60 Things I Am Thankful For

Psalm 9:1New International Version (NIV)

1 

I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;    I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

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1. Friendship with God

2. Parents that care and help me

3. The Huntin' Grounds

4. My Apartment= a place to live

5. Friends

6. Food to eat

7. A job I love

8. A Truck Horn

9. Clothes to Wear

10. Children

11. Beautiful Fall Colors

12. A way to talk to God about my most important things.

13. Sleep

14. Babies

15. Fellowship Bible Church

16. Co-Workers I can joke with

17.  Phone

18. My Nieces and Nephews

19. My Good Health

20. A Close Family

21. Coffee

22. My Long Term Subbing Job

23. Pay Days

24. Missed Opportunities

25. Dream come true

26. The Path God Has for me

27.  God's Grace

28.  Confidence

29. Peace

30. Washer and Dryer

31. Car

32. Cooler Weather

33. Having Things to Commit to

34. Strength to get through each day

35. Puzzle Pieces

36. Outdoors

37. Creativity

38. Regular work hours, not too early.

39. Sunrise

40. Water

41. The feeling of freedom from things.

42. Being a teacher's kid

43. Books

44. Patience 

45. Safety 

46. Being in the Moment

47. Pets

48. Quietness / "Me" Time

49. Meaningful talks

50. Time of work in life

51. Missouri

52. Arkansas

53. Singleness

54. Strong work ethic

55. Sunsets

56. Farmers in my life.

57. Hardships

58. Stars in the county 

59. Traditions

60. Forgiveness

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           Here is my list of what I am thankful for this year. I have came up with all of these 60 things just in this month of November and by Thanksgiving. I could keep going on to 100 things, which I think I will in one of my journals, but I just wanted to get something on my blog for Thanksgiving. I might even explain some of the things later on in the next month because it is just good to be reminded of what we have to be thankful for and why.

Jealous of a Season-A Poem

Jealous of a Season

It is strange when you are jealous

Of a Season. How can you be?
Does it really take things away
From you? You never think
about it this way but it's true.

Think about Fall. It takes people
Away from us to go hunting. They
Are gone every weekend. They are
Out with their guy friends. Their
Love is going towards the deer.
That's the only think on their mind.

It is their other love and passion.
Yet it's hard to be mad at them
Because at the same time, they
Are providing for you. It could be
A lot worse. You can't show them
That you are jealous. You just
Have to love them for who they
Are and all of their flaws.

The jealous feeling comes and
Goes too. It's always hard at the
Start of the season but by the
End you will get use to it again.
You will be thankful for the
Days you have alone. That is
Why it's called, "jealous of a
Season".

Written By: Tiffney Wilson

Written On: November 22, 2017

A Relationship Prayer

Dear Daddy,

          You have us both on roundabouts. Those are the journeys You care about and so should we. We both have a story of our own to finish before we are promised to each other if it's Your Will for our lives. It's along one for sure. I just wanted to pray for my future husband's need of You to grow stronger everyday and because of that need that he will become more intimate with You. I don't want him to go apart from You. I want him to draw closer to You and live a full and satisfying life with You. We are both learning of the story. The pictures of life are always unfolding. Sometimes the things we love the most aren't part of the puzzle that we need to be living in that moment. Maybe there are other things we need to start paying more attention too? Maybe there are things that we need to fix because we messed it up in the past? Maybe we need to get off that roundabout or actually let that puzzle piece fit together like it is suppose?

             
                                                       
                                                                                                                           In Jesus' name,

                                                                                                                                 Amen

The View Underneath Heaven

The View Underneath Heaven 

Sometimes I wonder why the world
would look like in Heaven. I wonder
what God sees when He looks down.
I wonder what the people passed on
before us sees when they look down.
I wonder what the view is like
underneath Heaven.

Is the world in a mess and just looks
like a big, messy blob? Does everything
in it look broken and disordered? Does
it look like everyone is going every which
way? That's how it looks like if you are
actually living on it.

Or does it look this way? Does it look like a
masterpiece of art like a painting? Is everything
in it fixed and together? Is every one following
the same path? That's what we want it to look
like in our own way.

There is One Way that can look as white and
pure as snow. It's not our way at all. It has already
been done too so really this is what it looks like
especially to God. It looks like His own Son
getting busied and beaten.It looks like His Son get
mocked. Looked like His Son was all alone in the
dark.

It looked like His Own Son being sacrificed
on a cross for our sins. But that wasn't the end
at all. It looked like His Son rising from the grave.
It looked like Hope again. That's what the view
underneath Heaven looks like.


Written By: Tiffney Wilson

Written On: November 20th, 2017

Medicine is Not the Source

            "We use signs of life to measure health." 

