Blessings Celebration! 17 Years

It's time to celebrate God's goodness! 

17 years. 
Next week, I'll enjoy my Blessings Celebration day, as I reflect on all the amazing blessings that God has given me over the past 17 years. Why only 17 years? Because it was on Oct 25, 2000, that I injured my back it led to me being given the title of "chronic pain sufferer".

"Create a positive day!" is more than just a by-line. It's a constant frame of mind that reminds me to see God's blessings each and every day. 

17 years.  Each year when I reflect on God's blessings, I'm overwhelmed by His goodness and mercy. I am also amazed at the wonderful surprises that God has given me. 
I enjoyed a ride in the Goodyear Blimp. I was in the pits at 2 NASCAR races, and I was at the Drivers Intro Stage during another race and was able to witness the swearing in of some Military heroes. Oh, and I live in a Castle with a Prince. :-) 
As I reflect on God's blessings, I continue to be amazed at God's creativity in supplying my needs. A pharmacy mistake provided me with a free very expensive medication. Contest wins provided some needs, and just fun encouragement, as well as gifts for others. Refunds that were 5 years in coming (medical bill overpaid). And so many other wonderful and creative ways that God supplied and still does. 

17 years. I'm thankful that God didn't tell me on Oct 25, 2000, that I'd be living in pain for 17 years plus. At that point and time, it would have been too overwhelming. Oh, but God knew that. 
17 years.  God has supplied each need and even wants along the way. And I'm so extremely thankful for His love and care. 

17 years.  "If God really loves you, He'd heal you." Really??! God has the power to heal me, yes. However, sometimes He chooses not to heal. There are many reasons why that I can think of, but God has His own very good reasons! One thing that I do know is that God has allowed my pain so that my faith and trust in Him would grow deeper. He has also allowed my pain so that I can come alongside others and encourage them. God has allowed my pain to put me in places so that I could share God's love. 

17 years.  There is much to celebrate! Please join me in taking time to reflect on God's blessings in your life. 

It's time to celebrate God's goodness!

Blessing Celebration 16 years!

Thanks Living. 

Each year in October I take time to reflect and focus on all the blessings that God has given me. This October 25 will be the 16th anniversary of my back injury. Sixteen years. 

I remember Oct 25, 2000 very clearly. Although at times it would have been nice to know the future God had planned for me, God in His wisdom, knew it was best I didn't know. I needed to trust Him daily and rely on Him. 

As I was thinking back this morning and studying Psalm 30:5 "joy comes in the morning." I remember so clearly those dark painful times—and thinking, "would morning ever come again?" Where is the joy? Will I ever know joy again? Or has the all-consuming-pain robbed me of joy forever? 

I realized I had a choice to make. The pain wasn't going away. But I could escape the dark, lonely, despair of the night! How? By making a choice — by choosing to remember the facts I know about God Almighty. By understanding who God is and that He really is in control and He has a plan and purpose for me—I could begin to see the dawning of the morning. The plan and purpose of my life—to glorify Him in all I do, say, think, and how I live my life—would allow the morning to dawn and bring with it God's joy. 

Thanks Living. Taking time in the midst of the dark times of pain and despair to remember who God Almighty is and His plan of my life. 

Thanks Living. That even in the midst of pain, God really does give joy and peace. 

Thanks Living. Taking the time to celebrate God and His amazing goodness toward me. 

Thanks Living. Celebrate God's blessings in my life and give Him the praise and honor for who He is and all He does. 

Psalm 30:5 (VOICE): His wrath, you see, is fleeting, but His grace lasts a lifetime. The deepest pains may linger through the night, but joy greets the soul with the smile of morning.

Psalm 30:5 (GW): His anger lasts only a moment. His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may last for the night, but there is a song of joy in the morning.

Blessings Celebration Day 2014!

There are some days that we never forget. One of those days for me is Oct 25, 2000. That was the day I injured my back. At the time, little did I know all that God had planned as He started me on a new journey. It is now Oct 25, 2014...12 back surgeries and too many to count procedures and treatments later. 

Chronic pain demands attention. By that I mean it makes you change the way you live. Because pain demands attention, I knew that I would have to work hard to keep my focus on the positive. Thus, my philosophy, "Create a Positive Day!".

Each year on the anniversary of my injury, I take time to CELEBRATE the blessings God has given me over the past year. Each year, I am amazed and overwhelmed by God kindness and the creative ways He takes care of me. I highly recommend having a Blessings Celebration! 

