Thankful-Grateful-Blessed

I know this time of year everyone and their dog is doing 'thankful' posts and I guess I shall join the ranks with them... it does make me cringe a little though when I think of how many people -including myself- tend to complain about various things in life that we just really think should be different or we think that life should be treating us more fairly then what it is at the current moment and we forget that life isn't all about US & that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord.....and then November comes along in the calendar year and we suddenly turn all thankful for everything & we participate in the "30 days of thanks" challenge....which is all great and wonderful I just need to remind myself that November is indeed not the only month for remembering our blessings and giving God thanks for them. Thus I shall continue:

-20 Thankful things-

• Family- This is big on the list! The picture below is only the ones of us that are still at home which comes out to 0.25 + 1 of us kids and both parents so that totals to 0.50 of the immediate family plus there are 2 sisters & 1 brother that have been added happily as well as 7 grandkids! :) get that? :)

• Gods Grace. This has taken on a whole new meaning for me in the last year which I might blog about later.
• Fall! -yes please!
• Music - if you know me very well at all you know this is true
• Pinterest -actually, I think this is called being thankful for inspiration. :)
• Wonderful bosses at both jobs. -Seriously people. This is a big blessing!
• My new keyboard that I have owned for barely a year. :)
• Black Friday!! -this is an awesome way to buy shoes people! Go to the store & decide what kind/size you want, wait patiently for the sale then buy them online! You don't have to go out in the scurry of fierce people & you can often get a free shipping code... $$$$ are saved! :) 
• Good encouraging books
• Godly friends
• Thrift stores. :)
• Forgiveness
• The power that is available to us through the Holy Spirit 
• Freedom. -Let me never forget the price it cost
• Health
• The privilege of being homeschooled
• A house to live in -and nice people to live with! :)  
• Laughter 
• All the different personalities that make up the people in this world. -and like I tell people who complain about a personality opposite their own: "The world would be severely boring if we were all the same." 
• The very fact that God completes what He starts. -I have thought about this tons & tons in the last while & the verse on the picture below has become a new favorite. This subject deserves a complete post in itself but I will just say a few of my thoughts right now. It is not a new thing heard of that we -without God- are nothing. And I am so thankful that God views us as worth His effort. And because I like illustrations I will illustrate what I mean. Suppose you were trying to help a person that has/had a deep addition to drugs. Lets say that this person has even kicked the habit twice already but always keeps going back.... I don't know about you but I think that after a while one would begin to view this person as helpless & hopeless and all those sorts of things. But what if that's how God viewed us every time we messed up or deliberately went against what we knew he wanted us to do? I'm just so grateful that when God starts something in each one of our lives that He finishes it. To the very last day of our lives.  He doesn't give up. And the great thing is that He has started a work in each one of our lives. Yes, that includes YOURS and He will continue to perfect it until the day it's completed when Christ returns! It's such a glorious thought!