rebelling against low expectations

What are five things you’re thankful for about this year?

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BRETT WRITES: Ruthie submitted this excellent (and relevant) question on Thanksgiving Day, but we all missed out on it since I wasn’t checking emails on Thanksgiving. Fortunately, as Christians we are commanded to give thanks at all times! And as we approach the end of 2014 and enter 2015, this is a great time to reflect on what we’re most thankful for from the past year. Share away!


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  • Seven things I am thankful for:

    1. I am thankful that Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, died, and rose from the dead, to pay for our sins, because He cares about us.
    (Acts 4:12) (Matthew 28:6)

    2. I am thankful that God cares so much for us and gives us soooo many second chances and for using us even though we mess up so much.
    (Luke 12:7) (1 John 1:8-10)

    3. I am thankful that God has given us power over the evil ones. (1 John 4:4)

    4. I am thankful for the Bible. It’s so amazing to be able to hear God whenever we open it! (John 17:17)

    5. I am thankful that God has given me the personality to best serve Him, the way I am, right here, in my city.

    6. I am thankful for the so many spiritual leaders around me, that I can learn so much from. Especially my parents and my mentor.

    7. I am thankful for Alex and Brett Harris, who have influenced so many teens across the world to follow God and Do Hard Things.

  • 1. For the joy and Peace that God can give even when things get hard, and who is bigger then all my fears and doubts.
    2. For friends that will pray for me and who listen to me even when I ramble.
    3. For my amazing family!
    4. For Creativity all the beauty that is in the world
    5. For the adventures that I’ve had this year that have been fun, slightly stressful, and amazing.

  • 1) My puppy

    2) My amazing friends

    3) My family

    4) Reconciliation

    5) Special days such as Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas. My family always gets together on these days and a certain someone always hosts it at their house and we all get to have tons of laughs together. Basically #3. Oops!

    6) Every animal on this Earth!

  • 1. The Grace of God, Jesus Christ & the Freedom that we have to worship God.
    2. The People that I have met in my new Church who encourage me in the Lord
    3. My Family & Friends
    4.The Church that I go to & the Church around the world
    5. Music!!

  • I am thankful for:

    -My parents and the incredible relationship I have with them, and for the many, many ways God has blessed my family. I’m also thankful for my cats, who are definitely a part of my family. For almost a decade my mom had severe cat allergies, but God healed her of them and we now have three sweet kitties.

    -The talents God has given me, and the opportunities He has given me to use them in ways I never expected.

    -My church family, who is always there to encourage me and pray for me.

    -My education, and for the fact that my parents chose to home school me.

    -My salvation. I will forever be thankful for the price Jesus paid, to save me from my sins and give me life in abundance. I am thankful for his grace, mercy, goodness, and unending love. And I am thankful that I have grown up in a family that is fully devoted to Him.

  • In no particular order and just the first things that came to mind.

    1. Like Trent, I am so thankful that Jesus came to earth, lived, died on the cross, and rose from the dead so that we could have eternity with him.

    2. I’m thankful for my parents.

    3. I am thankful for Christmas lights.

    4. Teen Pact. I attended a study meeting for this yesterday and was reminded again what a wonderful benefit it has been.

    5. I am grateful for my school. Even though I’m struggling—and being thankful for algebra is sometimes hard.

  • 1. God, because He’s always there for me.
    2. My church, or as they call it, “a family of families.”
    3. My mom. She probably has the most powerful testimony I know, and to be compared to her is an honor.
    4. My dad. Even though he doesn’t live with us, I’m glad to see him at least once a week. I’m also glad I inherited his affinity for books.
    5. My brother. We may fight, but he shows signs of being a great leader.
    6. My friends. Literally, the craziest, most loyal people I hang around.
    7. My school. Let’s just say my life changed forever. 🙂
    8. My pets. Sweet creatures. Especially my cat Rudy.
    9. Just to be alive!

  • 1) I’m thankful to God for saving a poor sinner like me and for how keeps forgiving and holding on to me when I wrong Him so much and often.
    2) My family and siblings – as annoying as they can get sometimes, I really do have a great family.
    3) For all the things we take for granted like food, clothes, health, and even transportation.
    4) For my home church and all the great people there. Also for the people at the other church that I play piano at every Sunday morning – they are a real encouragement to me.
    5) For the freedom we still enjoy in our country to worship God and voice our opinions.

