Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving, or giving thanks, is a choice. We are to give thanks in all (1 Thes. 5:18). Below is a list of blessings that I wrote out last summer. I found it today when looking for something else and was blessed all over again. This seemed like an appropriate topic to share so close to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Blessings
July 25 2010

God is good and faithful in all He does. Sometimes, from our small human perspective, we lose sight of Him and the eternal goal. It is a choice to remember that He is sovereign and that whatever He sends or allows are gifts and to be accepted with thankfulness.

Instead of getting frustrated and discouraged with the current situation, I am trying to think of everything I am grateful for. The following list is not necessarily in any particular order, but simply as things came to mind.

I am grateful for:
-My wonderful, supportive, loving family. They pray for me and let me talk/cry through situations with them. I was raised in a loving, God-fearing home!
-My extended family is also a blessing!
-Friends! I have such great friends in so many places. All have been an encouragement to me, and a support in hard times.
-Church families: The first one in Lincoln, NE where I grew up, then Tulsa, OK when I was staying with Mom when she was in aggressive cancer treatment in 2001, then Council Bluffs, IA during my internship, now Ankeny, IA.
-Bible study groups: college and career that meets in Ames, the small ladies’ fellowship group on ISU campus, the ladies’ study through Lake Country. These all are a refreshment and encouragement to me.
-co workers who go out of their way to help me out.
-friends in similar situations to mine. While it is hard to deal with suffering and pain on a daily basis and to know others are also, it is a HUGE encouragement to have others who are in the same circumstances and fully understand all of it. It is such an encouragement to be able to share the lessons that God has taught through otherwise hard times.

Then there are also the little things that can seem really big:
-a day with low enough pain levels that I don’t need medication to manage it.
- the days with high pain levels when I have to cry out to God for the strength to get through each moment.
-a physician or therapist who really listens and works with me.
-swimming! I don’t hurt when I’m in water!

I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father Who watches over me unceasingly!