Giving Thanks In Everything.....

I grew up hearing/thinking that God will never give us more than we can handle. Yet I look around and see people in situations that appear as they do have more than they can handle. Sometimes I even feel as if I have more than I can handle. Then an incident happened a couple years back in someone's life and it honestly seemed that person had more than they could handle. In the end they ended up committing suicide. I looked at that incident as if they were given more than they could handle. Then someone reminded me that he did have more than he could handle on his own. It's true, in his own strength he couldn't handle it, but that's is not the point that's trying to be made. The point is that God doesn't give what we can handle, but He helps us handle what we are given. In our own strength we can't handle things in this life, that is why we have to have Him on our side.

I also grew up always hearing/thinking we were supposed to give thanks FOR everything. I had a hard time understanding that, let alone doing it. How can I give thanks for cancer, gastroparesis, death, pain, storms, etc? You know deep inside that everything happens for a reason, but to honestly be thankful for it? Then tonight at church I heard that phrase in a different way that made much more sense to me. God did not say to give thanks FOR everything, but IN everything to give thanks. That may sound like the same thing just worded differently, but if you really think about it, it's not the same thing.

These two thoughts are actually tied together (at least in my thoughts.) Whatever situations we find ourselves in, we need to be able to thank God for it and let Him help us handle it. We can't give Him thanks when the situations are tough and we don't understand if He is not helping us to handle it. If He is helping us handle whatever situation we are in, then is when we will be able to give Him thanks in EVERYTHING!!!!

Fishing!!!

Went fishing today with my dad at Montour Preserve. It was a beautiful day and we even caught some fish. I was also able to get some pictures of the lake. Enjoy!!!

A cute little chipmunk that posed for me :)

This was a mushroom, but I had never seen one that looked like this so I had to take a picture!

The sunfish my dad caught!

The bass that I caught! (I wish is would have been bass season, but then again if it was I wouldn't have caught one then :)) I was just so tickled to catch a fish. My goal was to just catch one!!!

I think the sky is so beautiful in this shot!!

Here is an interesting story from the day yesterday. We were walking on one of the trails back in the woods and dad mentioned that he heard some water running. I looked around and I saw what he heard, but it was NOT water. It was a hole in a tree with hundred of bees swarming around it. I probably wasn't more than 6 feet away  from the when I saw them. If you know me, you know how much I can't stand bees. I was just so happy that they did not swarm and attack me. I had never heard a swarm of bees buzzing, but it was fairly loud. I didn't want to stick around long enough to take a picture even though it would be a cool picture.