#468. For a godly husband who can speak the truth in love to those who need it.

#462 - AWESOME worship at Cool Church yesterday. And an incredible speaker for "pulpit supply." Wow...there was energy, joy and worship happening yesterday at church!

#463 - An INCREDIBLE time at a friend's house with my family and hers (after church). We barbequed and enjoyed playing water volleyball in the pool. It was SO much fun! We laughed so much!

#464 - For the fun it was to see my sweetie with THREE dogs on his lap at our friend's house...the fourth dog wouldn't have fit. ;-) The dogs sure conquered! LOL!

#465 - This relates to #462 I think...it was really amazing to hear our congregation CLAP all the way through one of the songs we did in worship. That was amazing! We are a congregation that rarely claps (not sure why)...so folks let loose and it was SO encouraging to me!

#466 - For our youth and worship pastor...Tony. I thank God for him all the time, but today it is because we have him to lead our worship. He loves the Lord so much and it shows!

#467 - For the adventure that is ahead as we wait on the Lord to see the special gift that he is going to give our church in a new pastor! I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas!

#457 - Have I praised God for our youth pastor lately? LOL! (I think I did yesterday...oh well...he gets put on my list again today!)

#458 - For a tender conscience in my 17-year-old son. Thank you, Lord, that he has a tender conscience. Keep him from obsessing about anything but loving you more!

#459 - A husband you has convictions and wisdom and love for you.

#460 - For the privilege of working with Judy Halliday all these years and the writing project to which you call even today. May what flows from my heart and fingers be YOURS.

#461 - For the coolness of this morning...such a relief!

#450 - For Jordan, my dog from the Sacramento Animal Shelter. His quiet love and his not-so-quiet silliness when it is dinner time or time for a walk or jog...brings a smile to my face so very often. I wonder what God was thinking about when he created dogs? :-) Probably about the joy they would bring humans. How precious is that?

#451 - For Mike Cassidy, the chairman of our elder board, and his tireless service to our church body. What an amazing man of God. How fortunate we are to have him.

#452 - For Tony Cordova, an incredible Youth Pastor who is a wonderful example of a godly Christian young man. I am so blessed that my young daughter sees Tony with his very young family...that she can aspire to experiencing that instead of what this world so often portrays as "true love." I am thankful for Tony's willingness to engage Michaela in dialog about things...wow, what a gift not just to Michaela and to me, but to our entire church. I am SO thankful for him...and his wife, Abbi!

#453 - For the adventure our Church is now on with the Lord as our Shepherd. What will we learn about Him during this time? How will we grow closer to Him and to one another? I am excited to see what He has in store!

#454 - For Facebook...I know that sounds so nutty. I have found Facebook to be an interesting tool for getting to know real people in my community and church! Sure, it can be a time waster, but just this morning, I got to read how God is at work in our Youth Pastor's wife's life and chat with one of our most amazing bass players! Where else can you DO that? :-) I am so blessed to say that God is using Facebook to encourage me so much and to cause me to connect with people in my TOWN that I wouldn't otherwise connect with as much! Sad, but true!

#455 - For the pleasure and privilege of being on the worship team. I don't have much to offer but a heart that LOVES to worship God. I just LOVE to fix my eyes on Him and lift up a song as I pray the words in my spirit. Being on the worship team has been SO good for me as I have to CLING to GOD so much or I will freak out about the people and about being on the stage. I know that sounds awful...but I am SO self-conscious. I am one of those people that really hates any attention being on me (most of the time) and I know that the enemy could use that SELF-consciousness to destroy my worship. Instead, God has used it to cause me to cling to him so tenaciously. I love that...my worship of Him has been rocked and intensified since starting to be on the worship team. I am soooo thankful for that...

#456 - I know that God has a man of God that he is RIGHT NOW raising up to be our new lead pastor. I am so excited that He is at work. Thank you Lord!

#446 - for good health...I can move, breathe, see, think, feel, smell, hear, laugh...

#447 - For my husband's 47th year and that he has chosen to spend the last 25 years of his life with me!

#448 - For my incredible accountability partner, confidant, and friend...

#449 - for the beauty outside my window...

#441. On Monday, I had an incredible ride with my husband, Breezy and Harley. Thank you, Lord, for keeping me safe. For the joy that welled up in my spirit as I was outside in the beautiful weather with the love of my life (Bob) and the equine loves of my life too! (Breezy and Harley).

#442. On that ride, God gave us a calm ride along the river...our calmest yet. It allowed me to truly enjoy the wonder of His creation.

#443. On that ride, we were able to trot and canter together and laugh together. Even Bob and Breezy! LOL!

#444. Afterwards, I hung out with the horses in the corral and Harley was so silly. Oh, Lord, you have made the horses with such personality. How did you do that? I know that part of it is merely to delight us humans! And oh how it does!

#445. Yesterday's arena ride with Harley wasn't nearly so peaceful, Lord. You know something was definitely wrong...yet as I prepared to get Harley in the trailer I gave him a stern talking to. "Now Harley, I have done a good job not getting angry with you today, but I am really close to anger right now. You just get in that trailer. I know you aren't afraid to do that...so just do it. I don't want to blow up over this little thing...but I am near my boiling point!" And Harley gave me a "kiss" on the face at just that moment. I do believe he knows what I am saying...(I taught him to "kiss" and he uses it at the most bizarre moments...)

#437. For the privilege of being invited to step in to lead worship at church yesterday. The person scheduled to do it had the flu...I was overwhelmed, had to depend on God, but was in awe that it was *HIS* idea for me to do this...how ironic.

#438. All the things that I prayed for seemed to happen at some level. I prayed that Tony, the worship pastor--who couldn't lead because he was presenting the morning's message--would be able to just worship the Lord prior to giving his message. He called and told me he had been blessed by having a chance to do that.

#439. I prayed that the people who normally are in the band, but who wouldn't have to worry about playing, might be refreshed and encouraged by not having to come for an early practice...the drummer told me last night what a blessing it was not to be "on" yesterday for a change...that he was able to kick back and it was a good thing. Thank you, Lord.

#440. I had prayed also that in spite of not having the big worship team, someone(s) would be able to worship God in a special way...that maybe it would actually be a *good* thing for someone...and a lady came up to me after the service and shared how nice it was for her...that she could really worship with just the guitar and the voice...that it was a good thing for her...Thank you, Lord, for that encouragement...

I just so much wanted to worship God myself...and I did...and wanted others to be able to do so as well...I hope and pray they did.