Giving Thanks

In recent years we have begun to say what we are thankful for as we sit around the food laden table on Thanksgiving. It’s a neat tradition and a great reminder of how incredibly blessed we are. It’s so easy to go through each day and take for granted everyone and everything we have in our lives. So here are a few things I’m thankful for. Be glad you’re reading this now and not hearing it over dinner, or your food would get cold!

I’m thankful for a really hard year. Sounds weird, I know, and believe me it’s easier to say this now, than when we were right in the thick of things. I’m thankful because God has drawn me closer to Himself, taught me things I didn’t know, and made me more mature through the trials of this year. I can be a bit hard headed, and I’m thankful for the times this year when I had nothing left of me and had to be fully dependent on Him and His Word. May I strive to live that way every day.

I’m thankful for my husband. He’s my best friend in the whole world. I love that each year we draw closer to each other and understand each other more. I’m thankful that he loves Jesus more than he loves me. I’m thankful that his love for me is based on what Christ says and not on what I deserve or don’t deserve. I’m so blessed to be his wife. I get to spend my whole life by his side loving him.

I’m thankful for my kids. They truly are a great joy. Being a stay at home mom is the only “job” I’ve ever wanted. I wouldn’t trade one minute with my kids for anything else on the planet! What an honor to raise my two precious ones to know Jesus who loves them more than I ever could.

I’m thankful for love. The love shared by my big crazy family and the love shared by my spiritual family no matter how close or far apart we are. I’m thankful that God loved me first and gave His Son Jesus to die in my place so that I have the capacity to love anyone, anywhere, and at any time (1 John 4:19). Jesus said His children would be known by their love. I pray that in the next year I will be even more thankful for the love of God in Christ Jesus and demonstrate that love even more and even better than this year.