My Walk Monday --- Endless Blessings 14-29

Join in at a Scrapping Servant as we walk on with Him.

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:17-19

As the past year progressed I found myself focused more and more the negatives. I always knew that He is the God of my salvation. However my focus became less and less on Him.

In the past year my husband was laid off and has been for 11 months now. I had two miscarriages. The grasshoppers destroyed our small starter garden. Coons got into the chicken coop and killed a lot of the chickens. The hens left stopped laying. Nanny goat and 3 kid goats died. Remaining nanny has had two miscarriages. So no meat or milk. The freezer died completely stuffed with food. The refrigerator died. The dryer broke down. I pinched a nerve in my neck and was unable to to much for weeks. Everyone in the family got sick. Before one could fully recover from some cold, flu, or bug then they were hit with another one. These are all the things I have been focusing on.

I started then looking at all the negatives about myself. I am overweight. The house is disorganized. I am behind on everything. I can't stand to be disorganized or behind. I then started looking at only the negatives in those around me.

By reclaiming my attitude of prayer I am seeing that I had lost my focus. I always knew that God was there and His hand is in everything. It is like stumbling around in a room in the dark when you know where the light switch is, and you chose not to turn it on.

I can make the choice to identify my shortcomings and instead of using them against myself, I hand them over to Jesus and let Him chisel my rough places. The grace-filled way Jesus chisels is so vastly different than the way I beat on myself. My beat...ings are full of exaggerated lies that defeat. His chiseling is full of truth that sets me free.~~Lysa TerKeurst, "Pounds Lost, Insites Gained" 9/28/09

I am joining Multitude Monday with Ann Voskamp @ Holy Experience. Come and join the Gratitude Community!

My Endless Blessings of Gratitude for today are from the past year.

14.We have not gone without anything this year. Food, lights and water have been there all year round.
15 God replaced our one broken freezer with two. An 8 foot chest freezer (the one that died was 5 ft.) and an new upright freezer for free.
16. He gave us a year and half old refrigerator.
17. Better shoes than we could ever buy for 10 cents a pair for the boys.
18. Every clothing need met.
19. Free job hunting suits for my husband
20. For God meeting some of our needs before we even knew we had them
21. The Christian Film Festival in San Antonio for free
22. The Christian Game Developers Conference in Portland for free
22. Two more Bible Conferences for free.
23. All Health needs and expenses being met.
25. For my dear Friend Christine who has a great source of encouragement and inspiration.
26. For my beloved Sister in the Messiah Stormie who has been my Rock through this and other hard times of the past.
27. For the support of all of our friends who have been and encouragement and help.
28. For my husband getting a part time teaching job.
29. The new friends I have made through the blogs and facebook.