and she's really getting on my nerves and there's no more hot water and we're out of food and CAN'T I JUST GET 5 MINUTES TO MYSELF?!
the crackle of a fire and a shooting star and a perfectly timed hug.
and he talks so loudly and i'm tired of sleeping 3 girls to one bed and i don't like eating that and WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I SHOWERED?!
hands that can work and a mug of hot chocolate and a beautiful, old cathedral.
and my tent has holes in it and she's PMSing again and feedback took 5 hours tonight and WHO IS TAKING SO LONG IN THE BATHROOM?!
worship outside in perfect weather and questions that make me think and conversations that hurt but pull me closer to His heart.
Gratitude.
It's a choice. MY choice. When things are bad, when things are good. I can give thanks. I can choose to give thanks for both the beautiful and the ugly because God gave them both.
When children are starving and friends have HIV and people are in slavery and the little boy who has the biggest piece of my heart will have his 4th birthday in an orphanage this week.
When war tears families apart and dreams are shattered and my heart is broken and my dad died too young.
When life is ugly and messy and hard and it hurts.
Because it's in the deserts, in the valleys, in the hard places, and in the pit that we truly realize how helpless we are. How we have control of absolutely nothing. How much we need Him.
I can give thanks for those things too because no matter what, I always have something to be thankful for.
Not just something. The biggest thing.
CHRIST.
In every season, within every circumstance, every day, He still died and rose for me and
THAT IS ALWAYS ENOUGH TO BE THANKFUL FOR.
So I'm making the decision as often as I can. The decision to receive whatever He has in store for me. Whatever He wills for my life. I will trust. I will believe that even the hard things are blessings.
I will receive with open hands and a grateful heart.
