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50!! 50!! 50!!


50 blog posts that is! So exciting! I am loving this new hobby & decided after seeing my dear friend Shelby's giveaway that I should do one of my own. So of course, I first asked my sweet husband & he replied sure! I am taking a break from blogging today to do my giveaway which is a lovely set of cards called the Love Card Collection from my friend Sally. I am excited to have her posting today on my blog and to give away her adorable set of cards.

To enter the giveaway:
-Post a comment on this blog post telling me what you are thankful for & how you show that you are thankful for that
-Subscribe to my blog & write a comment telling me you did so; if you already do just tell me so!
-Subscribe to Sally's blog & leave a comment telling me you did so, if you already do just tell me so!
-Tweet/Update your status telling your friends about the giveaway
-Like Sally's shop on Facebook and leave a comment telling me you did so, if you already did just tell me so!

You heard me, 5 chances to win this! The winner will be announced Sunday night! Get commenting! But first... read this great post from my friend Sally! Thanks for posting Sally!


















(Photo courtesy of Sally Balt)

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I have been loving Megan's JOB postings. They are personally convicting to me, a self proclaimed “pessimist” or, if I were to be honest, a women who many times chooses discontentment and grumbling over praise and thankfulness. JOB day 12, “Write down something you're grateful for that you do not yet see the outcome but you know God is working...” was an especially interesting exercise for me. I have had many moments when I didn't understand what God what doing and instead of trusting that God was at work behind the scenes orchestrating, loving and working out the best for me, I chose to forget that he who had “formed my inward parts” and “knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13) wants the best for me. He loves me so much that even the hairs of my head are numbered (Luke 12:7). He was and is at work. Why then do I so quickly forget all of that? I constantly try to take control of my life, as if I ever really had control in the first place; I try to control the hurt and then look accusingly at God saying, “Why aren’t things going the way I had anticipated and planned?!” Even writing it down makes me cringe, as I am able to see my selfishness and pride dripping off every word. I find that I do this in things big and small. I can think of many times in the past few years that I did not see situations as blessings, but now I could fall to my knees in gratitude; I am so thankful that the Lord showed me the grace that he did.

It’s so easy for me to say, “Oh, thank you Jesus for food; thank you for my MacBook; thank you for my cute new JCrew coat” (those things are blessings for sure, and definitely deserve their own thanks!), but the challenge for me is to say “thank you” for the difficult things and to recognize that God is working for his good (and my good) behind the scenes, which sometimes takes me an embarrassingly-long time to recognize. Some things that I have struggled with are: thanking God for a budget (a new thing since being married!), realizing that I was putting my faith in stuffand it was becoming an idol, thanking God for allowing me to go through a recent season of daily migraines (without that, I wouldn’t have realized how prideful I am when it comes to asking for prayer)... seriously, the list goes on and on and, as a self-proclaimed “pessimist,” the list gets pettier and pettier, believe me!

All that being said, I am really thankful for the way the Lord doesn’t give up on me and continue to work for my good even though I am extremely prideful and, I am sure, very annoying much of the time. His grace is incredible and his patience limitless. I am thankful for that. I am also thankful for people like Megan who remind to be thankful. I hope you all are enjoying her sweet little blog! Thanks for asking me to post, Megan!

SALLY

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