  • 1. First and foremost, I am thankful that God would ever choose to save this wicked depraved sinner. I will never be able to comprehend His great love for me!

    2. My family is one of the greatest gifts that God has bestowed upon me. My parents have brought me up in a home that strives to serve God, and both of my brothers have positively influenced my spiritually life tremendously. (It doesn’t hurt that they’re fun to be around either!)

    3. My principal or teachers probably will never see this, but I am so thankful that they take a low-paying job just to help students grow in the Lord though education. Each one of the staff clearly cares for the spiritual lives of their students.

    4. I’m a guy, so you really can’t blame me for including food on this list.

    5. Finally, I am so thankful for creativity. Not only God’s when he created our incredible universe, but also the creativity that He has instilled in each of us.

    • I was saving this one for last, but I was too thankful, so I left it off– JK– I am thankful for the Rebelution- a place where teen portion if the global church can come together to share and discuss what God is doing. There is no website for teens that can compare to the ministry that Alex & Brett Harris started. Thanks Alex and Brett!

        • I tried to tag Brett in my list, too and it didn’t work!!
          … then again I only successfully tagged one person on here ever, it was a few seconds ago and I don’t know how I did it so I can’t duplicate the success!

          • Ok, I’ll have to try the first thing. That one time I just tagged you it gave me a drop down after the “@” and I was like “Ooohhhhh!!” but never before- and that is when I’m on my computer too.

            …!? How do you know my username?!?!

          • I think that happened because I signed up via the Rebelution website rather than on Disqus.com. Maybe someday I’ll see if I can fix it. Thanks!!

          • Thank you!!! My phone doesn’t show “settings”, for whatever reason, so I had to wait till I could get on my computer to do it. I was disappointed, though. The username I always use (I use it so much I forget I haven’t copyrighted it) was taken!! But don’t worry, I still did the happy dance. 😉

          • yeah…… I just have problems I guess 🙂 nothing works haha oh well. I took the computer class(es), but I just get to pretend to be smart about it like you – I’m really not!! Thanks for trying to help though!!!

          • Hahaha you are awesome, but I still can’t make it work!!!!! 😛 Like I said I have problems. I only pretend to be smart. …one day I’m gonna meet you in person and you can sit down and show me how to do it 🙂 until then, at least I know you won’t miss anything I do haha 🙂

          • WHOA! That is cool!!! How’d you get that picture there!?!?!?!????!!! 😀

            Um yeah I see it – once i clicked on it…wow it is tiny! 🙂

            hang on…

          • Ha! yes it does 🙂 I just pulled up the Rebelution page and there is a button there now 🙂

            …wait! this like attaches any file??!?

          • Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!! It worked!!!!!!!!! FINALLY! 🙂 Thanks!
            Now let’s see if I can do two things right…

          • … or yes?? Ugh I’m confused!!! @programguy:disqus do you see pictures (too many on one 😛 ) there????

          • haha yay!!!! 😀

            …now how do I get rid of the second picture because I put too many when I didn’t see it there!?? Sorry!!

          • :O SAM CAN’T DO SOMETHING!?!?! *dies* I don’t believe you!!!

            Haha 🙂 okay, well thanks anyways for trying! 🙂

          • With my newfound picture power can I show you?…
            Rachel and I were talking about you a bit ago on Facebook 🙂

  • I started to read this, then froze for a second as I saw my name, but had no memory of sending in anything. DIFFERENT Ruthie… Lol!
    Okay, here goes:
    1) Salvation
    2) The ability to share God’s love with others
    3) My family and (huge!) extended family
    4) Daily provisions such as food, clean water, electricity, Internet, etc….
    5) Many good friends that God has put in my life

    I could list many more, but I’ll keep it to 5 for now. 🙂

      • I currently have 4 siblings, 12 aunts and uncles, 3 grandparents (my grandpa died suddenly of cancer 2 years ago), and 21 cousins. I know that at this point someone will come out and reply, “What? Only 21?? That’s nothing, my dad had like 36 cousins!” (yes, a person actually said that to me) But it does feel huge to me when you have to wait in line for the bathroom at family reunions. 😛

        • Wow, that is pretty huge. =) I have 5 brothers, 2 sisters, a sister-in-law, 2 twin nephews (the most adorable babies on the planet!), 1 grandma, 1 great-grandma, 11 aunts and uncles, 22 cousins, a bunch of great aunt’s and uncles and 2nd cousins and 3rd cousins and 5th cousins 7 times removed and what not. =p But you pretty much have me beat in everything except cousins and siblings. Aw man! 😉 Family is awesome. Wouldn’t trade mine for the whole world.

