The ice storm really wrecked havoc with our days. We lost power on Thursday afternoon around 3pm and didn’t get it back for about 12 hours. But our cable television didn’t get restored until just a few hours ago. Our high speed internet connection still isn’t functioning. I’m updating the “old fashioned way” – phone line connection at a whopping 56k!

I mention all of this to say that, sometimes, I allow myself to get too busy – piles of projects, paperwork and proposals. And all of them have a deadline that I’ve determined. Incidents like this force me to sit back, take a look at everything and just be thankful. As we head toward 2006, I’ve been doing just that – reviewing our accomplishments and being very, very grateful.

As a child, I can remember learning in church to “give God thanks for everything.” Life isn’t always easy and things don’t go the way I think they should. But when I really give God thanks in everything, I am acknowledging that He is sovereign and that I trust Him. And I find that it changes me and my attitude about things. Few of us really want to get comfortable with the fact that most often God changes us in the process of our ordinary day-to-day dependence on Him (if we make that decision). I know that I change most NOT in the great dramas of my life, but in the small acts of obedience and submission that no one sees but Him.