Sunflower Faith

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; —Psalm 92:1

It’s been how long since I’ve been able to participate with Thankful Thursdays??

That long??

Oh my!

Can I blame not posting on the puppy? I can’t, oh well…I try. LOL

I came across this bible verse art and thought it was so fitting how we should each and every day, even on those moments when we seem to get distracted by life.

• Heavenly Father, I thank You for not forgetting me, when there are many times when I should remember You and being the imperfect soul that I am, I let myself get caught up with everything but looking toward You, with You, and through You.
• I give praise to You, Heavenly Father, for my loving husband, for the strength of family and for my children, who humble me and keep me in awe each time.
• Lord, I particularly thank You for humbling me and placing it upon my heart to homeschool, because it has been not only an amazing experiencing but an extremely rewarding experience that I feel grateful that through homeschooling, I not only experience the first hand joy of seeing my children learn something new, but they are teaching me how to re-think, re-see and re-look at the world.
• Lord, Thank You for opening the opportunity to share that we were homeschooling with my MIL, and I bless You, Lord with a loving mother in law, that I think of as my own mother and who guides me, supports me, advises me and encourages me. Lord, I particularly want to thank You for advising me through her, to get the “Dick and Jane’ books. I hate to say this, but me and hubby wait till the kids go to sleep to read the books ourselves and it’s like we are reliving our childhood again….that and the fact we tend to raid the kids crayons while working on their school projects so please, *shhhhhh* don’t tell them why they might be missing a few crayons here and there; Mommy and Daddy forgot how easy the crayons can break.
• Lord, Thank You for the furry companionship of our dogs. They are a joy to watch and I have to say, they may not be a platypus, but dachshunds are funny dogs. Well, they are until the puppy discovers that my flip-flops taste really good then I have to explain to him why he wouldn’t like it if I was chewing on one of his paws. Come to think of it, not sure if I want to chew on his paws…all furry and I DON’T want to know where they’ve been….which reminds me…need to find out what he dragged under our bed again.
• Heavenly Father, we live in uncertain times and I pray that You use these times to lead people to You, to lead us to look at You for strength and salvation and to always remind us that no matter what happens, YOU are and have and will always be in control. Thank You Father, Thank You.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; —Psalm 92:1

Homeschooling is working out really great and I’m just very thankful to our heavenly Father that piece by piece things are slowly getting back to normal.

There are many times when we have or see reminders but through it, we are reminded that no matter what. there are no true endings and only new beginnings.

Heavenly Father, I thank You so much for Your love and Your wisdom, for being there when we have needed You and for guiding us in all that is done in Your name and Your name only.

Lord I thank you for the strength and encouragement of my husband, my child, my inlaws, and my friends and just always a reminder that You are always there for us. Lord, pray You forgive me for keeping this short, but as my husband reminds me, short and sweet is often filled with more love, than long and enduring…oh wait, never mind that last part, he was talking about trying to get me to say goodbye and off the phone.
Lord, Thank You for the many men and women, some whose spouses I learn participate in TT, that are out there right now, still giving their all to all of us and doing their part to help rebuild and give hope and encouragement to those still in need right now.

The recovery in this area is long but may it be filled and sown in Your name and word, Lord.

91st Psalm

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

Heavenly Father this Thankful Thursday means a lot to me in many ways.

My family, my home, my community, my state has endure something that we weren’t as prepared for as we thought we were. We were shaken and yet showed our strength. We rejoice even as we grieved, Lord, through all this, YOU, have shined through and showed Your love, Your strength, the power and testament of having a personal relationship with YOU,Lord and more than anything, YOU have proven to conquer what no one can.

Lord, I thank you SO much for watching over my husband who rode out the storm. We consider it a literal miracle that Your love and hand was on him and covered him as the center of the hurricane went literally right over him.

Lord, Thank you for my mother in law. Really. We had evacuation plans that would have inadvertantely put us in the path of the hurricane and she called up saying she felt pulled to have us leave with her instead, and God bless her and just I give You praise for a loving and caring woman. It was a challenge to be stuck with my inlaws without my husband, but it was worth it in the long run…particularly when he came to get us. LOL.

No really, she was a great encourager and helped us through this. She reminded me to pray and to have faith in You.

