During Thanksgiving, its traditional to state what we are thankful for.

This year, I am especially and truly thankful that God has brought Bonnie into my life, and that we will be married soon.

I am also thankful to God for my Pilot selection, my opportunity to go to school and graduate next semester and my job at Bank of America.

-Michael

Psalm 68:19, “Blessed be the LORD,
Who daily loads us with benefits,
The God of our salvation!
Selah”

So in bullet format….a few of the things I am pondering (in no particular order) as I approach the day of Thanks tomorrow!

• Michael!!!!
• Laughter
• My dog, Chopin, who I’ve had for four years.  Looking for a new home for him now…
• Drew and Carter, my sweet nephews
• The Holy Spirit
• The times God reminds me of things I need to be learning and thinking about
• My parents!
• My sisters
• My wonderful parents-in-law and siblings-in-law
• A wonderful apartment that we get to move into soon!
• Good friends
• A cup of coffee
• Disneyland
• Encouragement that comes from the body of Christ
• The mental capacities God has given me
• Food
• When something reminds you of something hilarious that happened that one time
• Welcoming people home
• Blogs!  I’ve had a lot of encouragement and conviction from various bloggers…
• Godly couples at our church who have come alongside Michael and I as we are preparing for marriage
• Marriage!!
• Our wedding, that I know will be absolutely perfect and beautiful
• God’s calling
• Creative capacities
• Cookies
• Books
• The book of Deuteronomy
• Red roses from my sweetheart
• Sunshine and rain, thunder and lightning
• Heart flutters because of my love
• The knowledge that God is continuing to mold me into the woman and wife He wants me to be
• The Air Force
• Random things that are absolutely hilarious
• Getting to know people
• Heaters, jackets, and socks
• Cute clothes, cute hairstyles, and makeup
• My wedding dress
• M&Ms, and just chocolate in general
• The ability to move, exercise, and take care of the body God has given me
• The knowledge that my future is mapped out by God’s hand and that He has given me the most wonderful man in the world to face life with!

God truly has loaded me with benefits each and every day.  There is so much to be thankful for!   I just wish I had eyes to see them every day!!

-Bonnie

I’m thankful for my sisters!!  I can’t even describe how thankful I am for them.  Over the years, we made way too many good memories.  😀  When our parents were out on dates, we would have fun watching movies or making cards or working on other crafts or acting out scenes from movies and all of that usually involved lots of laughing.  My sisters have caused some of my greatest laughing fits ever!

I also am so thankful for the ways that they have mentored me over the years, whether it was through actual verbal counsel or just by their actions.  They both have blessed, encouraged, and convicted me so much.

And now we’re all grown up and married/getting married.  Crazy how quickly time passed.  But I am so excited to be on this path with my sisters of striving to be godly wives!

I love you girls!!!

-Bonnie

I am so thankful for prayer.  I’m thankful that God gave us this way to communicate with Him.  Verses like Psalm 62:8 are so encouraging…”Pour out your heart before Him.”  God cares about our thoughts and He desires that we communicate.  Even though He already knows every thought, word, and desire, He wants and allows us to talk about them with Him.

I’m thankful that I truly can pour out my heart before Him…whether it’s praise, petition, questions, or even just silence.  I’m thankful that God is teaching me about prayer, because…..I am not the prayer warrior that I ought to be.

The past few days I have had several friends on Facebook post some pretty serious prayer requests.  I’m thankful for how Facebook can be a prayer chain!  I love how a person can post a status, and within minutes or seconds, the Body of Christ all around the country and maybe all around the world is in prayer.

I’m thankful that God teaches my heart through prayer.  His power is displayed as He answers sometimes very specific prayer requests.  His concern is evident when He answers prayers I had prayed for probably about ten years.  I learn about His peace as I am inexplicably comforted and at rest when I had moments before been hurt, confused, or worried.  His greatness and majesty is impressed upon my heart when I spend time in praise.

I’m thankful that prayer is a weapon!!  It really is.  One of the sweet couples Michael and I talked to during our premarital counseling were telling us about the power of prayer.  The wife, Danielle, said something about how prayer is sometimes being strong and waging warfare for our spouse when they might be weak.  I love that.  It totally puts it in a new perspective when I stop and think that when I pray, I am waging war on behalf of the people I love and care about.

-Bonnie

Michael and I have been together for almost 19 months now.  It is amazing how I have grown to love him so much more.  It is so true that you fall more in love…and I know that I don’t even know the half of it.  I can’t wait to be celebrating our 10th anniversary and look back and see how much more we love each other and how much we have grown in Christ.  And then our 25th.  And then our 50th!!!

I am thankful for our giddy love.  The kind that is often referred to as “new love.”

I am thankful for our romantic love.  The kind that says “I love you” and means it from the bottom of our hearts.

I am thankful for our commitment love.  The kind that draws close to the other even (and especially!) during difficult times.

I am thankful for our forever love.  The kind that says “til death do us part.”

I am thankful for our spontaneous love.  The kind that dances in Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

I am thankful for our fun love.  The kind that laughs and jokes together.

I am thankful for our spiritual love.  The kind that talks, encourages, and gently reproves.

I never, ever want to take my sweetheart for granted.  Every now and then I just stop and think….Michael is God’s gift to me.  How should I be treating God’s gift to me?  How should I be loving him?  How should I be taking care of him?  How grateful should I be to God for giving me such a wonderful treasure of a gift?

Michael Thomas…I am so thankful for you.  Thank you for truly being my best friend.  Thank you for your sweet words, your listening ears, your encouraging talks.  Thank you for constantly pointing and prodding me upward to Christ.  Thank you for your example to me.  Thank you for being the most incredible fiance in the world!!  I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you!!!

-Bonnie

It’s November!!  Thanksgiving is right around the corner!  This time of year, a lot of people point out how we shouldn’t only be thankful one day a year….we should be thankful all year.  That is so true.  But I am glad for the extra reminder once a year to focus on the blessings God has poured out on us!

Praise the LORD!
I will praise the LORD
with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright
and in the congregation.
Psalm 111:1

I know that I do not praise and thank God enough for all of the tremendous blessings He gives me each and every day.  I take so much for granted and so often I don’t even see what He has done/is doing.  

This November I want to spend extra time praising God…in my prayers…with my friends…and on our blog.

To start off with…..I am so, so, SO thankful for God’s never ending mercy.  It is so humbling to know that He is continually pouring out grace and wisdom…no matter how many times I mess up or ask for help or forgiveness.  He never leaves me or forsakes me.

Praise the Lord!

-Bonnie