Thankfulness Thursday

 

 thankful for....

warm throw blankets

crazy games

giant snowflakes

the steady ticking of the clock

catching up with friends

long talks with Mum

the warm sun on my face

wind blowing the snow

surprise packages

gorgeous views

spontaneous dancing in the kitchen

quiet time

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So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, 

rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught,

and overflowing with thankfulness. 

Colossians 2:6-7

Thankfulness Thursday

Sometimes it can be really hard to give thanks...But giving thanks to God for even the smallest of things is one of the most effective and important things that I have done to keep my eyes focused on Him. In every circumstance, there is always something to be thankful for, and when we start seeing everything as a unique gift from God, our entire focus shifts off of our problems and onto his amazing grace.

 thankful for..

sunshine in the bitter cold

 book stores

antiques

letters in the mail

string lights

forgiveness

encouraging podcasts (this one is incredible)

planners

scripture memory cards

long talks

waking up when it's still dark

rest

art inspiration 
colorful ink 
hand lettering
_________________________________________________

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night"

Psalm 92:1-2 

Thankfulness Thursday (but sort-of Friday) | Week 2

Helloo, lovelies!! First of all, I am going to state the obvious. I completely missed posting this yesterday! I am so sorry about that! But I suppose it is better late than never, right? 

Also, Blogger got an symbol/emoji option!? Now if that's not exciting, I don't know what is. (I'm actually not sure how much I will use it, but I'm still super excited)  

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK?! I feel like it came up really fast! I have been so preoccupied with life and other things that I didn't realize how close it was until yesterday. *sarcastic applause* Way to be observant, Megan. 😛

ANYWAYS, this week is Week 2 of Thankfulness Thursday! (or Friday..haha...oops.) Here we go!

thankful for.... 

// prayer

// warm cookies (of course)

// anticipation

// letter writing

// being busy

// stargazing

// deep conversations

// exciting news

 // Christmas movies

 (yes yes I know it's still early but I love Christmas, ok?😊)

〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰 

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; 

my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him. 

Psalm 28:7

Thankfulness Thursday | Week 1

Hey everyone! It's November: the month in which many people do the thankfulness challenges and other such things in preparation for Thanksgiving! Grace Anne is hosting a Thankfulness Thursday challenge over at her blog, and I decided to take part in it this year! Every Thursday, I will be posting a list of things I am thankful for.
The world needs so much love and light, especially with all of the hate that is going on right now. Let's choose to recognize the blessings that we have all year 'round, not just this month! ♥

  

thankful for.....

//sunny days

//peace

//early morning walks

//fires in the fireplace

//deep, meaningful friendships

//writing afternoons

//flannels

//moonlight

//empty notebooks waiting to be filled

//music

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 

~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

blessings

early mornings • hugs • good books • warm sunshine • country music • laughter • brothers • old buildings • lightning • dog kisses • afternoon walks • pianos • candles • God's grace • old friends • apple crisp • beautiful words • wooden fences • antique shops •  hand-written letters • exciting news • best friends • love • family • late nights • new notebooks • road trips • homemade bread • crochet scarves • highlighters • old letters • the color pink • wind • inspiration • fuzzy socks • iced tea • random picture walks • puzzles • sweatpants • life

 ~Megan ♥

*Picture via Google Images

Reflections and Resolutions

Hello, lovely friends! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I was blessed to be able to spend the whole day with my family, making memories and just enjoying each others' company.

  

It's hard to believe how fast this year went by. I feel like everybody says this, but for me, it really has been a whirlwind.I don't even know what to say about this past year. I went through so many times of joy, so many times of doubt, and I don't even really know what to think about it all.

One thing I do know, however, is that God has held me through every moment. No matter how many times I planted my feet and dug my fingernails into the ground of my selfish pride, He has never ceased to be with me, to love me, and to guide me. I have so much to learn, but I am beyond grateful for his unfailing love and all the times he has gently whispered to my heart to "be still." I struggle a lot with complete and total trust and faith in him. I allow myself too often to believe the lies of the devil, which inevitably cause me to doubt God. I have to continually remind myself that he is with me and he hasn't forsaken me. A big thing that I have learned (and that I am still learning!) is that no matter what happens, I absolutely cannot go by what I feel. I am learning what faith really means--simply taking God for what he says, and believing that all of his promises are true. Always. This is something that I really want to live by next year. No matter what I feel, God's words are true, I belong to Him, and nothing can ever change that.

