Tag: Christianity

The Joy Dare – Three Graces Found in Friends

Friendship. It’s one of God’s greatest gifts! And the Lord has blessed me with some pretty awesome friends. 🙂

I’d like to preface this entry again by saying that today I am only listing three specific gifts, but there are so, so many, from so many wonderful friends!

  1. Wedding Day Grace – My wedding day was a crazy, wonderful day that I will never forget! And one of the people who helped to make it so special was my best friend and Maid of Honor, Katherine. She was by my side the entire day, assisting me with anything that I needed. She even wrote me a note with Scripture verses that encouraged me to relax, trust in God, and enjoy this special time. The day wouldn’t have been the same without her! 😉
  2. The Grace of a Tasty Meal – My husband and I are blessed to have wonderful friends named Mike and Krystle, who have been such an encouragement to us. One of the ways they have done this is by inviting us over for a home-cooked meal on the nights before we have hand-bell choir practice! These meals have been a special time of sharing and good conversation. We look forward to this time each week!
  3. The Grace of a Faraway Friend – In an earlier blog post, I have mentioned a young girl (actually, she is almost a teenager now!), Perla, who my husband and I support through Compassion International. Perla has been such a blessing to me, as we have gotten to know each other better through letters that bridge the gap of the physical distance between us. Just knowing that she cares about me and prays for me puts a huge smile on my face!

Praise God for Graces Found in Friends! ❤

The Joy Dare – Three Gifts in the Kitchen

Today is the day I begin my Joy Dare! The praise prompt for today is: Three Gifts in the Kitchen.

First, I’d like to say that there are many gifts to be found in our kitchen. Most everything that my husband and I have in our home have been gifts from precious people. So picking only three things was difficult! But below are three gifts that stand out the most.

  1. A Dishwasher – When my husband and I first moved into our home, we did not have a dishwasher. Washing dishes is not one of my favorite things to do, so unfortunately dishes would pile up in the sink until I was able to gather the motivation to wash them. 🙂 About two years after we moved into our home, my husband’s parents were extremely gracious to not only purchase us a dishwasher, but to install it for us! This was such an incredible blessing. Now I have been able to just load, run, and empty the dishwasher instead of having to hand wash the dishes.
  2. A Cupboard – My husband’s parents were also gracious enough to provide us with a cupboard of theirs that we could use to store some of our food items. It fits perfectly into a corner in our kitchen, and it has been very useful for giving us a place to put items that we use regularly.
  3. A Counter-top and a Day of Organization – In order to install the dishwasher that my husband’s parents gave to us, my father-in-law was required to remove a section of our lower cabinets. For a while, the section of cabinet sat in a corner of our kitchen, not fully usable because it did not have a counter-top. My Mom decided to visit me one day and to help me locate and purchase a counter-top that would make the cabinet usable. She also devoted the rest of the day to helping me re-organize the items in our kitchen so that things could be located more easily. This was such a blessing!

I praise God for these Three Gifts in the Kitchen! ❤

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