Giving Thanks

Good morning, All. Hope your week end was great. Our big news is KARSON LOST HER FIRST TOOTH AT SCHOOL FRIDAY! Oh, she looks adorable with her little missing bottom tooth if I do say so myself. She was beyond excited. Of course, I have included pictures below. She so wanted to lose it before kindergarten let out for the summer. Today is her last full day, so she barely made it.

Just wanted to send out a quick blog this morning. I have several verses I want to share. First, Psalm 118: 1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” For today, and as many days as you want, let’s set a timer either on our cell phones, kitchen clocks, work clocks, etc. for every hour, or if you want to be really ambitious, every thirty minutes. When the timer goes, off, take a minute to thank God specifically for some blessings in your life. You may even want to write them down. Many of you know about my gratitude journal, but for those who don’t, since January 1, I have been keeping a gratitude journal. Every day I write the date and then at least one, but usually more, blessings I’m thankful for. I try to be pretty specific. Some examples are: on 3/16, I thanked God for memories of eating at a place called Katherine’s Kitchen with my mom, grandmother, and sister when I was growing up. On April 27, I thanked God for Karson being really obedient when I asked her to clean up. On May 4, I thanked him for Connor “diving” under water to get his diving sticks, which meant him just sticking his little head under. This book has become a priceless treasure to me, and when I look back at it, I am AMAZED by all the blessings God gives me everyday. I would strongly recommend you try out the gratitude journal. You wouldn’t have to write in it every day; you could modify it to fit your lifestyle, but the point is not skipping over God’s blessings and taking them for granted. Another verse I wanted to share today is Psalm 118:8, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.” In our world, it seems like we live by the “nothing is ever enough; give me, give me, give me” mentality. We are surrounded by the media pushing “more, more, more”. This is sad because, unfortunately, when we are constantly wanting”more,” we miss what we already have right in front of us…things as simple as a cool breeze just at the right time or a big smile from one of our children. Something to keep in mind is that the world will leave you empty no matter how much you attain. True peace is only found in filling yourself with God and finding your identity in Him.

I have to give a shout out to one of my best friends, Hannah. She introduced me to a book (almost a year ago) called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I highly recommend this book. It truly changed my life in the areas of being content and thankful. It isn’t necessarily an easy read, but for me, it was well worth the effort.

Love to all!

PS – Go set your timersJ.



Here is the little snaggle tooth; unfortunately there is a pink glare, but you get the idea.



Here she is opening her letter from the toth fairy.



Counting her tooth fairy money...





  

In a Slump?

Hey, Friends. I know it has been a while since I blogged. I hope everyone reading this and all your family members are doing well. Thanks to all of you who prayed for me as I spoke at the church I grew up in a few weeks ago. It was such a blessing to be there. The people of that church invested in my life in more ways than I could count through the years, so if you are one of those people and are reading this, THANK YOU.

At the Bigham household, we are so ready for school to be out. Most of you know our oldest child, Karson, is finishing out her kindergarten year. It has been a wonderful year, but she and I are ready for her to be home…mostly I J. My friend Amanda gave me a great idea to write all the things we want to do this summer on popsicle sticks and put them in a jar…that way we can pull a stick out every day this summer. Karson and I sat down at our kitchen island on Saturday night and wrote down all kinds of activities from play in our sand box to swim at my sister’s pool, play Guess Who, etc. etc. etc. We had the best time, and it made us look forward to summer. Karson is such an example to me of embracing life. Whatever she does, she is “all in” and has the most amazing time (although when we are ready to leave a place, and she is having a total meltdown at almost six years old, this slightly comes back to bite usJ).

On a separate note, I don’t know, it seems like I’ve been in a little spiritual slump over the past week or so. I wanted to share with you some truths for times when we have these slumps. Even when we don’t “feel” like investing in our relationship with Jesus, He is our unchanging source of strength. He is alive and living within us, and we can ask him to help us be motivated to draw near to him.

Here are some steps we can follow for these yucky times:

1. Ask him to help you. Pour your heart out to him. Tell him what you’re struggling with. Be honest. Example “Lord, I don’t feel very close to you right now.”

(1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.)

2. Ask him to change you. Ask God to give you the desire to come near to him.

(Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.)

(James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.)

(Mark 9:24 I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.)

*If you don't know what to pray, try just praying scripture. Praying his word is praying his will.  

3. Obey. Even if you don’t “feel” like it. We don’t have to “feel” like spending time in God’s word, to do it. We don’t have to “feel” like praying to call out to God. We are called to spend time with him every day, even if we don’t really want to. He isn’t limited to our human emotions. He can still speak to us even when we think we are in shutdown mode.

(John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.)

(Luke 11:28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”)

4. Remember, THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS. If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you relate to the fact that there are ups and downs in the Christian walk. Thankfully, the downs almost always turn to ups. You may feel down right now, but you continuously have hope in Jesus. We really do bounce back…I think this is called grace.

(Lamentations 3:22-23 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.)

(Psalm 30:5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Hope this helps some of you out there who may be in a bit of a slump. If it offers any comfort to you, I think I’m coming out of mine. Hope you will be out of yours soon, too.

If any of you have tips for “down” times in our Christian walk, please leave them in the comment section below. You may have to register your email, but I think it is a fairly quick process.

There are a few pics below.

Love you all.

Jodi



Karson Holding her T-Ball Trophy at her Banquet



Karson, Madi, and Connor at Karson's K5 Musical

 

Happy 38th Birthday, Honey.



Such a Great Daddy!