All That I Need

I am posting this song as a follow-up to my last post on contentment. I used to LOVE singing this song in children's church when I was a kid.

By: Ron Hamilton "Patch the Pirate" (From "Once Upon A Starry Night.)

When I look around at all this world offers,
I begin to crave the things that I see.
I must keep my eyes on Jesus my Savior.
He has promised Heavenly treasure to me.

All that I need is my faith in Jesus.
All that I need is my home above.
All that I need is my Father's Mercy.
All that I need is my Savior's love.

All the pretty toys shine brightly around me.
All the pretty houses glisten and gleam.
Riches seem to offer peace and contentment.
That is just a lie, it's only a dream.

All that I need is my faith in Jesus.
All that I need is my home above.
All that I need is my Father's Mercy.
All that I need is my Savior's love.

I think the song says it all.

Contentment

Proverbs 30:8 ~ Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

I have been thinking about contentment a lot lately, and this verse came to mind. I really like this verse because I think the Psalmist hit the nail right on the head when he wrote it. No one wants to be poor. But this verse explains that we don't have to be rich either. When you think about it, being extremely rich and having no one to share your wealth with would be an extremely miserable life. This verse encourages me to be content with what I have. I am neither poor nor rich, and according to the Psalmist, this is ideal. I am so thankful for everything that God has given me, and I should never take it for granted. I have written a lot about thankfulness and contentment, but only because it is something that I tend to really struggle with.

But, we can still be rich in the sense that we have the greatest Father anyone could ever have. My 7th grade social studies teacher told us that he was one of the richest men we would ever meet. He said that there had been times when he'd only had a few dollars in his pocket, but he had great family and friends and a life full of love. So, I encourage you to me like him. Be rich in love, but when it comes to material wealth, be content with what you have.

Lord, Thank You

I recently had the opportunity to go to Chicago with my school band. We had an awesome time. Something happened there that really made me stop and think. I was shopping on the Magnificent Mile when a man approached my chaperone. He began talking about how hungry he was and he started begging for money. Seeing that was so sad, but it made me remember how lucky I am to have what I do. God has given me a wonderful family, amazing friends, a great school to go to, a church filled with inspirational people, a house to live in, food to eat, and so much more. And most importantly, He has saved me from the death that I deserve. But most of the time, I take all of this for granted. I get upset when I'm not able to get something new or when I don't get exactly what I want. But what if I was like that man on the street that had nothing to eat?
I don't understand why God has been so gracious to me, being the sinner that I am, but I do know that I am very grateful. Almost every time I watch the news, I think of how lucky I am. It seems that there's nothing on the news these days but depressing stories. Like the one I just saw about the two 14-year-old girls who committed suicide, supposedly because they were victims of bullying at their school. I feel so blessed to go to a public middle school that has virtually no bullying, etc. It hurts me to think of how often I take for granted what God has given me, but I pray that He will help me to always have a thankful heart.

Proverbs 30:8~Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

Give Thanks; Part 4

Did you come up with at least ten things you are thankful for? If you did I would love to hear them! You can either comment on this post or you can email me! Have a great day!:)

Give Thanks; Part 3

Like I promised, I am going to give at least 10 things I am thankful for. Now I said these would be unique and they will be... here, let me explain. When you ask someone what they're thankful for they say something like, "my house" or "my family" but they don't mention who gave those things to them. The things I am thankful for are going focusing on God, not what he gave me.

Here we go!:)

1. I am thankful for God's love, because if we didn't have it then we would be totally lost in sin.
2. I am thankful for God's divine power and His ability to do all things.
3. I am thankful for God's providence. I looked it up and a dictionary and it says; having or showing foresight; providing carefully for. I think that pretty much sums that up.
4. I am thankful for his power to be everywhere at the same time. Remember, he's always watching!!!
5. I am thankful that God is all-knowing. He knows what you need and He will some how some way give it to you.
6. I am thankful for God sending His son to die on the cross for my sins and saving me from eternal suffering.
7. I am thankful for God's grace. Without who knows what would happen to us!
8. I am thankful for God's patience. Because we all need it!!!
9. I am thankful for God being the greatest Shepard ever. Without His guidance we would completely lost sinners.
10. Finally, I am thankful for God. Yes I am thankful for God, because all he does for us we need to be thankful!

I hope these things remind you to be thankful! Always remember, God deserves all our praise honor and thanks! Have a great day!

Give Thanks; Part 2

Well, Thanksgiving is 3 days away. Are you excited??? Are you going somewhere or staying home? Whatever you do, I'm sure you'll have fun!

Remember what our challenge was? That's right! It was to give thanks in any and all things. Right now I am thankful that I don't have school this week but I do have a lot of homework and I am struggling with being thankful over that. You may be struggling over that or something else, maybe an even harder situation. Since I am focusing in on being thankful, in the next post I will put at least 1o things that I am thankful for but, these will be unique and if you wanna know how then you will just have to wait! :) So the challenge for you today is to think of at least 10 things that you're thankful for. I would love to hear about them! You can email me or comment on this post or the next one I am going to do. I hope you have a great day and remember to be thankful!

Give Thanks; Part 1

Are you thankful? Your probably are sometimes, like me. But what about all those other times... maybe when things aren't going your way or something bad has happened, are you thankful in those times? Probably when something bad is happening you really don't want to be thankful, for anything. That's normal, because we are sinners by birth. Just because it's normal, doesn't give us the right to do it. Just because it's 'normal', doesn't mean it's acceptable. Hopefully, the next 3 post I do this month are going to be about being thankful. I am not pointing fingers or anything because I am a person that struggles with this a lot... I challenge you to give thanks in all things. Now I'm not asking you to be thankful for every single thing but, start out with baby steps and ask God to help you. Have a great day!

Colossians 3:15 (I encourage you to read this verse, it may help you in giving thanks!)

Thankfulness

I was reading in one of my devotional books today and there was a lesson on thankfulness. It really made me stop and think because so many times I take what I have for granted. Most importantly, I have salvation, but God has also blessed we with great family and friends, a house, food, clothes, a good education, and so much more. God has given me so much, and yet so many times I take it for granted and am taken over by the desire for more. I don't know about you but I love getting new stuff! I love getting a new outfit, new song on iTunes, or really anything new. But material things do not satisfy. I think that the more we get, the more we want. One of the ideas in the book I'm reading was to write on a piece of paper everything that we are thankful for. Then, put it inside our Bible so that whenever we start feeling jealous or ungrateful, we can get it out and see all the things that we have to be thankful for. I thought this was a great idea, so I did it and put it in my Bible in Psalm 136, which is all about things that the author was thankful for. I hope this post encourages you!