I decided to write down 11 things I’m thankful for in this season of my life!
- My family. They literally love me ALL the time, no matter what. When I asked my mom how she continued to love me even when I was rebelling and unkind to her, she responded, “You are my heart. How could I ever stop loving you?” That’s a Jesus answer if I ever heard one.
- Food. Have you ever stopped and realized how blessed you are to even have food? Many in the world live every second of their lives trying to figure out where their next meal will come from, and the rest of us just guzzle down a heaping plateful of food without blinking, and then complain that we have to do dishes or it that it took so long to make or you don’t have enough room for all the leftovers. The thought that somewhere a mother is watching her baby wither away in front of her while we complain about cleaning the dishes breaks my heart. Thank you, God, for feeding us so well that we have so many dishes to clean!
- Diversity. DUDE, during the Turkey Trot, it began snowing, and I started laughing as I blinked snowflakes out of my eyes. God has never created two similar snowflakes EVER. WHAT?! I watched the snowflakes fall, and started to think how impossible that is, but then I realized that he’s also never created the same two people either. We all have a different purpose, different gifts, different laughs, different stories, but just as snowflakes are all created from the same material, we are all created in God’s image. How boring would it be if we were all the same? He gave us a gift of being different and we should celebrate that, not run from people who are different than us!
- Life. It would have been easy to complain yesterday—I was tired from waking up early to run, it was freezing cold, I was running alone, the screws in my knee let me know they didn’t like the snow, I don’t have a working memory to recall why all these people know me, etc. Instead during my run, I prayed thanking God for working legs, even with my knee throbbing, I am still able to run; eyesight to see all these snowflakes of people he made; lungs to feel the burning cold of life going in and out of me; a voice he gave me to encourage everyone struggling around me; etc. Every complaint we have hides a blessing; it just takes a little faith to find it. What is your biggest complaint right in this moment? What blessing is it hiding from you?
- Clothes. The bitter cold reminded me to be thankful for clothes yesterday. I’m beyond blessed to have a family giving me clothes, and a job providing me with the money to purchase clothes. Have you ever complained that you have “nothing to wear” or you hate how something just doesn’t “go” with your outfit? I’ll be the first to admit I’ve done that. In fact, I’ll be the first to admit I own too many clothes. It’s honestly disgusting. When we allow materials to overflow in our life, where is our focus? It’s not on God, that’s for sure. Just because you’ve never built a little gold statue and bowed down to it, doesn’t mean you’ve never broken the second commandment; anything you’ve held in high esteem is an idol, including clothes. (This feeling of guilt you have will eventually dissipate, but the feeling of obeying and honoring God will continue to increase if you do something about it right now.)
- Renewed, Godly friendships. Honestly, I don’t deserve the amazing people God has placed in my life. Just this year alone, I’ve had five people return to my life in such a big way, and I never thought I’d see them again. When I’m with them, all we do is talk about Jesus; my relationship with them brings me closer to God daily. How awesome is that? In fact, each of them has taught me about obedience to God, and following what He tells us to do, no matter how crazy we think the plans are. If someone sits on your heart all day, I strongly encourage you to contact them. God has big plans for our lives and can work it out if we just listen and act!
- My World Race squad. Holy moly, these guys and gals are the bee’s knees. I love them so much that sometimes it feels like my heart might actually explode. All 53 of them love Jesus so much, that it’s tangible in the air around them. I’m thrilled I get to do life with these brothers and sisters, and we get to learn from each other, build each other up, and teach one another. It’s a beautiful community, and I can’t believe I’m part of it!
- My education. I only went to college because that’s what was expected of me; there are a lot of reasons I could be bitter towards my schooling. I’m really bad at school starting with the fact that I’ve never been capable of sitting still for any period of time; however, God’s plan reign, as usual. I could write a book on all the reasons God is using my education for His greater purpose, but for brevity’s sake, I would’ve missed out on a lot of hard lessons if I hadn’t gone to college and would not love Jesus as much as I do now! Is there something you regret in your life? Did it make you a stronger warrior? If it did, then stop listening to Satan’s lies about being ashamed of it, and in turn thank God for putting you something so horrible so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing! (Hebrews 6:1-3)
- CISV. I worked at an international camp this past summer in France as a camp leader as a legal guardian of four 11-year-olds, and a camp counselor to 44 children from all over the world. I learned more about love within a month than I thought possible. I learned how a group of people could help each other grow as better humans, and because of those amazing people, I discovered a lot about who I am as a person. Each one of those people imprinted my heart so deeply, and I can’t thank God enough for them.
- My amnesia. Through a series of events, I lost all my memories I had before the age of 19. If you want to know more about it, I’d love to meet with you and talk about it. The only memories I have now are stories people have told me, what I can gather from pictures, and every now and then, the Lord will bless me with a rare memory. I’m able to recognize people’s faces, and sometimes their names, but generally I don’t know why I know someone I met before college. This could easily be something that I’m bitter about, but this isn’t a list of things I’m bitter about. I am thankful for my amnesia. God allowed me to lose my memories so that I wouldn’t grow stagnant and bored in a religion. God doesn’t want my worship out of repetition or religious practice; He wants a relationship with me. He took everything away from me so show that He’s all I need, and now He’s all I ever want. He’s all I want to talk about. If you make your religion bigger than your God, you’ve made an idol blocking your view of the Creator who just wants to hug you and get to know you more. I am not a Christian; I am a daughter of the King, Creator, and Father of the universe. Are you a follower of Christ, or a follower of a church?
- The cross. Seems kind of obvious, but do you ever think about it’s weighty gift? Let’s mull on that for a minute right now. Jesus went before us, was tempted with everything we are tempted with, yet denied it. He lived a perfect life, and then died the death each of us deserves. Our sinfulness deserves a painful death and eternity in the pits of hell, but Christ took that FOR YOU because He loves YOU. That cross gives us access to the kingdom right now; it tore the incredibly thick veil separating us from God, and allows us to live in constant community with the one who created EVERYTHING! We should be thanking God every second of every day for that!!
Have you written down what you’re thankful for lately? Or are you too busy complaining or putting other things first? I challenge you to write down 11 things you’re thankful for right now, and praise God for His amazing provision and love!