          • Your family is huger than mine! I’m 14 and the oldest in my family, so I obviously don’t have any nieces and nephews… yet. 🙂
            Family is SO awesome!

          • Yep. And I’m stuck in the middle. =) Five older siblings, two younger. I am now convinced that little brothers are an annoying -ahem, incredible- blessing from God, given to remind me to rely on Him for the patience I need in dealing with them. Haha. Just kidding. They certainly come in handy for that though. Never take your family for granted. And just wait until you have nieces and nephews of your own. Jackson and Ashton (my nephews) are some of the most amazing blessings I’ve ever experienced in my life. =)

    • Haha! Too funny. I saw your comment and thought, “Hey, here’s another Ruthie!”
      I know, I know, 5 is too few, but we’d probably crash the website if everyone posted everything they are thankful for!!!

  • 1. Obviously, salvation and my great, holy, loving God. And remembering his gift to us on Christmas.
    2. My family. I think I have the best one on the planet.
    3. My friends. They mean so much to me, they encourage me, they love on me, they dispute me and correct me and laugh with me. (Bri, if you’re reading this – love you girl!)
    4. My school this past year. No joke, it has been the best year of school I’ve ever had, and I’m downright sad to see it end. It has been amazing.
    5. The Rebolution and these discussion questions! Love how we can all talk about stuff nicely. 🙂
    6. My grandpa’s successful operation. He has a much better quality of life now, in time for Christmas. 🙂
    7. My country (not America – Australia. Totally better than the US… sorry guys. :P). We have such and incredible standard of life here. And freedom, probably even more than the US has (just saying…).

  • 1. My God
    2. His amazing grace and love.
    3. My family and friends who are like family
    4. Church- I am so thankful for the freedom we have to worship.
    5. People who inspire me to live for Jesus and never give up.

  • 1. God’s incredible, soul saving, grace giving love
    2. The book of Psalms
    3. The sacrifice of others
    4. My wonderful, and sometimes kooky siblings and parents
    5. God’s plan for my life!
    It’s amazing how blessed you are when you start counting your blessings. My list could probably reach over a thousand and still go on and on, but these five are some of my most treasured blessings.

  • Wow , there is so much that I am thankful for that it’s hard to say, but I am very thankful that I have a Savior that loves me unconditionally and a great family and awesome friends that are an encouragement to me. I am thankful for all that I’ve been blessed with.

  • 1. My dad is out of the hospital and able to preach again after his surgery to get rid of his trigeminal neuralgia.
    2. My Grandma still surviving cancer
    3. MY house.
    4. My family
    5. My friends

  • 1. God and His Son who saved me.
    2. Family
    3. Friends
    4. Provision
    5. Safety

    I have a lot more, those are just on the top of the list…

  • I am thankful for (in no special order)
    1. God’s love for us and unending pursuit of our hearts
    2. Being able to actually dance again this year!!!
    3. My friend and how God is using her in my life to help me grow
    4. Reading Do Hard Things and finding this site and meeting some AMAZING people here!
    5. The Phylicia Delta Blog and everything God has shown my there

    (and because a five point list is way to short of comment for me to write 🙂 )

    6. My wonderful, loving parents
    7. My little brother
    8. Being able to teach ballet
    9. God being in control of everything that happens
    10. Summer Dance Intensives with Ballet Magnificat!
    11. Art
    12. Coffee 🙂
    13. JESUS!!!!!
    14. Brett Harris (haha sorry if the email was a little overwhelming 🙂 )
    15. Always having access to a Bible
    16. Having family close by
    17. The production my ballet company just did this past weekend

  • 🙂 As I was scrolling through here your list was only partially on the screen; I saw your first two and smiled
    …you like the letter F it seems 🙂 maybe that is your sixth thing you are thankful for?

