thoughts on thankfulness

With Thanksgiving approaching tomorrow it is really making me think about all that I'm thankful for. It's good for the soul to just stop everything and focus on the blessings. The past 3ish years we have faced the hardest and most intense tests and trials in our family and marriage. We've lost. We've gained. We've grieved. We've been humbled. We've cried. We've rejoiced. We've been tested and tried harder than ever. We've fought. We've loved. We've danced. We've wanted to give up. We've been blessed beyond measure. We've hit heavy storms. We've seen ugliness. We've seen beauty. We've been hurt deeply. We've been depressed. We've been overflowing with joy. We've sinned. We've been sinned against. We've been forgiven. We've offered forgiveness. 

So much heartache and yet so much to thank the Lord for. I think that's in everyone's story. You can have things in your life that are so overwhelmingly painful or stressful or hopeless feeling while also having such amazing and wonderful blessings and joys and undeserved graces all at the same time. Both present. Both there to look at. Both there to think about. Both there to grab your attention. One can drown out the other though. If your focus is on the things that are out of your control and can make it sometimes hard to breath, you drown out the joys. BUT, if you focus on the blessings and the gifts {and we ALL have them}, it can drown out the bad and you can enjoy what you have been given.

I am a natural born pessimist through and through, so this type of thinking takes effort and reminders for me all the time. If there is something bad or wrong to see, I'll help ya find it! I married a man who is a natural born optimist who sees the good in all, gives grace so freely and chooses to see the best in people. It's funny how we ended up together. I'm a hermit who loves to stay home. He is very social and loves to get out or have people over. I have a phone-phobia and I don't do well with small talk. I wanna get straight to the good and deep stuff or just not talk at all {that kinda sounds harsh though}. He can talk all day long to anyone and everyone about anything and everything. We are so very different but yet we also help to balance each other out. He helps me to see the positive and I help him to see the negative, errr, I mean, I help him to see the less positive. Haha!

So, with that all said, I'm thankful for this season in our lives. We have less in material things than we've ever had before and we've lost a lot BUT the Lord has graciously used this time to show me in so many ways, what really matters in the long run and keeps reminding me to focus on what I do have… This season in our family has helped me to really stop and just look at my children and enjoy all that they are. It's too easy to get caught up in things that don't really matter and allow those things to become all consuming instead of slowing down and enjoying the simple things that so often are taken for granted. I read this quote the other day that said, "The very things you take for granted, someone else is praying for." I don't know who said it but that really stuck out to me. Whether it's having a spouse, children, a house, a bigger house, a car, a second car, food, health, a job, money, whatever you have there is someone else praying for it because they don't have it. So be thankful, like the Bible says, "in all things". 

There are things in life that really really really don't matter all that much in light of eternity.

Finances, health, housing, cars, having to wait in long lines at the grocery store, someone cutting you off on the freeway, not getting your way, not being understood by your spouse, feeling unhappy or taken for granted… 

All of it doesn't really matter in the end when you are standing in the presence of the Almighty.

What matters then is whether you are going to spend eternity with Jesus and if your loved ones are coming along too. 

That's all that matters.
So, I'm thankful for this season of less because it's only reminding me of how much more I truly have.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

lovelove,
abs