A new habit that I have acquired since coming home from my World Race is keeping a Thankfulness Journal. One of my squad leaders (shoutout to Allison, you’re the best) kept a journal like this for our time on the field, and it’s something that she passed down to me.
Being thankful is a Spiritual discipline that often gets overlooked. In 1 Thesallonians 5:18 it says “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS. The Lord has blessed me with so much, and I give glory and praise back to Him when I take the time to thank Him for what He has done/will do.
So I wanted to share 40 things that I have been so thankful for since starting this journey of leading a Passport team. I pray that this blog encourages you and inspires you to look around at your life and give thanks to the One who is responsible for it all.
These are actual things that I wrote in my journal from August 26th to September 12th.
Lord, I am so thankful for…
1) A sweet reunion with my World Race Gap G friends in Gainesville.
2) Such sweet, sweet quality time with Brielle- sharing dreams, eating pizza, and encouraging each other.
3) Catching up and enjoying ice cream with my squad leader Ronny.
4) Chick-fil-A, twice in one day 🙂
5) An indoor shower, even though it was burning hot
6) A cool fall day after the heat of my Kyoto summer
7) Being back at the Adventures in Missions base, the place where it all started. To look back on who I was at my training camp, and how far the Lord had brought me in the past year. It was so powerful and I’m so grateful for it!
8) For Scripture that uplifts me and tells me WHO I AM in the Lord
9) Morning worship with the other Passport leaders
10) Atlas Pizza
11) For training that better equipped me in wisdom and knowledge
12) For all of the people that God used to bless and encourage us during our time of evangelism. We set out to bless people, but the Lord placed people in our path who ended up encouraging and lifting US up in prayer. It was so good to meet other Christ followers, and we even got to sit and fellowship with some ladies who were having a Bible study. They were so genuinely interested in us and our ministry, and they blessed and encouraged us so much.
13) Met my team, and it was much less nerve wracking than I thought it would be:) The Lord has grown me so much in the past year- it’s amazing. I’m so excited for how the Lord is going to open, wreck, and piece back together their hearts in beautiful ways!
14) Worship- so freeing and powerful and I feel so close to the Lord during these times!
15) God provided just what I needed in my coleader, Maddi. We balance each other out really well, and she is so uplifting and encouraging. So thankful to have her to keep me accountable, lead alongside of me, and make me laugh. She is such an answer to prayer.
16) My fellow Passport leaders- Jenna, Michelle, Alleigh, Danielle, Rashidat, and Maddi
17) An unbeleiveably smooth travel day from Atlanta to San Jose, Costa Rica. Honestly things couldn’t have gone better! Smooth, on-time flights, no one lost their passports, everyone’s luggage came through, our shuttle driver was waiting right outside customs, and we had enough money to pay our driver and our hostel. Ah thank you Jesus!
18) Josee at In the Winds Hostel. She had such a nice place and was so helpful in setting up transportation and food for us.
19) Safety, protection, and favor over our travel days.
20) A comfy bed with clean sheets
21) A hot shower. So refreshing.
22) That our taxi driver came to pick us up 30 mins early, which turned out to be a huge blessing because it took us nearly an hour to buy our tickets. God knows better than me!
23) SUPER SMOOTH border crossing from Costa Rica into Panama.
24) Being able to pray for a beggar at the bus stop.
25) Leftovers from teammates’ meals that became my meals;)
26) Cathy and Brent, YWAM staff, who met us at the bus stop.
27) Clean sheets, a pillow, a towel, and goodie bag awaiting us at YWAM Chiriqui
28) Playing UNO with teammates. So many tears from laughing so hard.
29) Teaching Tristan guitar- it brings me a lot of joy!
30) Cassie and I got to bus to Panama City to pick up my coleader, Maddi, from the airport.
31) Got to go to the mall and get some burgers for dinner.
32) Food.
33) Exploring the town in Panama City
34) Cute coffee shop for breakfast
35) Saw the Panama Canal!
36) Front row seats in the upper level of the double decker bus. We had an amazing view and we could put our feet up!
37) Morning walks, wet with dew, with the sun rising over the mountains and shining through the trees. Thankful for this time to talk with the Lord.
38) For the Lord breaking down my pride
39) A whole afternoon to myself to just be still and be filled.
40) Being able to join the YWAM worship team!
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His love endures forever!” Psalm 107:1
Each day I am filled with gratitude to the Lord for who He is and how He chooses to love and bless me, whether it’s in as seemingly a small way as providing clean sheets, for in a larger way through sweet friends and communion.
I’m sorry if this blog was hard to follow, but I just really wanted to share that thanking the Lord in everything really changes your entire outlook on life. I pray that through this your hearts will overflow with thanksgiving to Him as well!
In Christ,
Cindy