  • 1. God’s forgiveness
    2. God’s word the Bible
    3. God’s creation
    4. Family
    5. A nice home to live in and food to eat

  • 1. He rescues! (Ps. 107:20)
    2. He redeems! (Ps. 103:2-4)
    3. He restores! (Ps. 14:7)
    4. He renews! (Isa. 40:31)
    5. He revives! (Ps. 119:50)

    Okay, so I saw @programguy:disqus used alliteration, but I had thought of these before I even read his comment..:)

    I’ve been through some hard times in the recent past, but I’m living proof that the Lord is Healer and Rescuer!!

    “He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

  • I have had lots of things to be thankful for this past year. Here are 5 general ones:

    1. God has everything under control, even when my thoughts and emotions are running wild. No matter what happens, no matter how complicated and stressful my life may be (or seem), He’s always right here with me and will help me get through it. It’s all part of His plan.
    2. Even though I’ve had some interesting health situations at times over the last couple years, God has allowed me to continue functioning pretty normally most of the time. No problem I’ve had has kept me from anything really big.
    3. I have found new friendships and continued to grow old ones, and that has been a huge help and support for me. I know I have people I can talk to when life gets nuts.
    4. God has taught me so much in the past year, I can’t begin to talk about it. I have grown a lot in recent years. I’m really thankful that God came and woke me up and showed me I need to give all of me to Him and not just a little part of my life. I’m done playing games with God.
    5. God continues to show me that He can use me in bigger ways than I could ever imagine. He’s given me new opportunities to serve Him, and I know that He will use me for His glory. I have also learned to look for opportunities from God in the little things and realized that He can use me in more than just the big things.

    • Except for 2, that describes my year! That was definitely a stretching time for me… Once I thought I’d learned to trust God, something else came up and I realized I didn’t trust him as well as I thought I did.

      • Yeah He shows us that we really don’t understand as much as we think we do, and we never really “arrive.” There’s always more to learn. 🙂

  • 1. Jesus’s generosity in dying for me.
    2. My wonderful family and friends.
    3. The talents and abilities that God has given me.
    4. The adventures I have had.
    5. The ability to be homeschooled.
    6. The Bible

    And the list goes on…….

  • 1. JESUS-For loving me and saving me.
    2. God-For being Sovereign over everything.
    3. My Parents-For loving me and raising me.
    4. My Older Brothers-For always being there when I need them.
    5. The U.S Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines-For defenfing my FREEDOM.
    6. My Imagination-For giving me a place to go wild within.
    7. My Grandma Betty-For teaching me what it really means to live a sacrificial life, even your last breath.
    8. My Youth Pastor-For helping me through the rough times.
    9. 1,000s of people nation wide-For prayong for me while I was in the hospital.
    10. The Holy Spirit-For being within me to guide my every step.

  • This year I am thankful for:
    1) God’s unending love and forgiveness
    2) Close friends that encourage me in Christ
    3) The opportunity to volunteer at a Christian childcare centre in South Africa
    4) My church family
    5) God’s word that we have readily available to us

  • Five things I am thankful for about this past year:
    1) God’s unending love and forgiveness
    2) God’s Word readily available to us
    3) My church family
    4) My Christian friends that encourage me in the Lord
    5) Volunteering in March and April at a Christian childcare centre in South Africa

  • This is six, but who cares?
    1. My parents’ patience
    2. My brother’s advice
    3. Sarah, a new mentor/friend I met in May
    4. My great Rebelutionary friends
    5. Uplifting books
    6. Uplifting music

  • 1. I am thankful for God providing my family with a house that has air-conditioning and good heat.

    2. I am thankful for the amazing church family that I have been placed in. There are so many wonderful people God has put in my path to nurture me and help me grow.

    3. I am thankful that I live in Yakima, Washington instead of somewhere else. The story behind that is really long, but to pull it short, I was (cough) somewhat rebellious when we first moved out here almost 2 yrs. ago. Now I can truthfully say, that I am content in where I am.

