Thankful Tuesday

This morning in my time with God, He gave me such good scripture and of course so timely (which He is so known for in my life.) He has been bringing me back to Luke 9:23 over and over again. I looked at it again today. It says, "If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me daily."

I was studying and studying this verse trying to figure out what exactly "taking up your cross" means and I found Matthew Henry's commentary. It says,

"This is the best preparative for martyrdom. We must live a life of self-denial, mortification, and contempt of the world; we must not indulge our ease and appetite, for then it will be hard to bear toil, and weariness, and want, for Christ. We are daily subject to affliction, and we must accommodate ourselves to it, and acquiesce in the will of God in it, and must learn to endure hardship. We frequently meet with crosses in the way of duty; and, though we must not pull them upon our own heads, yet, when they are laid for us, we must take them up, carry them after Christ, and make the best of them."

This was such a wonderful explanation for me. It was just what I needed. After that, the cross reference took me to Matthew 10:38, "And he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me."  The message version of Luke 9:23 says, "don't run from suffering, embrace it." I could be totally wrong but I see this being a picture of doing the exact opposite of what we want to do and through that embracing Christ more than we ever have or could if not experiencing this suffering. Very timely for me.


Also, this verse really spoke to my heart. Colossians 1:11. Again, I love taking scripture and making it mine so I will substitute I in this verse, "I pray that I will be strengthened with all His glorious power so that I will have all of the endurance, perseverance and patience I need AND that I will be filled with joy" in the process! Love it! What a great prayer!

God is so good. I have a lot to be thankful for today. I love what giving God thanks does to my heart! So here goes...

I am thankful for:

my health

God revealing Himself to me this morning through His word

His grace and peace anew every day and every second really

the joy only He can bring

Adelyn's tubes tomorrow!!

vaca coming up soon!

both girls slept pretty good last night

medicine that will make Annabelle feel better

my husband who loves me so much

our family that can't wait to see us 

the time me and AB got to spend together alone yesterday

the sweet youth girls that I have gotten so close to

Beth who is going to watch Ab for us on Wed so we can both be there for Ad to get tubes

music and how it soothes my soul

God's word that is far better than any other comfort 

blog world and how encouraging it can be

the good friends God has given me here in Marysville

The reason for THANKFUL TUESDAY can be found here.

1 Chronicles 16:8

Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people!!

Your turn!! Comment with what you are thankful for or link up if you'd like! I don't have a McLinky this time so you can link up in comments if you want to. :)