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Thankful Thursday ~ His Word

Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
(Psalm 119:105 ESV)

Often times I feel like that I just keep putting ‘fires’ out at work. It seems like that I never get ahead. On Tuesday morning I woke up already exhausted and tired just thinking of my day ahead. I think I need to stop doing that!

However, as I was having my quiet time that morning, God directed my thoughts to Philippians 4:4-7:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:4-7 ESV)

You see, it is good to be in His Word on a regular basis. Even though I always think that I don’t remember verses of the Bible, I do. I may not remember the exact wording of a particular verse, but I know where I can find it. So, when mornings are a little rough for me, I am thankful for His Word hidden in my heart.

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: Hide His Word in your heart and it will help you to refocus your day.

Love & peace,
Iris

Thankful Thursday Participants

1. It Feels Like Chaos
2. Ask, and You Will Receive | Serving With Joy
3. Mercury Fillings And The Detox Plan That Counts		 4. LaughingLady
5. Melanie @ M&M
6. Daily Journey		 7. Slave or Free?
8. bp
9. Lindsey @ Reading Red Letters

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Thankful Thursday ~ Prayer Works

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:5-7 ESV)

My friend Lori at Lori’s Reflections, posted a great article about prayer. I have to say that sometimes I get discouraged when I pray. Do I pray like I really mean it? Are there days were I just go through the motions of prayer? Maybe sometimes my heart is not believing what my head is saying? Have you been there?

I know, I am throwing a lot of questions at you. I do know though deep in my heart that God answers our prayers. Sometimes it takes longer, or God even says no. Where I find comfort in though is that God knows the big picture. And if a prayer is not answered the way we hoped for, it may be better for us in the long run.

I do have to share with you about a prayer I prayed on Monday. It still gives me the goose-bumps just thinking about it. I have shared with you about my portrait business more than once. On Monday I asked God for two wedding photo opportunities for this year and thanked Him for it. I kid you not, about 20 minutes after I prayed the prayer, I had a request for a wedding on my inbox. I will meet the potential client on Friday afternoon. Will the client book me for her wedding? I do not know, but it gives me at least the opportunity to present my business 🙂 .

I am nervous about the appointment, but I am also confident because my God will be by my side. And with God at my side, I will step courageously out of my comfort zone. Even if this does not turn into a wedding shoot for my business, I am very thankful for the opportunity God is giving me.

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by this week. Remember: Prayer works and God’s timing is always perfect.

Love & peace,
Iris

Thankful Thursday Participants

1. Mia / When Clowns Cry
2. jhunnelle
3. A Letter To The Mothers of All Babysitters
4. Putting the past behind us…FREE online journaling group for women		 5. Daily Journey
6. Lorig
7. Bp
8. He Will Wipe Away Every Tear		 9. Adena F- Finding the Silver Lining
10. Natasha

Learn more about Thankful Thursday here.

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Thankful Thursday ~ My Husband Is the Best

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
(Ephesians 5:33 ESV)

Love and respect go together in marriage, just as much as ham and cheese go together on a sandwich. I know, not a great analogy, but I know you get the point.

My husband is the BEST – at least for me he is. You see, in the early years of our marriage I had a little issue with the respect part. I think that love comes really easy for us women, but we have to admit that we sometimes (at least it is true for me), we lack true respect.

My beloved never has been the romantic type; well maybe when we were dating. I sometimes envied (I know bad word – but the truth) women who had a romantic husband. When they received flowers at work on Valentines Day, birthday, or anniversaries. But then again, these might have been ‘young’ relationships; I do not know.

But let me tell you, my husband is the most romantic guy; it just took years for me to realize (yes, sometimes I am a slow learner). Honestly, my husband has never forgotten our anniversary; not once in 30 years. And every year on our anniversary I get red roses (one for each year married). Mark also has never forgotten my birthday.

Lets take last weekend as an example. Imaging USA took place in Phoenix over the weekend. You have to understand, although we both are photographers, we have two different genres. My husband loves/enjoys to photograph architecture; I am on the other hand are a portrait photographer. Imaging USA was totally geared toward portrait photography. But my husband went with me, because I wanted to go. For me, this is being romantic :)…

I know that we all see ‘romance’ a little different, but I think spending time together and doing things you husband/wife likes doing, that is romance. Period!

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: spend time with your spouse this week; put your plans on the back-burner an do things your spouse enjoys.

Love & peace,
Iris

PS: Thankful Thursday is about being thankful and not linking up to promote your blog posts via the widget below. I have deleted the links that were not for Thankful Thursday. Thank you for understanding.

Thankful Thursday Participants

1. Miriam Pauline
2. LongingsEnd/Kitchen kisses and how not to have sex
3. Just As I Am		 4. Daily Journey
5. Can anger be righteous?
6. Biology or disobedience?		 7. Bible Soap Operas & Novellas
8. Bp
9. Pamela at the Songs on the Way

Learn more about Thankful Thursday here.

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Happy New Year – 2014 – Courage

Courage for 2014

Here we are again; a new year and a clean slate. But then again, do we not get a clean slate every single day? Why is it so different on January 1st? Many people make resolutions for the new year. I have stopped that several years ago. You know why? Because if I make resolutions I will brake them within a month. I know myself too well.

One thing I do though every single year: I search for a word that will guide me through the year. This year, the word is courage. Guess what, I am not the only one with that word. I was happy that my friend Joan (also a co-writer at Laced with Grace) has the same word. How awesome is that?!?

Over the last couple of days I contemplated about the word courage. What does it really mean to have courage. Wikipedia defines courage as:

“Courage is the ability and willingness to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Physical courage is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat of death, while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.”

Yes, I want to confront fear and uncertainty, and go after my dreams with full force. There are several verses in the Bible that encourage me in my journey of 2014. One of course is Joshua 1:9, my focus verse for 2014:

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
(Joshua 1:9 ESV)

The other verses that really speak to my heart this morning are from Romans 8:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:37-39 ESV)

My dear friends, no matter if you make resolutions or have a plan for 2014, one thing is for sure: God will be with you wherever you go. Trust in Him and let Him guide you in 2014.

Love & peace,
Iris