Name: Linda
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Thankful Thursday and A Change
It is Thankful Thursday. I haven’t written at all this week and this is a great day to begin. There is something special about focusing on the blessings God has so faithfully and generously poured into my life that makes my spirit sing.
I am thankful for the gift of the Holy Spirit in my life. We are studying the Fruit of the Spirit in our Bible Study. The characteristic we studied this past week is joy. The joy that comes from the Lord is so much more than mere happiness. As Beth Moore said:
“Joy is the result of realizing that our names are written in heaven.
Joy is the result of discovering the person, power, and plan of God in our
multitude of circumstances.
Joy is the result of restoration.
Joy is the result of ‘remaining’ in Christ.
Joy is the result of relating God’s way to God’s people.”
I am thankful that as I choose to trust in the Lord I find Him to be all He has promised. He is always faithful.
I am thankful for the blessing of length of days. I have lived long enough to see my children grow into adulthood and to see the results of answered prayer in their lives. We prayed that they would love and serve the Lord; we prayed for their future mates; we prayed, and continue to pray, for God’s blessing and favor in their lives – and so much more. He has been so faithful and good to us.
I am thankful that I have been blessed with the precious gift of grandchildren. They are pure joy. We have had such fun these past few Saturdays watching our little granddaughter make her soccer “debut”. It is sometimes difficult to realize that my son is all grown and this is his child trying her absolute best to be a good player.
I am thankful for God’s patient, loving direction in my life. I have something to tell you about that. I will do it in a minute.
I am so thankful that Iris had a time of rest and is back again at Sting My Heart, where you will find more Thankful Thursday posts.
Now I have a little bit of “news” to share with you. I have given this much thought and have prayed about it and “talked” with others much wiser than I. I have made some decisions about blogging that I believe the Lord would have me make.
For a number of reasons I find it is taking up far too much of my time – time that should be spent on other things in my life. To help myself do this I am going to disable the comments on my blog after this post. I will have my email address there so that we can still keep in touch. I put so much pressure on myself to try to answer all the comments, and it takes a lot of time with my dialup. I am also going to spend less time leaving comments myself. I will read as often and as many posts as I can reasonably manage in a day. I will try to comment occasionally too.
You can’t know how difficult this is for me to do. I really do love this community of bloggers and all of the things we share. I’ve tried just cutting back, but it just hasn’t worked for me. I am going to go back to what I believe God first called me to do with blogging. I want to write to encourage others. I pray that I can do that. I have had to make the choice to seek the approval of God rather than of others. I feel a peace about this deep in my spirit. If no one ever reads my simple writings, I will be content with knowing I am doing what He has required of me for now.
It’s hard to not sit here and just weep. You have all come to mean so much to me. I will not lose touch; I will just be stepping back a bit. Thank you for all you have meant to me – for all the prayers, encouragement, laughter, sharing and joy. I love you.
Blessings,
27 Comments:
What a beautiful, God-honoring post! Rejoicing with you this Thankful Thursday. So thankful for His Holy Spirit, too.
Do whatever the Lord leads you to do with your blog...I totally understand. But know that you're a blessing in the blogosphere, dear one.
As always, I enjoyed your thankful list.
I have enjoyed your blog. I hope you will have chance to look at ours. God Bless
Claire Kennedy
I understand completely, Linda. You have my email address as well, so don't be a stranger.
God will separate the chaff from the wheat, you can be sure. :-)
Love and hugs,
Diane
Blessings Linda!
I know exactly how you feel, Linda, and I truly understand. Sometimes we have to step back.
I'm taking a pretty big break right now while I think about all this. The pressure to reply to all commenters is overwhelming I think and yet if I don't, I feel guilty.
Blogging should be rewarding, not guilt inducing. So whatever you have to do is exactly what you should do and no one out here will ever judge you for it.
We love you, too. Disabling comments is a very brave thing to do but it will definitely free up your time. And as long as there's an email address in your profile, we know how to reach you. That's all that matters, right?
Beautiful and very honest post.
(((Linda))) of course you must do what you feel you have to do...just know that you have truly blessed my life and I do hope we never completely lose touch. You take good care of yourself my dear friend! xoxo
Linda,
First of all, I have to say that I completly understand.
The area of blogging that is so hard is it is truly a give and take type of thing. If you don't go and read and comment, then you risk others not coming to your blog and reading and commenting.
I have cut way back on my posting and commenting and therefore, others stopping by my blog has decreased. But that is ok. It takes too much time to post as often as I was and to visit blogs everyday and there is way too much real life to be lived and enjoyed.
You have been one of the few people who have visited me and commented so graciously! Your encouragement has been wonderful. Please don't stop writing. You have so much to share, so much wisdom and encouragement to those of us who are still in the trenches of raising children.
