip balm
85. honey chamomile tea
86. the privilege to be part of an organization who has seen over 500 children and youth enter into God's family over the past year
87. hot showers
88. my wavy hair
89. the ability to straiten my hair when I want to
90. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
91. the ability to sing
92. the ability to graduate a year early
93. my unorganized life, but my ability to organize closets, cabinets, rooms, pretty much any space
94. my ability to love others
95. Modcloth.com -need I say more...
98. sundresses
99. journals and blogs like this that I can reflect upon in years to come
100. the life I've been given to live

well now that I've used a large portion of my study time to post this collection of my thoughts, I must get back to homework. Thanks for listening! :) oh and....Happy Thanksgiving!