Happy Thanksgiving Month!

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well." Psalm 139:14

It really is a month of Thanksgiving, I'm ready to thank God every day and every waking moment. It's a new day! And for that, I AM incredibly thankful.

This morning I am thankful for me- that God made me just the way I am. Just as God made you, just the way that you are. And I'm laughing this morning. I'm laughing, because for the last few months, I've just been waiting for this big plan of God's to be revealed for my life. Honest. I have been spending more time in the Word, and more time thinking, and more time just trying to figure out exactly what it is that God wants me to do. I've even gone to drastic measures!

When I say drastic measures, I mean that I pretty much gave it all to God and told him that if he wanted me to stop, I would stop. I've posted before how my blogging has been lacking lately on my other blogs. Oh, I've been a terrible blogger... my main blog for the longest time was my food blog, which stemmed off of my passion for cooking. Well, over the last few months, I haven't been feeding that passion. In fact, I almost felt like I was in a fog, I wasn't enjoying cooking, I wasn't planning well for cooking, and I certainly haven't been blogging about much cooking. This past week my website hosting was up for renewal and I actually thought about what it would be like to not renew...

And then, God spoke. God made me just the way I am. I've known that before, I've blogged about it before, but somehow, I've lost sight of that. Here I have been, just waiting for "the next big thing" and all along, I've already had it. I have a passion for cooking, I love to cook food and feed my family and feed other people, and God put that passion in me for a reason! God made me this way- that I would love to cook so much, and He put the bug in me to blog about it. The last few weeks when I told God that I would stop if He wanted me to stop was just plain silliness, because God made me just the way that I am! I am supposed to cook- I am supposed to blog, I am supposed to feed those who need to be fed- and I am not supposed to hold back!

And it's not just about the cooking and blogging. It's about everything I do, everything that I enjoy doing that God has put inside of me. He put that there for a reason! As we've been looking to move in the spring, we've been very cautiously eyeing up our options and thinking about if there's anything we could eliminate from our want list- and one of those things I've wondered if we shouldn't be looking for is the large yard for gardening in. I'm not wondering anymore. The house that God is preparing for us has the large yard that I can garden in, because God put this desire in me to garden, He's not going to stifle it by moving us somewhere I can't do it.

Even my conga and percussion playing is God-Breathed. He put that inside me- it was hidden away for many years, but boy, I've really come to enjoy playing my instruments, and I really am eyeing up some more to make my percussion have more of a global sound. Every once in a while, I have my doubts as to whether I'm supposed to even be doing that for worship- maybe I jumped in too fast and I'm meant to worship elsewhere. Silly me! God made me just the way that I am! He put this desire to play percussion for Him inside of me- and He wants me to keep doing it, not lock it away where no one can hear it.

Now when I think about these past few months and how everything I do has come into question, I can see where the enemy was really trying to discourage me! He was trying so hard to get me to stop being me- to stop doing what I'm doing and to question my very being sometimes. God made me just the way that I am! God placed all these desires in my heart that make me uniquely me for a reason! And I will keep doing what it is I want to do- and I will do it with all my heart. I will no longer be sitting around waiting for "the next big thing" because I'm already here! God has already placed the desires of my heart in my heart, and I am going to listen to Him, because He knows me best.

And God wants you to know that too, this morning. God made YOU just the way that you are! He put you in the exact spot where you are right now for a reason. He made you just the way you are, with the passions and the unique talents that you have. Foster those talents, enjoy your passions, because God put them there! Maybe I have strange abilities to some, maybe the ability to cook is not something you could even imagine wanting to do. That's okay- because maybe you have the ability to do amazing craft work. Or maybe your special talent isn't even something you do with your hands, but with your heart. Maybe you have a unique ability to love children or animals or you love to spend time doing winter sports. All of that is wonderful, and all of it is what makes you uniquely you- and God made you just the way that you are! He gave you all those desires and all those abilities, and He wants you to use them and enjoy them! How cool is that- how awesome is it that God can take a person and give them all these wonderfully different abilities and talents and passions that make them such a unique and special person. Because you are. You are a unique and special person, and God made you that way.

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well." Psalm 139:14