I rarely comment, but you are one of my few faithful reads. So, post occasionaly at your convenience and please don't feel any obligation to stop by my place but enjoy those grandbabies and this season that God has blessed you with.
You simply must do what's best for you. I'll still come and read when you post.
Dear Linda,
I respect you so much for taking this big step. I knew you hadn't been commenting as much, and selfishly I must admit I do miss your kind and always uplifting words in response to my posts.
I'll still look forward to your posts as they've often been a help to me during these last difficult months with Grandpa.
Take care my dear friend.
xoxo
Linda, I admire your honesty in this blogging decision. I'm new and already feeling like it MUST be kept in balance with the rest of life. God will bless your decision to make boundaries.
I love you Linda! Your heart, your words and your faith...especially the Jesus I see in you!
I just linked your blog...I hope that is ok--you have so much wisdom and love, I know that every post you have done will bless others.
Love you, Sister!
Your prayers have meant so much to me...more than you'll know this side of Heaven.
In His Joy,
Holly
I was afraid you were going to say you weren't going to blog anymore, so I'm glad to know that you're just going to disable comments :) I'm happy to know I'll still be able to come over and read your wonderful, uplifting posts! I know what you mean about feeling like you should respond to comments, I realized early on I just couldn't do that - unless they were asking me a specific question then I responded back. Anyway, I'm glad you're sticking around and that you are at peace w/your decision!
I am so glad that you have found a wonderful Bible study that brings you joy...
You are so blessed with your family, my dear friend. And I would love to watch your little granddaughter play soccer, since I have played it myself as a little girl :).
If God leads you to cut back on you spending time away from the Internet and if the no comments will help you to focus, so do it. I know that I will still read you and you will be still sharing your wisdom with us as LWG on a regular basis...
Thank you so much for sharing your grateful heart with us this week.
Be blessed today and always.
Linda, I think you have made a wise choice. I will still stop by for my daily dose of wisdom and encouragement as long as you provide it here. You are a blessing to me whether or not you ever comment back. Enjoy your family and your time with the Father.
Oh, my dear friend, I knew you were coming to this decision. I spend too much time here as well, but it has just been such a blessing - and you have been such a big part of that blessing. As Susie said, you always encourage me with your comments. But you have to do what God is telling you to do. You have such a soft heart for God. I will keep coming back, and hopefully we can keep in touch. We still have to meet someday! And go hear Max preach!
I hope someday to see your name on a devotional book that you have published. Seriously.
I will still be here to visit every day, Linda, and I quite understand. I love your thoughtful comments, and I know we will stay in touch. Just because you are quiet, does not mean you have gone away!
As much as I love reading your posts and comments, what I love MORE is knowing you're faithfully doing what you feel the Lord leading you to do. You're who I've always known you to be. :)
And I'm happy as long as I still know where to find you... ;)
Linda, I so understand. I am just thankful you are going continue to post...
I am searching to find that balance, and will be praying about this, too.
Thank you for being such a blessing!
(((HUGS)))
~Tammy
Linda?
I love you, (((too))).
Know you are loved.
Ann...
You go, girl! You are lead of the Lord, and a blessing and inspiration to many.
God seems to be saying something to us bloggers. If we will listen to His still, small voice and follow after His peace, we will glorify Him. And the FREEDOM will be wonderful!
P.S. This is the only comment I have left anywhere since mid-June.
Blogging decisions are so hard, Linda. Be encouraged to listen and follow the Lord's leading. I completely understand how hard it is to just "cut back" - that never works for me either. :)
May the Lord bless your new-found time.
What a wonderful and loving post. I found you by way of Dawn. I will be back again...we all understand the time element thing with blogging.
May your days be filled with love and laughter!
Angela
Linda, I've been missing you. I've cut way, way back, too, as you can tell since I am a week behind. I started to comment on your more recent posts and kept reading to discover this.
As long as you are listening to God, then that is all that really matters. You are a great encouragement to me. Keep up the great writing. It helps more people than you realize.
I did totally miss this post, Linda. But I have been busy too. And I have been letting go of the guilt of feeling I have to read days worth of posts from all my bloglines when life has happened and made me behind. So I guess that right now that is my way of balancing out a bit.
I love how you want to honor God with all that you do and want to follow Him. Bless you as you are obediant to what He has placed upon your heart.
And don't feel you have to answer this comment, cause I totally understand. :v)
My first time to visit. I was just wondering if you turned off your "comments" on the newer posts because I couldn't find a place to comment. just want to make sure that you are are of it and it was not accidentally turned off.
opsss, read this post and found the answer. Sorry I posted here before I read (because I wanted to comment on an earlier post...)
God bless you.
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