We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers - 1 Thessalonians 1:2
Welcome to Friday!
Good morning! Welcome to a bold, bright, and fantastic Friday. I can already feel it. Today is going to be an amazing day filled with all the best, with surpassing goodness, and with both majesty and wonder. All of this goodness and greatness will flow down to you from the hands of the awesome and almighty Creator of heaven and earth. I am praying that you have had an awesome week and that you are doing well. How are things going with you and your loved ones? How was your week? Did you get to accomplish the things that were most important to you? Were you able to spend time with, and express your love and appreciation for those who are closest to you? What was the best part of your week, and what part do you wish you could do over? I want to wish you a great day, and say "Welcome to Friday!" I hope and pray that things went well for you - even better than you expected and hoped it would go when the week first begun. I pray that even now you are experiencing good things, emotionally, physically and spiritually.
As I sat down to think about this week, I initially thought, boy this week was tough. I had one challenge and frustration at work after another. My team's staffing was reduced, a key employee was being extremely difficult, our work load increased, we had to deal with a host of customer questions beyond our normal case load, and my team was asked to fill in and handle sales issues that were outside our area of expertise. Not to mention the fact that Monday and Tuesday were spent in meetings all day, and Wednesday was spent battling a stomach bug.
My initial thoughts were, boy this has been a rough week and one that I can't wait to end. Thankfully, sitting down and thinking through the week helped me remember that it wasn't all bad. In fact, if I had to weigh things out on a scale, I would say it turned out to be a great week. Even with what my nephew Matthew calls the most boring meetings ever, and with the most annoying incidents in those meetings, it was still a great week. Even with the stomach bug hampering me on Wednesday and lingering over Thursday I still have a ton of blessings from this week. To name a few:
- We saw snow flakes, huge flurries on Saturday morning.
- Ava was so excited about seeing the snow on T.V. and watching it blow by through the window
- A friend sent us pictures of the four inches of snow in his yard.
- Paige made snow balls from my friend David's collection of snow in the bed of his pickup
- We served over 65 guests (men, women, and children) at Manna Station. I met two new guests, Henry and Irving.
- A coffee date with Trish where I enjoyed a peppermint white chocolate mocha
- Trish and I did site seeing in Irmo
- Enjoying good conversation while eating a quick bite at a small burger place
- Ava and Emma were big on laughs and hugs on Monday night, as were Paige and Sydney who took full advantage of Election Day
- Voting! Voting! Voting!
- Voting for several great candidates
- Watching Cassarra and Gabbi participate in the election process.
- They helped campaign for a friend who was running for school board
- Eating a great dinner (Macaroni and cheese and baked chicken) prepared by Cassarra and Gabbi
- Sitting down to a good Sunday dinner as a family
- Finishing the family budget
- Having the older girls watch over Ava and Emma and fix dinner when both Trish and I were sick and in bed on Wednesday night
- We were both in really bad shape. I was afraid we were in big trouble!
- All four of the oldest girls stepped up in a major way
- Gabbi watched Ava and Emma
- Sydney and Paige did homework, straightened up the house, and behaved
- Cassarra ran errands - picking up medicine and ginger ale
- Cassarra and Gabbi fixed dinner
- Paige and Sydney fixed dessert
- Pizza and compliments from the girls for one another during dinner last night
- Discussions with Cassarra and Gabbi about how things are going at school and even at home
- A trip to Chick-Fil-A to get some ice cream and generate some good laughs
- Friday morning breakfast with the girls
- Getting real talk out of two teens over dinner and after dinner
- Vacation from work for Friday and Monday
My list could probably go on and on now that I think about it. For example, I have the continued blessing of great friends and family. I was blessed to feel better on Thursday than I did on Friday. I had a great start to Thursday morning at work, and a fantastic Bible Study with my friend Yuhui. We were studying the Gospel of Luke today and we spent the entire lunch hour in prayer, study, laughter and fellowship. In fact, we uncovered so many new questions and ideas from the scripture that we had to stop and plan to pick back up studying the same verses again next week. I entered the lunch hour worn down and ready to go home. I left our time of study energized and ready to face the rest of the day. I'd like to think I even managed to turn things around at work.
I hope you will have a great weekend and enjoy time with friends and family. If your week at first glance was tough, I hope you will take another look and add something to the list that includes the truth that a wonderful God is madly in love with you too. Well, I hope that you weekend will be filled with goodness, joy, peace, love and the continued and steadfast blessings of God. Take care and once again...
Welcome to Friday!
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in time of trouble. Psalm 46:1
Thank you for being an amazing part of my life and my faith journey.
I give God thanks for you and your love for me and my family.
I pray that God will open up doors and blessings
for you to repay you for your kindness and love. May the steadfast,
eternal and unconditional love of the merciful, gracious, amazing, and
almighty Father bless you and your family.
May the goodness and favor of God rest upon you and give
you a weekend of rest, love, joy, and renewal. May God, who is Almighty,
Everlasting, compassionate and merciful bless you from on high.
May the Holy and Eternal Creator bless your day, your night, and your journey in life.
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