Rejoicing in Blessings

Holidays, especially Thanksgiving, are wonderful times for considering where you are in your life. And convenient excuses to write blog posts! So this Thanksgiving I am doing both.

One thought has really impressed me: I am blessed.

I would fall into the cliche, "I don't know about you, but I am blessed," except I do know. You are blessed as well.

While writing, I said once that I must be content with God's love. Then I had to laugh. Content with God's love? As if someone dying of thirst must be content with oceans of water! Here we sit on the beach of a fresh-water Atlantic, picking at the grains of sand and considering attempting to quench our thirst from this muddy puddle beside us, totally unaware of the OCEAN at our feet!

What has this to do with thanksgiving?

If you realize what God has done for you, how can you not only not be displeased, and not only be satisfied, but further REJOICE in where He has you? And not only what He has done, but what He plans to do.

I have been struggling to wrap my prideful mind around such amazing promises:

"Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you,
Nor any plague come near your dwelling...
Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name."
                - Psalm 91:9-10, 14

"I am the LORD your God,
Who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."
                - Psalm 81:10

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!"
                 -Matthew 7:11

These are only a few verses this idea has struck me in. (I recommend reading all of Psalm 91. And there's a link for those too lazy to look it up, so you have no excuse not to!)

Let me explain what I mean by prideful. Ought we not to accept all that the Lord tells us? And yet, seeing our sin, we do not accept His love. How can He do this, when we are so unworthy? Of course, as good Christians, we would never say this. (I wonder how many times that sentence has been written...) But we believe it.

I could say that I am speaking for myself here, and I don't know about you. But I think that is overused. Yes, I am speaking for myself, and yes, not everyone has the same thoughts. But "no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man," and pride and resisting God's Word is a struggle we all encounter.

Now what does this have to do with being thankful?

It is good to see our sin and unworthiness. This realization is something that is essential for thankfulness. If you think that you deserve what God gives you, why should you be grateful? But if you do not deserve any good, how can you not be grateful for everything? 

(Because you're sinful and prideful...but you get my point. That's another phrase that I wonder how often it's been used.) 

And if your sin does not grieve your heart, pray that the Lord would open your eyes to it. He is faithful to answer. "You do not have, because you do not ask." The Lord did this for me. It is hard and not fun, and you may be surprised by the trials that come, but it will give you joy.

Realizing our sin does give us thankfulness. See on the one side your sin, and on the other God's blessings to you and His desire to bless you, and your thankfulness will be great. It puts everything into perspective.

God has been teaching me to rejoice in my own life. He knows each person, and He works in each life differently. Sometimes this is hard, because we cannot read hearts as God can. Thus, the grass is always greener on the other side. We see others' blessings that we do not have, and we are envious, forgetting their trials and the blessings we have that they do not.

And if we do see our blessings, we forget that's what they are and are prideful.

Recently after I had shared some things that God had been teaching me, a lady told me that she appreciated it. "You should be a teacher," she said. "Kids need to hear what you have to say."

It made me think of a time when Abraham had been brought up, and a girl asked if he was the one who had to sacrifice his son. It boggled my mind that a Christian could not know that story. Since then, I have been aware of how much I have been given. Indeed, what do I have that I have not been given? What separates me from a young believer who knows little more than Jesus and Noah's Ark?

Just this: where God has chosen to place me. 

I have not been more faithful, nor do I have a better memory or understanding. I have simply been situated in places where knowing God's Word was expected, and so I reaped the benefits.

At one of these places, the teacher asked, "What is your geneology?" He asked us to consider our spiritual genealogies. Who prayed for you? Who taught you? And don't stop there. Who prayed for them? Who mentored them?

What an incredible thought. You begin to see yourself as a small mechanism in a huge, interconnecting plan. I think of things such as the debt I owe to a lady I never knew who many years ago did a Kid's Club that was instrumental in bringing God's word to a woman who has been an inestimable blessing to my mother, and to me. Of people, some of whom I may have never met, whose influence led people to come to my church and thus became a blessing to me. Of the great men and women throughout history who wrote down so powerfully what God taught them so that lives were transformed to become my examples.

