Thank You JESUS!!

I taught children's church this past Sunday. It was a pretty easy Sunday to have it considering Thanksgiving was coming up. I taught on Psalm 138:1, "I will praise thee with my whole heart!"
And let me tell you, little kids can do some praise. I played a game with them where I would name something, and if they were thankful for it, they would say, "Thank You Jesus!" They were very exuberant when they shouted out, "THANK YOU JESUS!"
Then I asked them individually what they were thankful for when we made crafts. Of course they all said moms, dads, brothers, sisters. But they were also thankful for houses, wagons, grass, leaves, flowers, dogs, cats, baths, and the list goes on.
Basically, they were thankful for EVERYTHING. And they were excited in their thanks. And I started to feel a bit guilty. I mean, when is the last time I thanked God for a warm bath? Or for the beautiful flowers I see everyday?
So today, I'm thanking God with my whole heart. Even for the littlest things! Because those are the things that really make you the happiest! Things like pictures of my daughter to look at while I'm at work. And things like tea from Bojangles to wake me up! And Sugar Free Snack Packs so that I can have a low calorie treat!
What little things are you thanking God for today?

He Made It There For Sunday Worship!

Brother Halton Watkins passed from this life late Saturday night. Most of us didn't hear about it until we were at church on Sunday morning, but when I heard, I thought, "How appropriate!"
See, Halton loved nothing better than being in the Lord's House on Sunday morning. He loved to worship "His Jesus," and yesterday, Halton got to worship Jesus in person. Yesterday he got to bow before those precious feet.
There were quite a few tears shed yesterday at church, but all of us are rejoicing with Halton over his homegoing. We sang "First Day in Heaven," and I couldn't hold my tears back as I sang. Because as I sang, I could picture Halton enjoying that first day in heaven (and you know what, it's going to be an eternal day!!)

I'll leave you today with the chorus of that song!

Oh what a day, our first day in Heaven
When we've finished the story untold
I'm gonna sit down with my blessed Savior
And what a day our first day will be

Check Out the Give-away!

I'm doing a bloggy giveaway on my other blog! Go check it out!
Also, I pray that you're having a very happy Friday! Rejoice in this day the Lord has made!

Sometimes Help Comes In Ways We Didn't Expect

Well, I'm not sure about where you live, but here in the piedmont area of NC we have hit hay fever season in FULL FORCE. The coughs, scratchy throats, and stuffy noses are hitting almost everyone.
Yesterday the tickly cough hit me. You know the cough that you can never get to stop no matter how many cough drops you suck on or how much water you drink? Yeah, that one.
But fortunately the lady in the cube near mine happened to get a Prevention magazine yesterday, and one of the articles was talking about things you could do to avoid taking medicines. And you know what works for a cough? Dark chocolate, yes, you heard me right dark chocolate helps coughs. I admit I was skeptical, but after eating about 8 or 9 dark chocolate m&m's, I didn't cough for a few hours.
So I will have to be sure to keep chocolate on hand (this may not help my weight much, but at least I won't be coughing like crazy! LOL!)
But it really made me think that there are times we get help in ways we didn't expect, or in ways that are much better than solutions we may have offered. It brought to mind a little old man at my church named Halton, who is constantly in my thoughts and prayers right now.
See, this little man is dying. They brought him home the other day and called in hospice, and I find myself wanting to pray selfishly that he stay here with us, because he has brought so much joy to our church.
I mean he is one of "THE ROCKS" of our church. Until sickness prevented him, he was there at every service, and this man is well into his eighties. He would sit on the front pew, leaned forward with hands clasped, hungry for the word he would hear from the Lord. I can just see him sitting there while we were singing, clapping his hands and lifting his arms in praise to Jesus, and the thought of never seeing that again brings tears to my eyes.
But he is ready to see "His Jesus". He's ready to see the Savior he has always been so excited to learn about. And my prayer is that he wouldn't have long to wait. Help may come in a way for Halton that brings sorrow to many around him, but oh how sweet to know that I'll see him again one day. I imagine he'll pat me on the back and shake my hand when I enter the gates and say, "Come meet Jesus with me. I'm so glad we're all finally here!" And I can see him sitting at Jesus' feet, hands clasped, leaned forward, listening to the half of the story that's never been told.
So now I'm praying that God would not make Halton suffer for long. Because the broken, tired body is not the Halton that we all know and love. Please pray for the Watkins family and our church as we all face this soon approaching loss.

Dora's on the Outside

Last night my niece and nephew spent the night with us because both of their parents are out of town with work today. So I got a preview of what my life will be like in a few years when Alaena goes to school. Pretty much I'll be running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Nah, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it, but being that this was my first morning in training I was about 3 minutes late to work.
Anyway, I got up got dressed, and I was all good for time. Then I got Trace up thinking he'd be easier to get dressed because I didn't have to fix hair or anything with him. It went prety well except he didn't have socks, so the poor child is in a pair of Alaena's socks. They are neuter gender white socks, so don't worry that he had to go to school in some ruffly pink socks or anything. The sock fiasco put me a few minutes behind.
Then I got Raegan up and got her dressed, and I was trying to put her shoes on in a hurry because we needed to get their teeth brushed and get out the door, so I wasn't paying much attention, and I almost put Raegan's shoe on the wrong foot. Fortunately my niece knows how to tell the right foot from the wrong foot, and she said, "Um, Heather, Dora's on the outside. Boots is on the inside." So I got a little lesson about putting shoes on the right foot from my four year old niece. I felt really smart.
Sometimes life is like that. Sometimes we rush ahead and run around like a chicken with our heads cut off, and we don't pay one bit of attention to what we are doing. Then finally God has to get our attention and pretty much say, "Hello, this is how you're supposed to do this, or this is how you're supposed to go?"
And at times like that I feel so dumb. Because all along I know what I'm supposed to be doing, and there is no way that my way could ever be better than God's PERFECT way. I'm just thankful He loves me enough to give me those wake up calls to get me headed back in the right direction.

Let Us Pray

Well, blogging friends, America now has a new President. Regardless of how we feel about the selection, we should pray for this President Elect Obama. Pray that he will use wisdom in his selection of cabinet. Pray that he will use sound judgement in selection of judges. Pray for him in all the situations he must face.
We are called to pray for those in authority over us. So spend this day in prayer. And while you're at it, spend some time in praise because God is in control, and He holds His children in His hands!

My Vote Is In

Well, I went this morning and voted. And I didn't even have to wait in line or anything. Of course, that could be because I live in podunk where we still have to fill in little circles with a pen on our ballot sheet beside our choices rather than having actual machines to vote on, but oh well! I placed my McCain/Palin vote with a prayer that God's will be done whatever the outcome.
I spent some time at my church yesterday praying about it too. We had our doors open all day yesterday, and they will be open all day today as well. And I think that is just how all Christians should approach it, in prayer, asking God to help us vote according to His plan and His will with HIS VALUES in mind. So pray and GO VOTE today!