Please join me today in thanking God for all the blessings.

It's Blessings Celebration Day!

“I” Needs to Get Out of the Way!

This year, I'm sharing my "Treasures" of my study of my "Ponder the Morsels" book. I've picked 31 Psalms to study throughout 2013. Today I studied Psalm 121. Here is what I learned.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills [around Jerusalem, to sacred Mount Zion and Mount Moriah]—From whence shall my help come? Psalm 121:1 (AMP)

The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Psalm 121:8 (AMP)

As I read Psalm 121 this morning, I noticed that the Psalm begins with “I” yet the focus soon changes to “The Lord”. The Lord is the source of light, strength, safety..... He is the source for everything that I need. 

So often I get stuck on the “I”, thinking that I can do it alone. Yet, when I try, I fall short, and miss so many of the wonderful blessings God has for me. “I” gets me in lots of trouble. 

As I continue to reflect on the past 13 years since my back injury.... all I can say is "Wow, what a great and awesome God I have!"  Although I'd like the pain to be GONE! I have to agree with Paul…. 

"…... I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it’s all you need.

My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become." 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (MSG) 

There are days when I don't see my pain as a gift… but when I stop and consider all the opportunities for me to share His great love, because of my pain, and I stop and realize that my pain is small in comparison to all Jesus Christ suffered for me—then I can say…. that God's grace and strength is all I need. My prayers is that "I just let Christ take over!" each and every day.

To create a positive day, “I” needs to get out of the way and allow “Christ to take over!” 

Cowboy Grillin' Pack

Here are some pictures of PART of my Cowboy Grillin' Prize Pack I won a few weeks ago (see post 10th Anniversary Blessings Celebration!; Oct 16, 2010).

The grill is being assembled by a friend, so I don't have any pictures of it yet. But here are pictures of the "Prize Pack Fit for a Cowboy"! 

I know that I'll create many positive days (and meals) using my Prize. Plus the Grill and accessories will all be great reminders of all God's amazing blessings He continues to send my way! 

Loading the prizes into the van. 

The Cowboy Prize Pack (minus the grill).

Closer Look 1: Spices, Cookbook, Fryer Cover, and basket.

Closer Look 2: Grill Tools and Wok Topper.

Closer Look 3: Oil-less Infrared Turkey Fryer

Closer Look 4: Grill Cover, BBQ sauces, Grill Grate Cleaning Brush

2010 Blessings Celebration Day!

O LORD, the king rejoices
in your strength.
How great is his joy
in the victories you give!
Surely you have granted him

eternal blessings
and made him glad with

the joy of your presence.
Be exalted, O LORD,
in your strength; we will sing
and praise your might.
Psalm 21:1, 6, 13

CELEBRATING GOD’S

BLESSINGS TODAY!

And God does it AGAIN!

Yes, God provided

ANOTHER Blessing gift today! 

With my new Vegan diet, many recipes call for roasting the vegetables. I don't have a "real" roasting pan. To roast Acorn squash, the lasagna pan does okay, since only the top has to roast. But to roast vegetables on all sides, it doesn't do the trick. 

I researched roasting pans and found one that was "acceptable" according to the various reviews, and it was almost in my price range. I added it to my "wish list", to wait for it to fit the budget.

Today, on the way home from my Chiropractor, I saw an ESTATE SALE sign. The car turned down the street before I realized it! I stopped and went into the house. There was stuff in the garage, backyard, main floor, upstairs and downstairs.

I saw several things in the garage that would be fun to have, but knew that they weren't in the budget. I continued through the backyard and entered the kitchen, then went upstairs. There were many nice things throughout the home, but all out of my price range.

I was heading out the door, when the lady asked if I had been downstairs. I kindly replied, "no", and turned to walk out the front door.

I was STOPPED

LITERALLY in my tracks!

They were moving furniture out the front door, so I had to move out of the way.... and where did I end up? At the stairway heading downstairs! 

I figured that I was to go look downstairs! Again there were some very nice items, but nothing I needed, so I turned to head back up... that's when I saw them..... sitting on a small sink counter in the corner of the room.... ROASTING PANS! 

I looked them over and saw the price for the set was LESS than HALF of ONE NEW PAN! And the REALLY cool thing... if all this wasn't enough... was that one pan was smaller... perfect for me to roast "single servings". 