You have your own blessings. That Christ died is blessing enough. But God has freely with Him given us all things!

On second thought, there is another thing that separates me from some believers. I love God's Word and I long for holiness. My struggle to overcome sin grieves me. This is one of the greatest blessings God can give.

I knew that Scripture says that work in the heart is from God, but I didn't quite understand how that could be. I mean, it's my heart, my desires and thoughts. Yes, God has to bring to life someone dead in sin, but the sanctifying work seems like it must be ours. Once again, as a good Christian, I knew such thinking was wrong and never would have thought I believed it.

Remember how I mentioned that God had opened my eyes to my sin? One year, I realized my walk with God wasn't very good. I wanted it to be better-sort of. I tried and tried to be good, but I couldn't. Really, I wanted to want it. I read in the Psalms how David thirsted after God's Word, how he hated his sin and God's enemies, how he delighted in righteousness. "Lord," I said, "I want a love for You like that. I don't even want Your Word. I don't even hate my sin." And I realized I couldn't work it up and asked Him to give it to me.

About a year later I was struggling and frustrated. Why, I wondered, could I not defeat sin? Why were things difficult? A friend encouraged me at that time, not really knowing what I was thinking, saying how she rejoiced seeing God's work in my life, in my love for Him and His people. Suddenly I realized: this frustration with sin-that was because I hated it. It wasn't because I was any more sinful than I used to be, but that I could now see my sin as the offense it was against God.

I had tried and tried to become more holy, and I had failed. Yet suddenly I realized I had changed-without doing anything. What glory! I rejoiced in verses like, "He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it," and "He has given you all things needed for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him." I could see how it was completely God's work, changing my heart. I really had done nothing. God had just given me a receptive heart.

Don't diminish God's glory by not acknowledging what He has given you. It is the humble person who is thankful, because they realize that no matter how "good" in the eyes of others they may be, every good gift comes from God. Do not fail to rejoice in His promises of blessing to you. If we trust His character, we must believe them. It is precisely because we are unworthy that we can be so grateful.

I do speak to myself, and as usual, write for my own benefit. But I do pray that as you read how I have been impressed by God's mercy, it will also cause you to rejoice in thankfulness.

A Fall Engagement Session

Last Wednesday I got to take engagement photos for the first really official time.

I loved it.

Of course, I had the best subject ever.

(In case you were wondering, that is what I mean. Just because they are the best couple ever does not mean that there aren't others who are also best. If you don't think this makes sense, just ask Ruthie. The best thing ever happens to her about once a day.)

So, I discovered I love taking engagement photos. (Well, rediscovered, I guess, since I've sort of done it twice before.) Although most probably aren't as easy and pressure-less as this was.

Perhaps what I enjoyed most was just watching them interact. They're pretty adorable.

Deanna came to school and after my class I met them down by the creek. It was a spot I had noticed a few weeks before when I had been thinking of spots to take their picture at--although just for a couple picture then. This was better. :-)

The lighting was awesome...absolutely perfect.

(Side note: I realize the editing of these pictures is lacking in many places. This is the first time I have done major editing aside from for my website, and for that I used a much better version of Photoshop. So I was using a version I wasn't used to, I haven't gotten my style of editing figured out at all, I was frustrated after a saving mix-up with the pictures at UT, and I already used too much time on them. All that to say I realize it needs some work, so bear with me.)

As mentioned, I enjoyed watching them interact.

Those of you who know Stephen will not be surprised that he was a perfect model.

Those of you who know Deanna will probably not be surprised to find she didn't know what to do.

These pictures were fun to take, as I went on a bridge and heard the comments of people passing by.

"Aww! That is so cute!"

"You've got the perfect day for this, don't you?" one guy said to me.

Even though the quality of these two pictures isn't the best (partially because the wind was blowing the leaves around, making focusing difficult, and partly because we were too far away to communicate), I love them. They look almost like something out of a magazine.

I told them they should go into modeling for couples.

They're so cute together, after all.

I told them very little of how to pose, as Stephen instinctively seemed to know what to do.

Deanna, on the other hand, kept asking and sometimes objecting.

