Friday's Fave Five #904

It's Friday!!  Thank you for joining me once again in being thankful for the blessings in our week.  Seeing blessing in each and every day is a learning process.  Our natural bent is to look for big, obvious things that grab our emotions and attention but developing a life of gratitude to God goes beyond that and searches for His gifts in the quieter, more mundane days and even in the most difficult of times when it takes intention and purpose.  If you are new, welcome to the jouney.  If you have been part of FFF through the years, I'm so thankful you've joined in once again.

~ help and connection ~  Sunday I went to church early to put together some Operation Christmas Child boxes and have a small display up for people coming to the church on election day.  Our church is a voting location when elections, in this week's case a referendum, are held and voter's have always taken some boxex to fill.  One of the church admins volunteered to come and help me and it turned into a wonderful time of sharing and chatting.  I've known this lady for years but it's been one of the few times we've really just visited for a length of time where we could get to know each other better.  Love when God knits hearts together over a shared purpose.

~ spontaneous lunch out with friends ~ we enjoyed the blessing of friends spontaneouly asking us to meet them for lunch.  The conversation was lively and fun and the food delicious.  And bonus:  there were no dishes to clean.

~ stunning fall weather ~  after the crazy wind on Saturday where gusts peaked at 100 km/hr (60 mph), the rest of the week has been stunning.  Warm and sunny, with the leaves turning color we've spent as much time otside as we can!

~ relaxed Sunday afternoon ~ when I was growing up, Sunday's used to truly be a day of rest in every sense of the word.  There were no store's open except your little corner grocery store.  You went to church, had a nice dinner at home, maybe had friends over for awhile.  We've lost a lot of that in our modern culture.  Everything is open for business as usual.   Sunday's seem to be so rushed.  This last Sunday we pushed the pause button on all that and made it a day of intentional rest and it was wonderful.  I didn't run around cleaning or grocery shopping.  Lunch was an easy crockpot meal with little amount of dishes.  We read, watched a show or two, went for a walk.  It was wonderful.

~ praying friends ~ I have had a physical annoyance that lately has turned into a concern.  I'm so thankful for a group of supportive and praying friends.  

What have been your favorite blessings this week?

Friday's Fave Five #903

Hello and welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  Last weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving and while it was wonderful to have an official holiday to remind us to be thankful, I love that this group intentionally makes it a part of their everyday.  While a thanksgiving holiday can give us wonderful feelings in the moment that we can say a quick thank you for, intentional daily gratitude is a lifestyle, a way to navigate life, our compass when there are difficult times. Please join us a we develop and work to maintain this attitude of consistent gratitude for the good things in our lives.

~ family gathered ~ I ususally host Thanksgiving and this year my two  kids from Calgary came and my sister's family.  Unfortunately my oldest had to work.  But it was really nice to have those who could come gathered together over a delicious meal.  Unfortunately, I did not take one single solitary picture.  

~ turkey dinner ~ We love turkey dinner at our house and it is a great blessing that, once again, we were able to have it.  This year Hubby decided he wanted to try an organic, free range, ethically raised turkey that a meat shop, who are his clients, were getting in for Thanksgiving.  Oh my goodness, was it ever good.  We added homemade cranberry sauce, whipped potatoes, spaghetti squash, carrots/parsnips,  stuffing and my gravy.  I make a delicious gravy if I do say so myself.  My sister bought a cake and a pumpkin pie to round it all off.

~ ladies small group ~ I finally was able to attend my ladies group this week after missing out since they started up again after summer break.  It's just been so busy with Operation Christmas Child also gearing up at the same time.  It was nice to be back and studying God's Word together with my group.  It's nice to have a break but so good to be back at it.

~ back to nice weather ~ after 2 days of snow over the Thanksgiving weekend I'm happy to report it has all melted and we are back to some gorgeous sunny fall weather again!

~ knee feeling good ~ I was a bit worried about how my knee would feel after two days of being on my feet cooking.  The last thing I wanted was to push it into another flare up.  But it made it through and was feeling pretty good and I am very thankful for all help throughout that was given to me. I made sure to wear my brace and good runners and made myself take breaks.   It all worked toward a no pain weekend.  

What were you're blessings you were grateful for this past week?

The Awe of God by John Bevere ~ Book Review

A holy awe of of God is essential to our walk with God. In this book John Bevere walks us through what it actually means to fear God...and conversly what it doesn't mean.  He shows us why it's important, how to develop it and how to embrace it so that we can find peace, joy and safety in Him.

I really enjoyed this devotional.  It's set up in a user friendly way.  There is a weekly lesson broken down into short daily readings filled with scriptures, then at the end of each daily lesson you have the following points to make it apply to you and personalize it:  Passage (scripture reference),  Point (Main idea of the daily lesson), Ponder (Questions toapply what you've learned), Prayer and lastly Profession.  There is also a qr code in the back that takes you to bonus videos and resources for group study.

