Cultivating a Heart of Thankfulness

I wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you who faithfully read my blogs and walk alongside me in this journey of faith. I have been so inspired by many of you…your passions, diverse gifts and amazing heart felt conversations. I have had many epiphanies since being back in California this fall, but the greatest by far has been walking through difficult times with a transparent heart with so many of you!

 

I cannot deny the fact that it has been a stretch to say the least of my faith to be back in the west without the comfort of a secure 9-5 yet excited about God’s many promises…many yet to be fulfilled. Yet, the amazing awareness I have gained during it all is that I am not alone! We all face immense walls to scale and the many struggles, whether it be health of a friend or loved one, finances, stress or hope delayed, it is not unique and therefore should not be a source of shame or embarassment.

 

I think back to the many people who supported me during this time and all I can say is thank you!! Thank you for being a friend when I had little (I felt) to give and for believing in me even when I had a difficult time seeing the outcome. I feel like I am in a much stronger place now. A place I got to not by my own strength but by the sense of love I feel from God as He gently reminds me to look back on my life and cultivate a heart of thankfulness. I have so much to be thankful for—and so many of those thanks go out to you!! If you are reading this, you know! The many dinners, random checks, long walks, and tears shed. In writing this, I know I am not alone and all I can say is that I am excited to see what the future holds.

 

I have been spending much of  my time recently, one on one, cultivating relationships. I feel this is where I can use my past, the good—bad—and ugly—to be with others in their times of troubles. Just last weekend, I went to this awaken workshop with my church, which had us look back at the many events in our lives that made us who we are. I have to say, I understand now some of those painful events and see them as times of extreme character development and growth.

 

I have talked to many of you recently about difficult times, and I am writing this blog to mainly tell you thank you for allowing me to be in the “scary” times of life with you! Thank you for the ways you have looked out for me—-may I be the same support to you!! And thank you for pressing on and allowing yourself to go there with people…for I truly believe it is in our moments of brokenness, that lasting bonds are formed.

 

I declare these next few months to be a time of breakthrough for many of us! A time of renewed faith, renewed commitment and renewed hope! I love that God never promised an easy life but one full of adventure, battles to be won and hearts to be restored. I see us as a people who can use our stories, and realize that everyone that God uses has moments of brokenness….I truly believe it is all par for the course and we are exactly where He wants us to be!