And as I've discovered before, she can't smile on command. "Stop smiling like a dorky!" I told her. She needed some tickling to get a real smile, and Stephen supplied.

The sun...it was so beautiful.

I love these pictures...

Aww...I like these ones too. Doesn't she look happy?

Deanna started asking if we had enough pictures. (Which you were probably also wondering. Well, whether you think there is or not, there are a lot more to go. You can start scrolling down really fast now, wondering if you have time to glance at the rest. You probably don't. Be glad I was actually pretty selective for me. There used to be a lot more...)

So Stephen said we were going to do one with her sitting on his lap.

Deanna was not game.

"Why?" she asked.

"That's what people do," he said.

But she wasn't about to. However, resistance was futile, and we did it.

Most of them didn't turn out well as I wasn't sure how to get the right angle, but I liked a few of them.

Aww...isn't he cute?

I can say that. He's my brother-in-law. Practically.

They look so happy...even though Deanna was complaining about his tickling, she looked pretty happy anyway.

We were ready to move on, so we did. When I saw the stone wall outside the library, I stopped them. Stone walls are awesome.

I told them to stand by the wall, and Deanna misunderstood me as saying that she and Stephen should stand several feet away from each other. However, I liked the idea.

 
So cute...

Here Deanna was quite confused as to what she was supposed to do. She didn't get the arms-over-his-shoulders pose Stephen tried to get her to do.

It made her laugh.
 

We decided to go to another place, Ottawa Park. I'd never been there before. After Stephen returned from his class and we'd gotten a snack, we drove there. Following much debate as to what to wear (Deanna seemed to be following Stephen's lead and carrying a wardrobe in her car), we were off--to find a bathroom. Then we wandered down a path.

And there was a blue bridge. Which was awesome. Of course, we had to stop.

Once again, Stephen told Deanna how to act. "Just act like you normally do."

"I don't know how  I normally act!"

I love this picture. It's such a Stephen face to make.

Of course, a shoes picture. For Melody's enjoyment.

That picture was actually Deanna's  idea as she pulled back away from the bridge. Have I mentioned that they are cute?

We moved on from the bridge, and in the lane ahead with pretty leaves, I envisioned a beautiful photo. Deanna always wanted to get married in the fall and wished her birthday was in October. So a fall engagement was perfect.

I ran ahead to get the shot--and looked back to see those dorky people dashing into the woods beside the sidewalk, as if I could not see them.

Stephen declared that I couldn't. So I told him I would show him the picture of him that I couldn't see.

"Well," I said, "if you're going to go hide, you could at least stand by her so that I can get a picture out of it." Stephen complied.

 
As they were about to climb back up to the sidewalk, I caught a glimpse of the dry woods behind them. "Wait," I said. "Go stand over there."

"There aren't any leaves," Deanna said.

"I know," I replied. "It'll be cool. You'll be like the only color."

Once again, Stephen interacted naturally.

I told them, "It's a good thing Stephen always looks good. If I had to coordinate when both of you happened to be smiling nicely, it'd be difficult."

Aww...

 

Sometimes you have to wonder about her...

We moved on as I attempted to get the picture I had envisioned.

I enjoy this look they shared.

We moved to another location with fewer things in the background.

"What are we going to do now?" Deanna asked.

"I'm going to pick you up," Stephen said.

"No, you're not!" Deanna said.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a very good picture of it. But it was pretty amusing.

I'm not sure why they decided to do that, but it looks like that picture of the farmer and his wife that everybody copies.

I figured that if you haven't figured out that they're cute by now, you never will, so I shall restrain myself from repeating it.

Watching them interact was enjoyable.

They put leaves on each other's heads.

We were about ready to be done when I had an idea for a picture under the tree. However, the tree being near the pond, Deanna objected to the goose droppings beneath it, so Stephen suggested a spot on the other side of the road.

Someone's excited... :-)

I've mentioned they're cute. Have I mentioned how strange these people are?

Or how weird?

They were being quite goofy.

When we saw this big fence, we could not resist, and we took some...unusual engagement photos.

They're the best thing ever, aren't they?