Last year, I committed to counting 1,000 gifts. (you can read my post about it here) I will be completely honest and say that I did not meet this goal. I was really into it for several months, but I became lazy about it and failed to make it a priority.  I know that I had so much more joy when I was taking the time to write down the little things that blessed me, and thanking God for each and every one of them. I was also able to go back and read over them later on, and it filled me with gratitude all over again! I lost that flow of constant joy when I stopped looking for the gifts and started becoming distracted by my fears and my failure. I miss it. I miss the joy and the thankfulness that I had towards God, and the way that it flowed from me to others. I deeply regret not following through with this, and I fully realize the effect that my frustration, impatience, and ungratefulness has had on my life and relationships. Not only with God, but also with other people. Don't get me wrong..I'm not saying at all that if you don't count gifts you will not have joy or thankfulness. I am saying when I was doing it, it opened my eyes and gave me a new perspective on life. The great thing about a new year is starting over. I am planning on doing this again, and this time I really want to follow through with my commitment.

Something that I have always been big into is setting goals. I love to see a list of things to work towards in front of me, and I find it to be very satisfying to be able to check those things off. Whether it is long-term or short-term, I will almost always have a list of things that I want to accomplish. I considered not coming up with a list of resolutions for next year, just because I didn't want to end up setting really unrealistic goals. I tend to become really disappointed with myself if I don't fulfill everything on my list, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to fall into that again. However, I changed my mind and set a few anyways. I decided this year that if I would set a few bigger, more long-term goals, but also set smaller ones for each month, I could progressively work towards accomplishing the big picture. We'll see how it works out. :)

This post seems to be all over the place and rather sober, but I really wanted to just sit down and type what was on my mind. Honestly, I'm looking forward to a new year. I have learned a lot in 2015, and my hope is that I will be able to grow and learn a lot more in this next year.
To my family and all of my amazing friends that I have been blessed with this year: I love you all so much, and you have each left fingerprints on my heart that will be there forever. Thank you for all that you have done, and the many ways you have impacted my life. I can't wait to spend many more years with you!

                             ~Megan ♥

Read my last post here: Anne of Green Gables Reading Challenge 

learning to live

"Then, she began to breathe, and live, and every moment took her to a place where goodbyes were hard to come by. She was in love, but not in love with someone or something, she was in love with her life. And for the first time, in a long time, everything was inspiring." ~R.R. Drake

Lately, I have been finding myself more and more discontented with where I am in life. Part of the reason is my older siblings getting married, moving out, and branching out on their own, but mostly, it is my lack of thankfulness for where God has me right now. I used to be such an optimistic, happy person, but I have been so focused on where I am not that I am no longer taking the time to live. I am realizing how selfish I have been and how focused on myself I have become.
Each and every day I am trying to learn to live in every moment, realizing that discontentment is not speeding my life up any, but it is only making me more and more miserable. I want my younger siblings (and myself) to be able to look back on these years as a time full of fun memories and great adventures together, instead of the "years the locusts ate." 
So, with that being said, I am taking some time today to list out a few things that I am thankful for. They aren't really anything that would be considered huge, but it's the little things in life that add up to make all the difference, right?
 
♥ a super juicy piece of watermelon - you know...the ones that drip down your chin...
♥ one hundred kids all in the same room collectively laughing and screaming about the same thing
♥ my friend's sweatshirt that I love a little too much. She'll get it back...eventually... :p
♥ that morning cup of black coffee that really wakes you up
♥ sudden midnight inspiration for a writing project  
♥ learning crazy new words 
♥ suddenly finding verses that are exactly what I needed to hear
♥ fountain pens
♥ glass jars of ink
♥ antique books 
♥ friends who help me to see the bright side of things again 
♥ love and laughter around the dinner table
♥ tea parties with my little sister
♥ getting packages in the mail
♥ a perfectly tuned instrument
♥ butterfly wall art
♥ a good book with a good ending

I have so, so much more to learn about growing up and life, but I am so unbelievably grateful for the amazing grace and love of God. 

