Sept.25, 2011-Gift List

1. The boys and their friends late night return to their mancave. Mosquito bites chasing them in from God's open room to the safety and dryness of their own.

2. Boys having church on front porch

3. Life still living

4. For His severe and tender mercies

5. Worship songs that heal the worshipper

6. Surrounding prayers

7. That there is no opposite of God. Satan is the opposite of Michael the Archangel. God is above all.

8. That Philip's 'broken' ankle was only swollen and sprained and that his 'dislocated' shoulder got 'relocated' again. (playing football)

9. For the hours spent picking chestnuts and processing them this afternoon with Suz and Phil.

10. For God's dare to "Trust Him."

11. For this quote I just read from John Foster in an old devotional book-..."Do not altogether turn away from sweet Hope, with her promises and smiles. Do not refuse to believe that this dark hour will pass away, and the heavens will shine again."

12. That the heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds understanding to his lips.

Gift List #1-(New Hertzler Doings)

Today's thankful list. Today's Daily Dozen-would that be a good title?

I am thankful for....

1. Lone bird flying in gray morning fog

2. Red head boy home from college for the weekend,
clothes wet from morning farm chores

3. Photo of Jesus, brown eyes looking at me

4. 14 year old fingers playing a new song on the piano

5. Husband in farm boots running hard to take phone from my hands
when he realized his life long friend had experienced deep sorrow

6. Open windows, fall breeze, comforting sound of towels dancing to dry themselves

7.The kiss of God on my face when I smiled at Him just now

8. An idea for Sunday lunch

9. Big brothers playing Monopoly with younger sister

10. Pizza dough resting on counter, not made by me

11. Discovery of the grains infested with bugs and happy pigs turn loss into bacon

12. Junk aluminum turned into cash

A New Kind of Hertzler Doings

Life has been a tad busy and my pathway to the computer is blocked by a queen sized bed so the writing has been slim. I've been reading a book called 'A Thousand Gifts' written by the same woman who writes 'a holy experience' on my sidebar-Ann Voskamp. To be honest, when I first started reading her book, I felt something unfamiliar. I felt jealousy. I wished I could write like her. My mother told me long ago that I was born without the jealous gene, so don't think that my lack of familiarity with that feeling makes me a spiritual giant or anything. If I was born without it, I did nothing to not receive it, just like I did nothing to receive naturally curly hair.

I didn't like that green eyed feeling so I went to Jesus and He said, "Pray for her." And as soon as I did, I became her friend, and felt proud of her, and now I want to take a road trip to visit her. Anyone who writes with such depth and beauty has been through deep pain, and I pray for her pain and her sensitive heart that receives both the ugly and the beautiful as gifts from His hands. I was struck by her insight about the 10 lepers who were all healed by Jesus, but only one came back to thank Him. Jesus said to that thankful one, 'Your faith has made you whole.' Jesus can and does heal us.

But a thankful faith can make us whole.

I want to be whole.

Lately, I've been thinking about three things.

1. Forgetting what is past and pressing forward to what is ahead.

2. Having courage.

3. And being thankful.

So for right now, I am not going to be writing about the daily doings of the Hertzler Family and just adding the three things I am thankful for at the end of each day.

I am going to write about what I am thankful for and 'the doings' will be mixed in with my thankful words. I've started my notebook and it lays open on my newly cleaned up desk.

Here's to "one thousand gifts." I accept the challenge to cultivate a thankful faith. Thank you, dear friend, Ann, for being here just when I need you most.