Category: Growth

The Joy Dare – Three Surprise Gifts

I slept in late this morning (I couldn’t fall asleep last night), so I was concerned that I wouldn’t have much time to encounter my “Three Surprise Gifts” today. But as I’ve mentioned in the past, God always seems to provide! 🙂

  1. A Video that Made me Smile – I have a friend on the blogosphere named “Z,” and she is just AWESOME. I hopped on over to her site today, and was surprised by the amusement that a video she had posted gave to me. 😀 It is a video of her preparing a cup of tea. It may not sound like it would be too enthralling, but, because of Z, it was! You MUST visit her blog and check out the video. It is so entirely cute! And please, read her posts and get to know her better. She is such a special little lady! ❤
  2. Coinciding Pet Naps – I know that it might not seem like much, but my dog Daisy and cat Misty took naps at the same time today. This enabled me to be able to fill out some paperwork that I needed to complete for an upcoming doctor’s appointment. It is not all the time that this happens, so I was – yes – pleasantly SURPRISED! 😉
  3. An Awesome Handbell Rehearsal – My last surprise came this evening as our handbell choir practiced for the final time before our performance this Sunday. It was wondrous! Did I play perfectly? No. Did I nail every part that I was supposed to? No. But there were one or two repetitions of the more difficult piece we’re performing that made me happy, because I actually played a section correctly that I had been struggling with. Now I’m just praying that I remember how to recreate this for the performance!

Praise God for Three Surprise Gifts of Unexpected Grace! ❤

Photo Credit: Zwaddi

A Dare to Be Grateful

I’ve been thinking a lot about my need to focus on giving specific, daily praise to God. Not just because He wants me to (although that alone is reason enough), but because I need to. 

I need to remind myself of the good things that He blesses me with, instead of always focusing on the negative things that happen. I need to become a more positive person, instead of one who often sees the glass half-empty. And I need to fight against my perfectionism – by learning that just because things don’t work out exactly the way I want them to, it doesn’t mean that my life is over. It just means that we live in an imperfect world. But there are still many, many things to be thankful for!

I didn’t know exactly how to go about beginning this “praise journey,” so I did a little research on the internet. I looked for ideas – prompts, if you will, for a specific thing to focus on each day.

God, in His goodness, led me to the Joy Dare. It was created by Ann Voskamp, author of the book One Thousand Gifts. In the dare, you use the prompts that she provides to help you “count your own One Thousand Gifts.”

I want to take this dare. I want to focus on praise to my God. And I want to “change perspective — give thanks — and live all His joy!” I want to become a more grateful person.

Will you join me on this praise journey?

Photo Credit: Ann Voskamp

The Road to Recovery

Feeling somewhat better today. I had a nice morning with the Hubby, and my Mom came up to visit again.

Up and down. Up and down. That’s how my emotions seem to be manifesting, however. I want so much for them to be stable. For me to be stable. But I think that although I hit another “bump in the road,” I’m still on the “road to recovery.”

Thank you for coming along with me, friends and loved ones. It is an encouragement to know that there are people who are reading who care, and that even if they don’t know me personally, they wish the best for me.

It gives me that extra little boost to keep going. ❤

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Featured Image Credit: Bec Brown