Thanking God when He says No

The last couple of weeks have been full of people and situations to pray for.  So many family and friends faced with trials weighes heavy on my heart.  I hate to say I feel helpless...that all I can do is pray, but it's true.  I can't fix what they're going through.  I can love on them, make them dinner or help with their kids, but I can't change their current circumstances.  Only God can do that.  In my helplessness, His strength is made perfect.  When there is nothing I can do, He can do everything.  That changes my feeling of helplessness to one of surrender.  I can take my friends to the foot of the Cross.  I can intercede for their circumstances, trusting in the One who knows their need...the One who loves them infinitely more than I do.

A friend who'd been praying with me over several of these situations mentioned how much I had to thank God for this past week.  True, three of the situations ended with answered prayer.  By answered prayer I mean "answered in the way we prayed".  While I thanked Him for answering, I had to check my heart.  What if the situations had ended in a way we hadn't prayed for?  Would I still thank Him?  Would I trust Him enough to understand that His ways are higher than mine; that His plan is so much greater?  Yes, I had a lot to thank Him for, but if I truly trust Him, then shouldn't I be thanking Him regardless of the outcome? 

Let's be real - It's not easy to thank Him through despression, or cancer or relationship challenges, but in doing so I'm expressing my heart's surrender to His plan...His PERFECT plan.  I may not have been thankful at the time for the depression in my life, but through it all I am very thankful for what He did to change me.  I am thankful for the molding and shaping that took place through those darkest of nights; those nights when I felt the sun may never rise again.  It taught me to be thankful for the promise of a sunrise.  I'm thankful that from the ashes of depression He was able to bring something beautiful to life again. 

Thanking Him regardless of His answer is the truest expression of thanks.

God and carnivals - yes, there's a correlation!

Angela at His Truth Endures shared a beautiful post about reflecting on her walk with the LORD over the past year.  She likens it in many ways to a kid at a carnival.  I'm a visual person, so her analogy struck a chord with me.  I hope you'll take a minute to stop in for a read.

No regrets

I'm not really big on new year's resolutions.  Yes, I could stand to lose 20 pounds, watch less TV, read more, eat less, exercise more, yada, yada, yada...who couldn't?  The pastor pointed out in his sermon this morning that while those things might all be good, none of them matters for eternity.  Good point.

So instead of a list of less/more, I have one goal this year - to live with no regrets.  To get to the end of 2012 and say, as best I can, that I lived each day, each moment to it's fullest.  That I lived fully present.  That I loved completely.  That I spoke words of encouragement and love.  That I bit my tongue more often than not.  That, whenever possible, I chose joy.

Now, I'm giving myself some leeway here.  I know I won't accomplish this every day, in every situation, but if I can do so as much as possible it will hopefully leave the world around me and the people in it a bit better off.  Not such a bad goal I think.

I'm also starting a photo a day project for 2012.  Inspired by something I found on Pinterest (of course!), I'll take a photo every day for the next year.  I think it will be a wonderful way to document the life and antics of our crazy family.  Check back for photos.  I'll try and post some once a week or so.

How about you?  Any goals for 2012?