Lord, I thank You for guiding me and leading me through this and giving me strength when I felt like I didn’t have strength. Coming home was difficult to see how much had changed and yet to see and feel the pull of the community as everyone pulled together to help each other was a lesson in You, Lord.

Lord, in the process, I thank You for making this easier too with a clean report from my doctor and alleviating fears of possible cancer. Thank You for a doctor who is vigilant and who is overprotective and pro-active rather than vice versa.

Lord,less of thanks but more of prayers for the state of Texas and all who were in the path of Ike. I pray that You give comfort where comfort is needed; Encouragement where encouragement is needed and through this open the door to You Lord for You conquer where no other can.

Lord, Thank You for reminding us of Matthew 6:25-34. God bless the co-worker who showed up unexpectedly with two bags of ice and water when we needed it the most and didn’t know where to find some and Lord, thank You for my husbands’ company providing the generator when we expected to go through another night without power.

We were reminded of Matthew 6:25-34 so much:

25″Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]?

28″And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

when things fell into place by trusting You and Your timing and in turn, we found ourselves bless with power returning sooner than expected and in turn being able to share not one, but four generators with other families that were in need of generators and even to this day, are still waiting for power to be turned on.

I praise YOUR name,Lord, because You are using us in ways YOU see fit to reach out to others here in this community to be of service and I pray that I can be more Your humble servant,Lord and for whatever reason we were spared, that we use that to serve and be of help to others here Lord.

God bless the men and women who are out there sacrificing time and family and service to be there for the men and women of all those affected by this hurricane. Give them strength, encouragement, wisdom and discernment and I pray You bless them for the compassion they are giving to strangers.

Lord, I pray for doors to be open so that I may share more blessings to those who are in more need than we are and that we can be of more use to others. Right now, many are still without the bare essentials, without power, without water and Lord, I feel so unworthy to have what others don’t and pray that we can be of use to others who have and are of more need than we are Lord.

Thank You for Your blessings, Heavenly Father and through all this, I thank You for remind me of Isaiah 43:2:

When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.

Our internet maybe spotty; Our phones may go on and off, but that is nothing in the strength and comfort we have in You,Lord, we are just humbled by Your love and what You have done NOT for us, but for everyone.

There are long days ahead for all of us and I pray that we can be of more service to others for there are harder days ahead of us. I can’t stop thanking You for helping me remember it’s okay to take the time to laugh, it’s okay to take the time to cry, it’s okay the time to smile and it’s okay to take the much needed time to grieve and through it all Lord, may this unworthy vessel forever be of service to You,Lord and be Your humble servant.

Forgive me Lord for being so imperfect and Thank You Lord for loving me for being so imperfect. Keep teaching me, refining me and lifting me up. I don’t want to fall away from You Lord and though this storm may have roared through this world…It can not tear me away from You, Lord.

This is one of those special TT for me because I’m just really grateful at the intervention and perfect timing of our Heavenly Father…

He is always a reminder of how much He loves us and no matter what the situation is…never truly abandons us though as human as we are, we may think that.

“You are worthy, our LORD and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being” (Revelation 4:11).

Lord, I’m just very thankful to you, first and foremost for a supportive husband. There are times when we feel like opposites but there are times when he reminds me of the blessing You gave to me to provide me with a strong leader, someone who keeps me grounded and challenged and mindful of You, Lord and I’ve needed that so much.

Lord, this is my first week homeschooling and I pray You watch over my children and bless them and help them keep me forever mindful how much a blessing they are from You. Thank You Lord for teaching me through them, the importance of guiding our children and just the joy of discovery each day.

Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for just guiding the hands of the doctors and nurses that I was under the care of. I pray You bless them Lord and just thank You for being there for my family and friends who intervene in prayer.

Lord, I have to ask for prayer that whatever the news comes out from the following report that we are waiting for, that You use it as a testament to Your intervening grace and testament to Your deliverance. Lord, whatever happens, I have faith in You and that You will deliver us and pray that You use me, and all things in my life to You and Your glory only….

Lord, I thank You for using this as well to remind me of how much I need You and I pray that I keep remembering to turn to You no matter what Lord.

Thank You Lord for seeing me through last week and this week, Lord, thank You.