Sometimes in life it's hard to find things to be thankful for. Sometimes in life it's really really hard to live with a thankful attitude. As I sit here typing this, I've got a little case of what we like to call malaria. Yep- with having been in Africa for almost 3 months, with one week left of ministry now is when the malaria got me and 2 teammates. Day 4 of being on meds, I'm over it. I'm so tired of laying around all day but still being exhausted. I'm tired of being sick and feeling like I have the flu but I know this is temporary and I will be better in no time The point of this blog is not to make you feel sorry for me but to tell you in being annoyed, uncomortable, and laying in bed for 4 days "resting" the Lord is showing me sooo many things to be thankful for. He never promised this 11 months to be easy and comfortable for me. So this is just a little speedbump on my journey. It will be over before I know it. So today I am choosing to be thankful.
It's not uncommon to hear people on my squad playing the 'thankful game'. Basically whenever you are in a bad mood, or super annoyed, or your heart is just not in the right place. You play the thankful game. You start calling out things around you that you are thankful for. For example (which I have had to make myself do the last few days)- I have malaria. It sucks. I feel like crap. BUT I look around and say you know what I'm thankful for this mattress I have to lay on instead of being on the ground, I'm thankful for crystal light packs to add to my water to help get the gross meds down, I'm thankful that there was a medical clinic so close, I'm thankful I'm not alone during all this, I'm thankful for teammates that pray over me, I'm thankful for the breeze that comes through the window every so often, I'm thankful I have movies to watch while recovering, etc… Focus on the good instead of the bad! Usually you keep "playing" until your attitude is made new and changed from being negative to positive. It works, it really does change your attitude! It's all about slowing down and looking for good gifts in life, no matter how small they are, instead of automatically focusing on the negative.
So back up to Jan. 1st. Katie, one of my teammates from my last team, and I decided to start a thankful list. Back it up even more to our first team, team Eucharistia. Our team name was insprired from a book called One Thousand Gifts. It's all about being thankful. Taking time to see the beauty of life and the small gifts that God gives us each and every day. Slowing down and being appreciative of things that are so often overlooked in this busy life. In the book the author talks about how she created a thankful list. Eucharistia means thanksgiving, grace, and joy. All such great things that I want my life to be about. So that's when this whole idea of actively being thankful for the small things started- before even leaving America.
I had started a thankful list back in month 1- Moldova, but it wasn't very consistent and I gave up on it somehwere along the way. But on the first day of this year Katie and I were randomly talking about it and decided to give it another try and we would keep each other accountable. She figured it up and to reach 1,000 things by the end of the race we need to do 6 a day. So every day I sit down and write out 6 things I'm thankful for. Some are serious, some are just funny. But it's amazing the difference it makes in my attitude. Some days I struggle to come up with 6 things, and other days I'm overflowing with things. But I always always have something to write. Even with being sick, my eyes are being opened to things I can be thankful for. You really should try it sometime, especially on a day where your down in the dumps, things aren't going the way you think they should, or you are just in a bad mood. I promise you it will change your attitude. There is ALWAYS something you can be thankful for, no matter what situation you find yourself in.
But this is the World Race….so I imagine my list looks a little different than it would being at home….so I figured it would be fun to share a few random favorites 🙂
19. singing with kids
39. friends that bring my heart joy
43. ICE COLD coke in a can
45. my headlamp
52. ice to chew on
95. sleeping in my tent and being alone
97. easy travel days
103. having shade while locked out of our house for over an hour
111. pitch black room while sleeping
115. a cup to take a bucket bath with
119. going to a crusade to watch- no "performing"
139. my closet of completely clean clothes at home
158. I don't have to eat Ughali everyday
166. Pastor finding his cows
167, abundance of fruit in Africa
175. worship in the dark
178. new water bottle
179. day of wearing pants, instead of a skirt
194. declartions over myself
202. finding a sweet quiet time spot
203. being interupted at said spot by precious kids wanting to jump rope
211. that I've only been sick once and I'm in month 7 of the race
214. riding in a new truck WITH a/c to the medical clinic
　I think you get the point.
So today I just want to encourage you to stop looking at the crummy things going on in your life and pay attention to and focus on the small beautiful gifts God has given you. Because there are so many around you…we often just don't take the time to notice them!
And just because I haven't posted a picture in awhile…..this is my new team 🙂
Jill, Savannah, Rachel, me, Kendall!
