Saturday, November 19, 2011

Giving Thanks!


While this semester has been easier in some ways it has challenged me in other ways.   Even though we don’t get Thanksgiving off as a holiday here I still want to take the time to be thankful.  It is always easy to be thankful for the things that are going well and are easy.  But I don’t want to miss the opportunity to also praise Him for the things that are hard and push me closer to Him.  Over and over Scripture tells us to be thankful and yet why am I always so slow to respond?  So I want to take this Thanksgiving week to say thank you to the One who has given me so much:

I am thankful for the privilege of living and serving in beautiful Kandern, Germany.


I am thankful for the chance to spend time with Barb Ryan in Luzerne, Switzerland and see the beauty of the world that God created.


I am thankful for my students that challenge, stretch and encourage me.

I am thankful for a successful field trip day in Colmar, France with my French 2 students.

I am thankful for BFA moments: Talking in Colmar, France about South Sudan with the mom of one of my kids who is Swiss and has just moved back after 9 years in Kijabe, Kenya.  Or eating lunch and talking about the political situation in Tunisia (elections and the writing of their new constitution) with another one of my students.  
I am thankful for the students and staff who worked so hard and were amazing in their performances in Seussical the Musical.  


 
I am thankful for the celebration of Thanksgiving and the opportunity to stop and be grateful.

I am thankful to the Lord for His continued provision, His strength and grace to tackle a very challenging semester with a heavy work load.

I am thankful for the leadership of this school, my fellow co-workers, friends and roommates who make this place feel more like home.

I am thankful for the privilege of serving Jesus and His children at BFA.

I am thankful for my small group girls.
Three of my five small group girls

I am thankful for the challenge of teaching French and trying to learn German.

I am thankful for His love that will not let me go and His mercies that are new every morning.

I am thankful for verses that come just at the moment when you need them.

Psalm 68:19 – Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation!  
Thank you Jesus for bearing us daily and being our salvation!

Happy Thanksgiving!