Count them

Sometimes, just sometimes we forget to be thankful.

God has blessed me so much and yet sometimes the first thing I do when talking to him is to ask for more. On one occasion Jesus healed ten men of Leprosy (Luke 17:12-19).  Only one came back to say thank-you.  Are you one of the nine or are you like the one who came back? I know which one I want to be but sometimes I am thoroughly ungrateful.

I think we need to count our blessings more, and we need to tell others about what we have to be thankful for.

You see being a witness for Christ is just that, telling others how He's blessed you. And we are called to be witnesses.  Of course sometimes life is very difficult.  It's at those times when it is most important to remember what God has done for us in the past, then we will find reassurance that He will not abandon us in the hard times.

So I would encourage you now to leave a wee comment to tell what you have to be thankful to God for.  This will be a reminder to anyone else reading this what a gracious and merciful God we have.


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And a cheesy tune to cheer you up!

(Special thanks to CM for her wonderful link and apologies to JH for sharing it with others!)

Fantastic Friday

'You are fantastic!'

How many times do we actually say that to those around us.  There are those people in our lives who are simply brilliant.  It may be their attitude or their ability or their sense of humour or their patience.  It could be a thousand different things that make them fantastic.  But do they know they are appreciated?



Some of the people in my life.

I had the privilege of hearing a talk by Bill Hybels recently.  In the talk he told how he and the leadership team in his church sat down and worked out who the fantastic people were in his organisation. Once they had done that he had a one-to-one meeting with each of them and told them they were fantastic.  He defined fantastic people by the feeling he got when he thought of them not being around anymore.  If he felt sick to the pit of his stomach he knew they were a fantastic person.

Who would you hate to lose?  Whether it be in work, at home, in school, in church... Who are those people that you really benefit from having them in your life.  Identify those people and encourage them by telling them - 'you are a fantastic person, thank you for being you.'



We have been called to encourage.  Some of us find it easier than others to do but we all benefit from encouragement and from being encouraged.  Barnabas was commended for it, it was his nickname for goodness sake. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says 'Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.'  So let's do that, let's encourage, let's build up, let's love out loud.

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I thought you would like this spectacular picture taken on Tuesday.  This guy had been trying to get this shot for 40 years.  That's dedication.