30 Days of Thanksgiving ~ Day 9

Blessings on Day 9 (Monday):

~ Hamper King sent some presents (some companies do that, that is one of the reasons I love them, truly) and the calendars

~ Hamper King also sent a list of things I bought which will help with menu planning. I did keep a ripped out page or two from the catalogue but found I couldn't record multiples of things very well, I ticked off things when I did my menu recently

~ the freezer came home just at the right time. The kids have been enjoying freezer their water bottles

~ I am thankful the freezer made it home in one piece

~ I finished my novel by Sandra Dallas. Sandra Dallas can be hard reading for a Christian. I was reading New Mercies, and got near to the end (actually page 254) and realised what the title meant, when one of the characters mentioned new mercies. I have this theme going on my blog of Grace and the scripture because of the previous novel I read Tender Grace by Jackina Stark. Isn't like God to have me read this new novel, totally unplanned. From Jackina Stark's website:

"Desperately needing healing, she embarks on a journey to a place Tom had always meant to take her. As she travels from Springfield, Missouri, to Coronado Island off the shore of Southern California, she discovers along the way, through shared experiences with friends, old and new, the “tender graces” God provides each day for those who are willing to see."

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another." John 1:16 NIV

I wrote this on my other blog:

"...a novel I think I finished last night. It is called Tender Grace by Jackina Stark. It is her first novel. It is about a 50ish woman who lost her husband to a heart attack. She has her house paid for, her two children, a boy and a girl are grown up. She has two grandchildren. She watches 10 hours of TV a day. She feels dead but alive, I think but don't quote me.

I like the way it was written, as a journal on her computer. She was easy to relate to...

Basically the woman learned to see the tender graces as she called them of each day.

Break, break, break

At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!

But the tender grace of a day that is dead

Will never come back to me. ~ Tennyson

She went on a roadtrip and basically got some perspective on her memories I think. And gave herself an opportunity to see people that she wouldn't have had in front of the TV."

I didn't learn this stuff in church. I find it amazing. I am blessed to have been able to find online the idea of counting blessings, not sure where it started, then to have been able to participate in Thankful Thursday.

Lamentations 3:22-23
"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions (mercies) never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

Every day I know that something special may happen when there is no reason it should. Like the things I am posting for each day for 30 Days of Thanksgiving. Also in the novel, when this subject came up, it was to cheer up the main character. It was not about special surprises, but about small things that make each day tick over. So in the end her life did just that. She was also at peace again after a heartbreak.