The typical, and expected Thanksgiving post of the year..

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1st Thessalonians 5:16-18

This Thanksgiving will be my first Thanksgiving away from my family. I just remember how hard Easter was this past year, and I already miss them so much. Not being with them on the holidays is hard. Alas, it was my decision to come here, and it can easily be my decision to go back. I love it here, I really really do. I just wish they were here with me. On a brighter note! I am going to my Aunt VIcki's this weekend for Thanksgiving, and I's super excited! not because I get to spend time with her oh, so charming children, BUT for her fooooood. She is such a good cook, and I can't wait for her Mac n' Cheese and all the delicious-and-extremely-awful-for-you-that-will-cause-me-to-gain-all-my-weight-back desserts! mmmmm. Then, on Thanksgiving day, I will be going to Meemaw's! Where there will be thousands of people who know me, and tell me how much I look like my mom, and how grown up I've gotten, and ask me how I love Georgia, and I will tell them I love it, that right now I"m working full-time because I didn't get residency.... yadayadayada. THEN, I will be headed to Florence to spend yet another Thanksgiving at Wick's! I'm beyond excited for that one because I just really love them a lot. I love being able to spend time with them, I just wish my family could spend it with me, with them. But here we are.. After reading this, I will have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving, and it reminds me of how thankful I am for family, period. Wether it is my family in California, who know me so well, or it is my extended family in the South East that remind me I'm not alone in Georgia, I am thankful. I struggle with being vocal about what I'm thankful for, because so much of the time, I worry and complain about petty things. I have improved, with the guidance of my Jesus, but none-the-less, I am in a constant state of always needing my Savior. I am thankful for my job, even though I hate it most days, and the people I work with are wretched. I am thankful for Rachel Hernandez. I cannot even begin to express my gratitude for that girl, and what a blessing she is in my life. God knew exactly what He was up to putting her in my life. I am thankful for Swedish Fish, and peanut butter cookies; dutch apple pie and grilled cheese. I am thankful for hot showers, heat and a bed. I am thankful for fuzzy socks, moccasins and dads who know what they are doing when they work on cars. Most importantly, I am thankful for Jesus. He is my rock, my peace, my shoulder to cry on. He loves me more than any person ever will. This Thanksgiving will be filled with food, laughter, love and thankfulness, and for that I am thankful. Here's to not missing my family too much, and enjoying where I am knowing I am swimming in an ocean of grace and love.

p.s. no lie. at work, they are already decorating/have decorated for Christmas, CHRISTMAS at work. it's the 15th of November, y'all.

The Lord IS Good. All the time, all the time.

I have recently been struggling with and praying fervently about my job. I find no joy in it, I have no time for anything else, my ambitions are/have been set on the money, and not to serve the Lord, nor glorify him. All of my co-workers are "Christians" but live their lives in a manner I would think is displeasing to the the Lord. With all of these thoughts, the Lord is somehow pushing me to continue to work here.

This morning I got down on my knees and surrendered my life to Him. I can't do it by myself. I desperately need the God who loved me so much, He sent his perfect son on the cross for me. My only reaction would be to exalt and glorify Him in EVERYTHING I do. No matter what it be. I opened my bible to Colossians this morning and read this after my prayer of surrender, and asking for wisdom and guidance over this topic:

Thanksgiving and Prayer

³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—⁵ the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel ⁶ that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. ⁷ You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,^[c] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our^[d] behalf, ⁸ and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you.We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,^[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Lord spoke to me through this, and convinced me that no matter what I do, as long as I am showing people His love, and am doing it for his glory, and not my own, I am pleasing him, and doing his will. 

Jesus, 

I love you. Thank you for your sacrifice on the cross. Thank you for your love. Let me be a light to the dark today, and glorify you in everything I do. When working, I pray that I work diligently and without complaining all for you. Lord, you have my life. I am Yours.