Worthy

I lay awake in bed for a few minutes this morning and reflected on a dream I had last night. It was the second this week where my mother was alive, but angry at me for some reason. It's not a pleasant dream and I know some of the reason for the dreams is that this is going to be a somewhat difficult week as she passed away on November 24th last year. So one of my favorite holidays is tinged with sadness. 

I can have a tendency to focus on the negative and I work hard to not do that. When I have too much time on my hands, I get inside my own head and that's not always a good thing. 

This morning, I opened up to Philippians 4 and read the following in verse 8, "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things."

That's a good reminder not just for this week, but for all year round. I want to dwell on the blessings in my life, not the negativity. Because I find the more I focus on what's not going right, the more depressed I become. One way I focus on the blessings is through this weekly blog post of listing my thankful things. 

Normally I post this on Monday, but had some time this morning and felt that I want to start this early this week. Even though it's a hard week in many ways, it's a week in which I want to praise God for what He is doing in my life.

Sometimes the praises come in good times and sometimes the praise comes in the storm. But no matter what the circumstances, God is good and worthy of my praise.