Fab Five ... Week ending February 28, 2009

This past week has been really good and also very challenging. We are in the midst of a ten-day revival of prayer and fasting at our church. Participating in this has been such an awesome experience and has opened my eyes to so many of the ways God works in my life ~ ways I often do not acknowledge.

1. My church! I am incredibly thankful for my church. "We are all messed up!" but there is a love and sense of community in our church that never ceases to amaze me. When God moved us to "the foreign mission field" here in south Georigia eight years ago, I never dreamed how wonderful this experience would be.

2. Obedience. This week I determined that I was not going to make excuses for my disobedience and try to find "loopholes" to following God's specific direction in my life. As a result of that, God has richly blessed me and I am so thankful for the answers to prayer in my life.

3. My sister-in-law, Beth. I always wanted a sister ... someone who would laugh at me and with me, someone who would listen even when I was exhausting her, someone who would just share life with me. And I am so thankful for my brother's wife. We haven't always been this close but over the past few months, God has really brought us together. Beth is much more than that crazy homeschooling mom of seven (LOL!) ~ she is my sister, my friend. And my life is so much better with her in it.

4. SKYPE! I am so thankful for Skype. Now I get to SEE my mom and dad when I talk to them. I love it. We had the best visit a couple of weeks ago and I miss them both terribly. But Friday night I got to talk to them and see them and it was just a great thing.

5. Sunrises. I've been getting up really early, especially for a SAHM whose only child goes to school. :) But since I have been getting up I have gotten to see the sun rise through the pine trees in my back yard. It is absolutely beauitful. When I get up it is still dark and I have begun sitting in my dining room to read my Bible and pray so I can see out the back doors and watch as the sky changes from black to shades of blue then finally with the pinks and oranges that mark the rising of the sun. Every single morning I am amazed at this ... that once again God has literally given such beauty for us to behold. It also makes me aware of how often I fail to recognize His hand in my life. Sunrises are becoming so special to me ... fresh start every day, new opportunity to know Him more, to live a more fully surrendered life, to take time to love others and show my genuine affection for them, to cherish the life I have.

And so I sit here, computer in hand, watching the sky change minute by minute and wondering what sort of great things this day and the week ahead will hold.