Happy Monday morning!! I hope your weekend was a good one, that you enjoyed the sunshine that was out! I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed that its getting lighter in the mornings, I LOVE driving to work when its light!, AANNDD....its staying a little bit lighter into the evenings! I love it! So just a few things we can start our Monday out with to just give God a big Thank You!! Sometimes, its easy to get caught up in the what is wrong or what we don’t have, or even just the blahs and we forget to give thanks. We forget that God has a plan, a bigger plan for us than we could ever imagine, sometimes to get to that plan we’ve got to walk through some yuck, that’s never fun and its never easy, but if we can keep holding on to Him, if we can keep remembering He’s got us-the situation-whatever it may be-getting to where we need to be, will be so worth it!! Pain stinks, there’s no way around that, even healing can be uncomfortable. You know how when you get a scratch or a cut, and it hurts, so maybe it bleeds-you clean it, put some medicine on it, a bandaid and you just take care of it after that. Then it starts to scab, you don’t want to pick the scab because then you’re right back at the start, so you keep taking care of it, it might even start to itch, which is good, b/c that means its healing, but you’re not supposed to itch it b/c again, you’ll be back at beginning. Finally it does heal, there might be a scar, but its just a reminder of what you went through and how you got to the other side of it all. You can look at it and say, “YES! That hurt, it was painful, even the healing wasn’t the easiest, but its gone! I’m better!!” You can get to the point of even saying, “Thank you God for getting me through that!!” That’s exactly what He does...He’s with us through it all. He gives encouragement, comfort, guidance and direction. He reminds us that through Him we have hope!! We always have hope when we trust in Him. Our faith might start out a little shaken, but as we pray and read His word, get with others who love Him and love us, He reaffirms us and continues to make us stronger even when we don’t think we are! When we get through the other side, we’ll be able to say, “Thank you God!!” Maybe not for the hurt, but that through that hurt and doubt and whatever it is, He was and continues to be, with us always!! I have to remind myself of that sometimes. When I’m at work I have a lot of time to “think” and that’s good but sometimes my mind gets off and it gets crazy and sometimes it makes me mad or even sad, but in those times I try to pray, nothing big, just maybe a little, “okay God, I think I’m getting off track!” And I know He doesn’t want me in a off track kinda way, so He redirects my thoughts and He gives me new things to think on. He does that for us all! He is a good good Father and He takes care of you and I, His precious kids!! So I don’t know where you are today and I certainly don’t have too, God sees you and He knows, He “gets it,” and He will always take care of you right where you are!! Go to Him, pray to Him, read His word, let Him love on you through His people and always remember that He says to us...Hebrews 13:5b-...because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” I love you all and am praying for you! I hope your Monday is a magnificent one!! =-))