"Jesus Christ is the Source of Life and not just any life but enteral life."


            This was last Saturday night's sermon but I thought it really fit me. I needed to hear it over and over. Even though I am not on anxiety meds. anymore because I had this feeling that things weren't going my way and that I was to dependent on them, this message really hit home for me. It is crazy how the people of today think. They think that meds., diets, oils, and other things is all they need to get and stay healthy. While that might be true for our bodies, let's not get the two confused. I think I got the two confused. Yes, my body needs to be taken care of but not the way I thought it did. I was anxious and worried because my spiritual life wasn't with God's plans.
           During the last months before I stopped the meds. on my own, I was not myself at all and to be honest if you asked me what happened before July of this year of this year, I couldn't tell you. I blame the meds. for that. I think they messed me up more then helped me or the kind I was taking at least and I stopped completely because I was going through so many kinds in what seemed like every 6 months. It is true we do use a lot of signs for our body's health. whether it is blood pressure, weight, feelings, and so on. Don't get me wrong I know God made our bodies to tell us when things are wrong but my thing is then why are we trying to fix it with just meds.
             I am all for the organic and natural ways of making your body healthy because we are using what God has given us in that way. When you show that you have signs of life, it is dinfantly not the same as having life. Trust me I have been down that road and I hate it. My anxiety meds. kept me alive in a sense that I was moving and talking every day but not in a good way. I wasn't living my life like God intended me to live it. It is like those meds. only made me live on the inside and care about me and not what was outside and around me. I made people care about me. I didn't care about other people. I am much more aware of how other people feel know then I was when I was on the meds. and I love that because I can make a difference for God that way.
             Really the last meds. I was on kept me from having and living a life. I was so depressed and worried about things that I couldn't have fun. It is strange because during the sermon too and I know I already wrote this quote somewhere but it is just as important here too, my pastor said, "Mind and heart works together to trust and believe". To me, a person that has been on anxiety meds. know that is truer then probably anyone else in the world. You get more anxious and depressed on those meds. because your mind is getting "fixed" but your heart isn't. They are out of rhythm when you are taking the meds. or they were for me. I was fighting within myself but kept it hidden really good that nobody saw but it made me so sleepy.
              We can use all the signs for and of life that we want but we can't forget about our spiritual well being. That is just as important as our physical bodies. We can't take something that will mess that up. When my pastor said, "Jesus is the Source of Life", that made me happy and made me think through all of this. No wonder I feel better now then I did in the past and no wonder that I am moving on in life instead of hanging back. There are only 2 signs for our spiritual life and to keep in check to see if Jesus is our Source and here they are:

-We have Love for God and others. Not just ourselves.
-We obey God's commands. Not our feelings.
 
               There is a verse that I love and think that explains signs of life perfectly and it is 1 John 5:3-4.

"3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

              God's commands are meant to give us joy. They are not meant to burden us. We should do them with Love in our hearts. I know that sounds cheesy but that is the best way I can put it for now. When we do His Commands, not only should they give us joy but they do because we have victory over the world. God has given us that victory already and we should hold onto that. 