Personally I think this should be read by every Christian.  In our modern day North American Christianity, I feel we have lost a healthy fear of God and at times treat Him at best as a buddy taking His commands as casual suggestions we can disregard if we so choose or at worst a vending machine getting upset when He doesnt dispense what we pushed the buttons for.  This book brought me back to the incredible awesomeness of who God is and how walking in that is life changing.  It is an easy to read but very thought provoking. would make an awesome group study or book club book as discussion would be great, I think.  

I rated it a 9.5/10.  there were just a couple of things that made me take pause or that need more pondering on my part but nothing that takes away from the main message of the book.

photo from Proverbs 31 Mentor

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!  

May you have a lovely day spent with family or friends mindfully giving thanks for all God has blessed you with.

Friday's Fave Five #902

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five. Sorry I did not get around to your posts from last week.  Circumstances just prevented me spending any length of time on the computer but I hope to get caught up with you all this week.  Thanks for joining in another week of looking for our blessings.

~helicopter ride ~ Hubby and I got to take a 15 minute helicopter ride as part of a fund raiser for a local home that provides a home and support services for pregnant women and new moms facing difficult circumstances.  So much fun.  Amazing how different things look from a helelicopter's height.  Great cause and great views of farmland, the river valley and the coulees.  Bucket list item is now crossed off.  So worth it.

~ Elton John Tribute show ~  my sister and I took in this show together. It was a fun evening of live music playing primarily Elton's 70's  hits we all know and love.  They all worked hard to put on a great show.

~ beautiful sunsets this week ~  all week long the sunsets have been putting on quite a show.  I managed to take a decent pic of a couple of them.  Both of these are straight out of the camera and unedited. The first was on my way home from an appointment,  The pinks were stunning and I just had to pull off the main road as soon as I could to take the picture before it disappred.  The second was on our way home from an appointment in Calgary.  Farmland in the foreground with the sun setting behind the moutains,  Southern Alberta is gorgeous and God certainly is an artist!

~safe travels ~ I'm so very thankful once again for a safe trip on the highways.  It was sooo busy the day we had to go to Calgary, the roads filled with both passenger cars and semi trucks.  Thankful everyone seemed to be driving courteously and conditions were clear and not windy.

~ warm weather with no wind ~ we wee able to partake of both walks and bike rides on the weekend.  It's been perfect fall weather so far, not too hot and not too cold.

What have been your favorte blessings this week?

Friday's Fave Five #901

Welcome back to another week of developing grateful hearts. Like a muscle, the more we exercise looking for our daily blessings and being grateful for them, the more we notice to be thankful for.  Thank you for joining me each week growing our gratefulness muscle!

~ family there when you need them ~ so thankful this week for my sister and husband being there for us when we needed them even though it was super inconvenient and disrupting for them,  

It's such a blessing knowing we can count on each other when the unexpected happens

~ peppermint oil concoction ~ my sister in law gifted me with this peppermint oil mixture that she makes up herself.  Apparently it goes deeper into the muscle,  Whatever it is its been really helping with some major cramps in my forearm.  Thankful she shared some of her mixure with me,'

~ women's basketball playoffs ~  from grade 5 throughout grade 11 my oldest daughter was heavily involved in basketball.  I loved to watch her play and was able to make most games.  I really miss those times. When she visited in August we watched some wnba games together and it was so fun talking basketball with her again,  Because of her I thought I'd catch some of the FIBA women's basketball and some of the playoffs,  Been thoroughly enjoying the games I've watched,  Thankful that even though we don't pay for a sports channel I can eventually catch the games online.

~  comfortable bedding ~  so thankful that each night I get to crawl into bedding that is cozy and comfy.  It;s not lost on me what a great privelage that really is.

~ police services ~ this week I want to give thanks for the men and womwn who serve on our city's police force.  There was a high risk incidence in our neighborhood this week and it really struck me that these officers did not know if they were going to go home to their families that night.  I am so grateful they are out there protecting us and that they were able to resolve the incident with noone, including the one causing the incident, getting hurt during a high risk operation.

What were your favorite blessings this week?

Friday's Fave Five #900

Hi everyone!  Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  I will be joining in later this morning but I've left Mr. Linky here for you to link up your posts!  I'll catch up in a bit.

Well a bit turned into a whole lot later. Whew. But I made it! It's been a week but I'm thankful FFF keeps me anchored and makes me slow down and purposefully look for God's blessings.  

~ flowers still shooting out blooms ~ end of Sepember and most of my flowers are still doing great.  In fact, lupins in my area should be done blooming by mid-July, but this little guy in a show of defiance to the time of year, shot up two more blooms just last week.  I'm loving the colorful fall.

~ down time ~ it was so busy this week I'm thankful for every small moment of down time I was blessed with.  Whether it was moments to read, pray, play a game or even just sit and have hot coffee I was grateful for all.

~ lots of outside time ~ with the beautiful days we've been able to get outside several times a day with the dayhome kids.  It's good for all our mental and physical health.

~ fall scents ~ falling leaves, apples, cinnamon, crockpot meals bubbling all day.  The warm scents of coziness.

~ Date night with Hubby ~ Usually we do takeout on a Friday night, but this week we decided a night out at a restaurant was in order.  What a blessing to get out and enjoy a good meal together and wind down from the busy week.

Thanks for joinng in once again this week.