repetition.

every night before bed, the five of us sit down. all is quiet, the lights are dimmed, dusk has fallen outside. scattered on couch, chair and floor here and there, we close our eyes and open our hearts to God and each other. sometimes dad says one prayer, often we say our own aloud. starting with youngest (me), the talking to God begins.

mine usually goes like this:

God, thank you for this day. thank you that we got to do ________ __________ today. thank you for this ______ (new blessing in life). please heal ________ (sick person mentioned at church). please bless ________ (blog friend requesting prayers or someone at church). please forgive me of my sins. help us to sleep well and have a good day tomorrow. in Jesus's Name, amen.

then it continues around the room until each of us has said our own piece of words to God.

i like hearing my family pray. but here lately, i've noticed my prayers have gotten... bland. repetitive. even just reading what i wrote out here i see the blandness. i see repetition. i do more asking than i do thanking.

remember when i started a list to journal a thousand gifts (or blessings) several months ago? i want to pray that way. with eyes open to every detail. God sends good and sometimes it seems bad but what if i prayed thanks for everything? how different would my prayers be then?

so with this comes thoughts of a thirty day challenge. thirty days of just thanks. thirty days of not asking God for anything but thanking Him for everything. this includes my private prayer time in the mornings, prayers with family and even silent flare prayers during the day. instead of asking God for something, i'll thank Him for something i already have. instead of asking God to heal someone, i'll thank Him that He has that person in His healing Hands and that He is already in the process of healing them.

thirty days of thanks. starting now.

twins.

my dearly missed friend, natalie, texted me this picture of her after she saw mine wearing this shirt on my blog tuesday! love this girl and am thankful for her so much. so grateful for the good times we have had together.