A Missed Opportunity

            I know this past week God has been reminding me of one thing that I am thankful for and that is a missed opportunity that I could of had but didn't and He showed me the reason. He showed me that His Plans were better then mine. This past week was the week that I could have gone on another mission trip to Honduras with my church but God had other plans for me instead of that. God answered my long time prayers of getting another full time job. Yet I'm still waiting to start it and for it to be finalized, it is an answer to prayer.
           This might be a short entry but it is one that will be filled with hope and inspiration or that is what I am hoping for at least. If I did go on that trip to Honduras, then I wouldn't have been able to have an interview and get the job that I have now. I would still be stress about making enough money and my life choices. The interview was this past Tuesday and they called Weds., if I remember right, and offered me the job. Everything happened so fast but it was prefect and is prefect. If I went on the trip, I would still be holding onto that part time job I have now and would be for a longer period of time. I know I probably can't make it sound amazing as it is but it was pretty amazing.
          This new job is like the job I have been working towards all my life. It has the same ratio of children that the college daycare did. It is a 1 to 8 ratio so it is a lot less children then I have had in the past 8 years. The position is a infant/toddler lead teacher position. It pays a lot more then I have ever been paid in childcare. It is hooked on with the school in Bentonville so that means it is also a contracted job so I get all vacations off but the summer one. We work during the summer. It is mainly for the high school students' children but some of the teachers' children go there too. We get to help the students with their children when needed. We have programs for them when they ask. It is also volunteer work for the students like they can come in and help us with the children for credit.
            It is a place where I am hoping to make a difference. It has all my daycare jobs plus my children's shelter job and teaching jobs all in one. It is like what I have been working towards all these 8 years plus a dream come true for me. It is strange but I might stay here for a longer while. Maybe even past 4 years? All this to say that God took a missed opportunity for me and turned it into something more meaningful and fit for my life. There are people around here that I can touch. I don't need to go all the way to Honduras to do that. The stranger thing is that I feel like AR is becoming more of a home for me. I put a lot on this job when I said, "Yes" and I knew that but I think I will be okay.
             I mean my next dream to reach is to get married and have a family and right now I am nowhere near that. Maybe I can start to focus on that now since I got a full time job that I love and can handle for a few years. But then again, I can't decide what happens when and this here should remind me of that. I have been through a lot and missed a lot of things because I was so caught up in my lifetime job search. Like some people, would say I have given up a lot to get to this place that I am know like a lot of missed opportunities. It could be with trips, health, other jobs, family time, buying things I want and so on and so forth. I am thankful that God knew what He was doing though and kept me in the states for this one thing.
               Whatever it might be an unanswered prayer, which I have gotten millions of, or a missed opportunity, a sacrifice, whatever you want to call it: "It is worth giving up when you are really following God's Lead on His Path that He has for you and your life." I will say this too that if you do have those things in your life, then keep doing it because better things are ahead. They should just keep encouraging you to go full force. See what you are doing differently to see what caused that thing to happen so you can keep doing it.
             I know for me there were times this past week that I had to look at something to remind me why I was doing what I was, why I was going for what I was going. I even had to look at the things I were fully committed to even. I mean the people that interviewed me made me do it by what they said about my job past. I spent all day thinking about why can I commit to something for so and so long but not to a job yet for that long. I am a person who will commit when she finds the things she loves to do or on. We do things sometimes just to move on with our life and hope things and people will get the clue and follow. I say that in the nicest way possible.
            The question they ask me and you could probably ask yourself this too in other situations of life: "I see you only spent 2 or less years at your other jobs, why is that? It just concerns us because we are looking for someone for the long term." Yeah, jobs might look that way but if you look into my life and the opportunities I did miss because of committing to something I love or liked. If you looked into my life and see what the things and people are the I am fully committed to right now and don't even have to be committed to some of them, then you will see what kind of person I truly am.

Choosing What is Right

                   "It is that moment that you chose not to be real(Love)that you will be like all the others and you worked too hard and gave up too much to be like the others. It is that moment that you remember it is all for Jesus." 
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It's all about You, Jesus."-Heart of Worship

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1 John 5:3-4New International Version (NIV)

3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

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                This saying is something that I came up with while trying to encourage a friend of mine this pat week. My friend was having a hard time sharing a "mistake" that was made while out in the woods. Let's just say my friend missed a deer. My friend didn't know whether to tell the story about how it was missed or not but my friend went ahead and shared it in hopes that someone else needed to hear it too. My friend was unsure, just for that moment, if he wanted to be real and that is where I came up with this saying. 
             It is true about my friend. When you have given up so much, why not keep being real, right? If it has worked so far then why stop now. My friend hasn't missed a shot in quite awhile so it is understandable to be upset. When you don't want to be like the other people around you, then you have to be real because you know that the other people aren't being that. That's not what the world is known for today. 
             I added the word "Love" in and the last sentence in this entry because it just made more since and it was deeper then I wanted to be with my friend but it is true. If you want to love, you have to learn to be real with the person you like/love and the others around you like their family. That is something that I am still working on everyday and it is an everyday process for sure. Loving people is what God wants us to do. Love, I thought, was always a kind of ministry that we could show off everyday. I mean what better way for people to know that we are God's children by us showing love to them.  I will say too that my friend's show is God-based because my friend is a firm believer in Him and my friend will even say that it is all done for God and no one else. That is how we should live everyday life. We should live it as all for and about God and no one else.
           I put the verse in this entry because I love it. I love where it says that we can overcome. That His commands shouldn't be burdensome. In fact, His commands should makes us joyful if we do it out of Love for Him and others. It is not burdensome to obey His commands. It might be hard at times. Yes, but not burdensome. It should bring us joy that He even trusts and believes and loves us enough to give us those commands. If God doesn't mean for His commands to be burdensome, then He wants us to have joy everyday. It should bring us pleasure and happiness and joy to obey His commands and to have the kind of faith we have in Him.
           Yes, it can be hard at times to live out His commands and of Love but then we look back to see what God has done for us and that is when the joy comes and overwhelms us. We can have joy because we know who holds everything in our lives if we put our lives in Him. It is just like the saying above but I think this is a simpler and straighter way to put it:

"You have worked too hard to throw everything away in this one moment that you don't feel like being real, so why not look at it with joy in some way and share it with your friends or wait. No matter what happens, always remember that you chose that path so don't go blaming someone else or even God."