Spirit:Thankfulness

Thankful Lips :
I will extol the Lord
at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
(Psalm 34:1)
Through Jesus, therefore,
let us continually
offer to God
a sacrifice of praise –
the fruit of lips
that confess his name.
(Hebrews 13:15)

I am at a much better place in my life than I have been in for a long time.
I am thankful for my wonderful children and I am thankful that they are proud of me today.

They are proud of me because:

I have taken on a personal challenge to completely abstain from any alcohol for 110 days.

I am on day 40!

I was inspired by the show "I Used To Be Fat" on MTV. The teens are helped by a trainer for
110 days.

I was so moved by one trainer's declaration that a person that can go 110 days has broken a habit,

and is not held under (food's stronghold) - the trainer's proclamation that real change takes place in

this amount of time resonated with me. I made my own 110 day tear-off pad and hung it on my wall.

I have been tearing a sheet off every night before bed. I wrote little notes on some of the days- on today's

Day 40 (70 days to go) I jotted "your boys are very proud of you". I do not want anything unhealthy to

take the place of a closer relationship with God. I want to learn to turn to our Lord Jesus in times of stress,

and emotional distress. This is part of the journey - to test myself and prove to myself that I don't need

to have alcohol to live a good life. I do not believe there is anything wrong with having some drinks to

celebrate or socialize with- I just feel like when you are "using" it to alter consciousness and you feel like

you turn to alcohol instead of dealing with the problems that you have - It needs to be put aside.

I am thankful that I have a home, pets, healthy kids, safe neighborhood,

 good food, good relationships with my Dad, Brothers, and Mother,

 a husband to depend on,

and I am extremely thankful for a strong healthy body. I am also thankful that I get to give

and receive the Love of my family and friends over the holidays. -- I am very humbled

by how grateful I feel at this moment. Happy Thanksgiving!!