Gratitude

Tonight, I am grateful.

Every moment of every day I should be grateful. Good, bad, ugly, whatever the situation, I should respond with gratitude. But I don't. Then, there are nights like this when I realize my sin in not keeping a spirit of gratitude and suddenly I'm overwhelmed by the voice of the Lord whispering, "Oh, sweet baby girl, I forgave you for that before you ever did it. And guess what? I love you so much and look what I'm doing for you now!"

Yes, dear ones, tonight, I am grateful.

I have been so incredibly blessed by the people God has placed in my life. I have amazing parents, the coolest brother known to mankind, a wonderful church family that I have been a part of since I was 18 months old, and friends who are constantly loving me, encouraging me, amusing me, challenging me, and teaching me.

Tonight I had the opportunity to see one of my dear friends who had experienced the sort of bad day you couldn't make up if you tried. The sort of day that would have left me on the verge of bursting into tears at any second. Yet my friend chose to respond in gratitude. She chose to look at each thing that happened and realize how much worse it could have been and how God provided through her through it all. He had it covered. We spent an hour and a half laughing together, discussing God's faithfulness and provision, processing through what He was teaching us, and basically solving the problems of the world. :-D This friend, I can be completely transparent with and fear no judgement from. This friend  is wise beyond her years and has such a heart for loving people well. This friend brings her own personal sun with her wherever she goes. How blessed am I?

Because the Lord wasn't done showing me His love, I got to have another blessing encounter. I had a conversation with another wise and godly friend whose opinion I wanted about a post I am in the process of writing that examines and discusses relational issues as it pertains to women interacting with and caring well for men. Since I am writing in a public forum, it is no longer just me ranting and I felt the need to make sure I was being responsible with what I was saying. He graciously and gently pointed out and explained areas that he disagreed with or that could be misinterpreted by those who don't have a good idea of what I'm getting at. Our conversation made me realize I have a lot to learn. :-) LOL. But it also made me realize how blessed I am to have a friend who is willing to have these sort of conversations with me and lead in that way.

That's just two things. I have so much more to be thankful for and am praying for a greater spirit of gratitude.

Thank you, Father! Love you too!