Thankful for Friday!!

What a week! Have you struggled this week to find Joy? Finding it hard to be thankful? So much out there tells us that things are hard, bad and gonna get worse....even here I've talked about it. Yesterday, I had to fill up my gas tank in my Yukon. I LOVE that vehicle, but dread filling the tank with today's prices, let me tell you! Gas here has gone up $.20 in just a couple of weeks. I heard one report yesterday that it went up $.11 in ONE NIGHT locally. Does that just fill your being with dread? Do you see dollar signs and feel a cold sweat just thinking about how to continue to fill up your tank to do what you need to on a daily basis to survive? UGH! It makes me want to run and hide, to be honest. Those gas prices are going to be reflected in everything we buy...food, clothing...EVERYTHING!

Yes, this is my "Thankful for Friday" post, and the opening was less than thankful filled, I know. We all know how hard things are getting, how much harder they are bound to get. The key here is to remember that God is still in control and cares for our needs. He hasn't left us just because the gas prices are skyrocketing! THAT is where I find my joy, where my thankful heart rests. I am NOT alone here. He hasn't put me here and then left me to struggle through the mess on my own. It may feel that way at times when our focus is not on Him and being thankful. Finding joy in the moment, even a moment of stress or sorrow!

We recently found out that a dear friend of ours lost his mom to cancer. Heartbreaking news, but we knew it was bound to come. It's hard to see someone you love suffer and die, it's hard to see them suffer at all! Hard things happen, hard times come, that is not going to change. It is in those times that we often have to purpose in our hearts to FIND JOY! To CHOOSE to be joyful, full of thanksgiving even if it's for our very breath.

So, I challenge you to remain thankful, even in the midst of hard times. Stay focused on joy that can only be found in the Lord. This week, I am thankful for much:

• I have been blessed with an amazingly hard working and loving man. He brings me so much encouragement, love, friendship, and support every day. I know I say that often on my thankful list, but it's so true...the Lord has blessed me with being married to my very best friend and I am so thankful.
  
• Being able to homeschool my kids, learning with them and from them every day!
  
• So many great friends that share their knowledge with me on so many topics...I learn something new every day about how to be a better wife, mom and steward of all that the Lord has blessed us with.
  
• Being able to sew new things...I made a pair of flannel pants for myself this week and also was able to buy some fabric for some shirts for my daughter and I. We have some work ahead of us, but so rewarding.
• Our hens are laying well, we finally have enough eggs to share and sell again!
  
• Fencing money....I was able to save enough to buy the last of the fence posts for our pasture expansion (at least we hope it was the last of them) while they were on sale!
  
• Continued work for my husband. Each week he has more work we are thankful!
  

So much more that I could share, we have been truly blessed! I don't have to look hard to find things to be thankful for. Sure, we are struggling as much as the next guy...things are hard and are setting themselves up to get harder. I struggle often with letting it get to me, letting the stress be my ruler and not choosing to be joyful or thankful in the midst of it all. It's VERY easy to let the stresses around me rule my thinking. I often have to be very deliberate in my thinking, moment by moment. We have SO much that we'd like to do here, and only so much money to do it with. So much that we want to do and need to do...things that would make it easier for us to live this life...but we have to take it one thing at a time. That is life...it's all a process.

Choose to be thankful! Choose to find joy...even if it is just being joyful and thankful that the sun came up another day, that you have life and breath.