    4. I am thankful for my parents pushing me onward in my studies and not letting me slack off when I want to.

    5. I am thankful for my older sister Jennifer and for the fact that we are roommates. Living together in one room has definitely strengthened our relationship significantly.

    6. I am thankful for Chuck Black’s amazing book series’ “The Kingdom Chronicles” and the “Knights of Arrethtrae”. These books have strengthened my faith so much.

    7. Last, but most definitely not least, I am thankful for a forgiving, righteous God. One who loves me though I don’t deserve it and gave His only Son to provide for me the atonement that I need to stand before Him justified.

    • Numbers 3 and 4 match me pretty well too! Although… I wasn’t rebellious when I moved to the East Coast, it’s just that I don’t want to leave (which is what I’ll be doing sometime in the next few months.)

  • Is anyone else having trouble with the website being slow? Like the most recent articles won’t show up under the archives??

    • Huh, okay, weird. Right now it says this DQ was the most recent post. I have to click around a lot for the articles to show up. But oh well.

    • I’ve noticed that, too! For the past couple days, when I clicked on “blog”, none of the newest posts would show up. And the “recent” archive is sometimes accurate, sometimes not.

    • Yes. Me too. I’ve started watching the site through Disqus. If you go to your Disqus account and look at one of the comments that you have written, it will say that you wrote it on “The Rebelution”. That is a link to the Rebelution’s Disqus page and from there you can filter the posts by either most popular or most recent. That is what I have been doing for the past couple weeks.

  • I am thankful for:
    1. God’s never ending love
    2. My family who cares for me
    3. A safe place to live
    4. A Christian school where God is first in everything
    5. Friends who encourage me and listen to me
    6. The cross

  • 1) For all the blessings He has Given
    2) For the everlasting Love He gave
    3) For being FAITHFUL towards us, for forgiving our sins
    4) For the future moments He will give continuing day after day
    5) For His awesomeness

    😀 No praise is ever enough to envelope His presence.
    I Love You Lord Jesus! 😀 😀

      • Thank you Rachel! 😀 To God be the Glory! ^_^
        I’ve just arrived from our Sunday Service 🙂 I was so inspired and I know these are the fruits of all it. The message is so strong you just just can help it but let it flow. The Holy Spirit just guided. 🙂

        • Your Disqus profile says you live in the Philippines. That’s so awesome!! When my mom was in college, she was going to go to the Philippines as a teacher. But… then… she met my dad… 🙂

          • really? 🙂 wow! what place is she supposed to teach at here in the Philippines? 🙂 it is wonderful that foreign teachers decides to teach here 🙂 I salute to them 🙂 Giving thanks 🙂 Ruthie, Hi! How old are you?

          • My mom decided not to teach in the Philippines, so she could marry my dad. She later had and started homeschooling 5 kids, which is happy for me. 🙂 I don’t know where she was going to go. My family does support a child in the Philippines through Compassion!
            Hi! I’m 14 years old; my birthday is in November.

          • 😀 Our Lord Jesus really planned it to let her stay in order for you to be here on earth 🙂
            Thanks to your family for supporting a child here in the Philippines 🙂 I know the child will have a bright future, and greatly appreciated the love and care your family portrayed. 🙂

            Me, I’m 18 years old, mine is on March 🙂 Nice to meet you Ruthie! 🙂

      • Rachel have you seen the Modesty Survey Results yet? I really want to see it but I cannot view it, it says “Page Not Found”. Can you help?

        • It’s so sad that they had to take it down. 🙁 As a girl, it was very helpful for me to get an idea of what guys really think. I’m really missing the survey…

  • God, and His lovingkindness towards me, along with His grace and mercy and patience with, and sending His Son and His Spirit to save me and help me.

    God’s Word, through which get to know Him better.

    God’s family, who are an immense part of my life.

    God’s protection over me, and for my health.

    For the examples of thousands of saints who have gone before, and have proved God faithful over and over.

  • T-tough things that help me grow in Christ.
    H-hope of an eternity with Jesus in heaven.
    A-advice from people I trust (and some I don’t 🙂
    N-nations that are receiving Jesus right now,
    K-knowing that Jesus is crazy in love with me!

  • T-My family
    H-My Friends

    A-That I have a roof over my head right now

    N-For good food

    K- For clean water

rebelling against low expectations

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