Becoming Thankful

Thanksgiving??!?! I can't believe it's already that time of year again! The start of the holiday season. Am I really ready for this? Sadly, I haven't been as ready as I should be for this day. This has been quite a different fall, and Satan has been trying to discourage and bring me down. Trying to keep me from thankfulness.
This oddly enough reminds me of Storm Alfred from a few weeks ago. I couldn't help but continue to think as we drove around each day, that this was a SNOW storm. It looked and still looks as if it were a storm with strong straight line winds or a small tornado in some places. Who would think to really worry about their big trees because of snow...soft, fluffy, beautiful, white snow? But that soft, fluffy snow took down some pretty big, strong trees. These trees came down on cars, homes, and across roads causing so much damage. This makes me think of Satan, he showers us with lies, and continues to pile them on. It might start out with just a few simple lies, but if we are not careful, they slowly become more and stronger in our minds. These lies can really weigh us down, even those who are older or strong in the faith can become weighed down by his lies. He wants to break us down, to take our strength from us, and destroy us. Too often we start to believe those lies, and instead of being able to shake off those lies we let them start to affect us and break us down bit by bit. And if we're not careful we can fall, and fall hard, causing lots of damage.
The morning after the storm, the sun came out, and those branches and trees that hadn't broken, but were hanging so low were finally starting to stand back up straight again. If we can hold on and not allow those lies to break us, the Lord allows the sun to shine, to melt away those lies. I am so thankful for friends and family who have been that sun for me, encouraging me, praying for me, sharing with me, caring for me, shining strong to melt away the lies of Satan. Helping me shake them off, so I can stand back strong in the Lord.
Storm Alfred really helped me to start thinking more thankful thoughts than I had been for a while. When I thought of how God took care of our house, and allowed the only branches that came down to be way back in the yard. He allowed me to get gas when I needed, food for mom and I, and to keep my phone charged up. He allowed us to find Evergreen Walk to get us out of the house. He allowed us to have the money to get food throughout the week. He kept us safe in our house. As I thought of all this how could I not be thankful! Maybe if I had been praising Him more before, I wouldn't have gotten so weighed down with lies and discouragement. I am so thankful the Lord doesn't give up on us. I'm thankful for wonderful people He has put in my life to continually encourage me and help me to grow. I am thankful for my little family. I am thankful for my extended family. I am thankful for my house, and a car that at least still runs. I am thankful for great friends, old and new. I am thankful for the joy and laughter that children bring. I am thankful for the joy, laughter and good times that Bella brings to this house. For these and many, many other things, I am thankful. Though I miss dad so much around this time (really missed him today), I am so thankful for the many memories, and all of the wonderful years we had together. I am thankful for memories I still get to make with mom.
Thank you, Lord, for the Sun!