You are loved more than you know, liked more than you can imagine, and are stronger than you dreamed….  so: Give love. And live large — And love larger.  
~Ann Voskamp

In case you didn't notice, I changed the name of my blog! I wanted something a little more original and creative. I kept the web address the same to avoid confusion, but The Blog is now named Pen and Ink. Let me know below how you like the new design! 
I also went ahead and updated/changed up my About the Authoress page, so you can check that out if you want to as well. 

                                                      Much loves,

~Megan ♥

Counting Gifts and the New Year

Hello friends! I'm sorry it took so long to get this post done. I am finally getting the time to sit down and work on some things, and this was one of the first things on my list. If you've been following my blog for the last few weeks/months, you have probably seen the post I did a few weeks back on giving thanks: 

http://megans-journals.blogspot.com/2014/11/giving-thanks-always.html 

 I started counting gifts on January 1st. I know a few of you wanted to do it with me, which is why I was going to post this sooner, but I didn't do it as soon as I should have. 

So for all of you who mentioned wanting to do this with me, and for those of you who want to join, let me know!

Basically we will keep in contact , acting as sort of accountability partners for each other. We will be periodically emailing each other, and sending verses/notes of encouragement to each other to keep it up. Our goal is at least 1,000, so start now, and don't give up!

You can start first by purchasing an empty lined journal, or you can use on that you already have. Whenever you see something that makes you smile, or anything that you notice, you can take the time to write it down, and say a quick prayer to thank God for it. It could be something big like family and friends, or it could be something small like the specks of dust on the windowsill. Whatever it is, you can find something beautiful in it and give thanks for it.

Personally, counting gifts has already brightened my day, lifted my spirits when I am feeling
down, and just given me a new perspective of joy and thankfulness with life. And don't give up halfway through. This has the potential to really change your life for the better.

Again, sorry for the lateness of this post. I hope you will join me and we can count gifts together!

Ann Voskamp's Blog: http://www.aholyexperience.com/

...giving thanks always...

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I have noticed many Facebook posts reading "30 Days of Thankfulness Challenge," along with a daily post of something to be thankful for. While all of this is well and good, it really gets me thinking. Why only 30 days of Thankfulness? Why not 365 days of endless praise to the God who so lovingly crafted us in His image, giving us far more than we could ever ask for?
What would it look like if we all came together with one goal: to list 1,000 things that we are grateful for. Not just for 30 days, but all year round. Not just 1,000, but many, many more. God has so richly blessed us with this life, and we take it far too much for granted.
It is so easy for us to fall into discontentment and resentment when it seems like everyone else "has it all together," and we don't. A simple fifteen minutes of browsing Pinterest is all that it takes for most people. I have had this happen many times as well. When I see my friend with all the cute outfits, when I see someone who is so much more attractive, and when I see the picture-perfect models on magazine covers that are 50% plastic and 100% good lighting, I find myself slipping into discontentment with the life God has given me.
I recently read a book called "A Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. This book really got my attention. It's all about joy. It's about being thankful for the little things in life. The author's style of writing is extremely gripping, and she tells a story. A story of how she found true joy, not just a little heart flutter and a laugh or two, but true, lasting joy in Christ. I have never been more moved or inspired reading a book, and I encourage you all to read it for yourself.

I am issuing a challenge: Why don't we all count at least 1,000 gifts of our own? I am starting it at the beginning of the new year, and I'm inviting you to join me. Join me in counting gifts every day for a whole year, and never ceasing to give thanks to God for even one day. What do you say, friends? Shall we do it together?

"With each gift I had accepted and given thanks for, I let go of my own will and accepted His. But my purgation, this releasing of sin and self, wasn't an act of Christ and His grace all-sufficient." ~Ann Voskamp