So, not ONLY did God provide

a Roasting pan—

He provided TWO!

And God made sure that

I had one that was

JUST THE RIGHT SIZE!!!

GOD LOVES DETAILS!!!

Some have asked why I celebrate the anniversary of my back injury. Well, I don't celebrate the "injury", rather I celebrate God and His Goodness. Over the past 10 years, God has taken care of me in the most AMAZING, CREATIVE, and AWESOME ways—and the LEAST I can do is spend some time PRAISING GOD and CELEBRATING Him and His Goodness. 

Creating a positive day EACH day is one way I can celebrate God's goodness. When I focus on the positive, I am rejoicing in God's love.

The more I rejoice & praise God,

the more positive my day.

And the Count continues!

It's Oct 20th and God has already provided

two amazing gifts this month to help me

CELEBRATE HIS BLESSINGS.

(See post dated Oct 16, 2010).

As the actual date of my back injury approaches (10.25),

God continues to

SHOWER HIS BLESSING

upon me! 

Today, I won a $25 Dominick's Gift Card. That's a local grocery store with some awesome Organic products! So, not only did God give me a new grill, He gave me the money to buy some great stuff to cook on it!

GOD DOESN'T MISS

A SINGLE DETAIL! 

Noticing God's blessings

makes the any day—a SUPER POSITIVE day!

10th Anniversary Blessings Celebration!

Oct 25, 2000, I injured my back. Each year in October, I celebrate God's amazing blessings. This year, I wasn't sure what I was going to do for my

"Blessings Celebration" 

—but God took care of it.
in some AMAZING ways!

Last week, I was searching for events which I could attend to "Celebrate". However, each event was either too expensive, or would cause too much pain. So, I took some time to discuss my "Blessings Celebration" with God again. Since I am celebrating HIM and HIS GOODNESS... I wanted Him to have a say in what I did. 

As I was praying the phone rang... I didn't recognize the name or number, but I answered it.... good thing I did! I won a contest!
(Actually, I was the runner-up; however the Grand Prize winner never contacted the station, so I was given the GRAND PRIZE! But that was a GOD thing too! If they had called me first, I would have missed the call too...since I was in Macon visiting family! When God sends a gift, He takes care of ALL the details!)

The grand prize is a HUGE GRILL, a grill pack fit for a cowboy and a music CD. WOW! God gave me a small grill a few months ago... but this new grill will make it easier for me to grill—no bending over.

Love those surprise gifts from God! 

(I'll post pictures of my prizes when I receive them.)

I was rejoicing over the gift of my new grill...

But God wasn't done yet!

A friend called me and invited me to attend a Damaris Carbaugh concert! (Her CD,  "Not Ashamed" has been a blessing in my life for several years.) 

On Friday, Oct 15th, I attended the concert. It was a WONDERFUL night of praising and worshiping God. The concert was great, and Damaris sang my favorite song, "He's Been Faithful". Another added blessing from God!

BUT He still wasn't done! 

God arranged it so that I could meet Damaris! What BLESSING that was. The JOY of the evening

will last in my heart forever. 

I don't post many pictures...okay, I don't post any pictures of me.. but this is an exception. Here is a picture of Damaris and me after the concert. 

"I pray that God will take care of all your needs with the wonderful blessings that come from Christ Jesus!" Philippians 4:19 (Contemporary English Version)

Over the past 10 years, God has taken care of my needs with WONDERFUL BLESSINGS! And the past few days, God has created the most amazing and positive days for me as I celebrate Him and His goodness!

And His positive days

are well worth

remembering forever! 

What I'm I celebrating?

Some people think I’m strange to “celebrate” the anniversary of my back injury each October. But that’s just it—I’m not celebrating the injury...rather all the wonderful blessings that I have experienced because of my injury.

We celebrate birthdays, wedding anniversaries, holidays, and so many other personal holidays, why not set aside one day a year to celebrate the blessings that God gives us?

I picked the anniversary of my back injury, simply because living with chronic pain has taught me just how much God cares for me. Yes, He cared for me before my injury.... I just didn’t take notice of all He did—like I should have. Now, I enjoy watching God’s creativity at work. He continually amazes me with how He meets my needs and even some wants.

Will you join me in celebrating the blessings

in your life? 

Pick a day and celebrate any way you want—it’s actually quite fun!