Thankfulness: A Year of Joy

I didn’t get my act together in time to do a month worth of thankfulness, although I have been reflecting daily on my many blessings, big and small. 

The fact that we designate November to thankfulness is both sad and wonderful. SAD because we should be counting our blessings daily, but it often takes a designated month of thanksgiving to remind us to focus on God’s goodness and provision!  Yet, WONDERFUL, because we, as humans, tend to like traditions, memorials, celebrations – and we have a month that serves as a memorial to remind us of God’s many blessings throughout the past year. So, although, I am personally challenged to be thankful on a weekly, if not daily, basis, I do love having a month to remember, express gratitude and savor God’s goodness to me!

So, over the next week, I plan on discussing thankfulness and sharing a few of the many things I am grateful for, although the list is much longer and probably should be even longer than what I have even acknowledged.

I am thankful for a year of good circumstances!! The other day, I wrote about being thankful in all circumstances, even hard ones…and sometimes that has been my lot in life, and I am sure there will again be times when gratefulness comes with more tears and pain than smiles. But, I am glad that this year has been so joyful and filled with answered prayers (and clearly, I most specifically mean, the answered prayer of Dave)

I’m thankful that disappointment and heartache makes room for grace and hope, that God heals really rough circumstances to bring about better circumstances for us and most importantly, for his GLORY. I’m grateful that although life is full of horrible situations, it’s also full of joyful wonderful situations too.

It’s a broken world full of sin and heartbreak and temptation. We should expect pain and hurt, but I am glad our God is so good to give us rest and hope along the way. We don’t deserve happy moments and joyful years, but the Lord is so gracious to give these things to us.  There will be pain in the life, but there will be JOY too.  He gives us unbelievable blessings that we do not deserve.

And, that’s what this year has been – a year of rest, hope and so much JOY.  Despite the craziness of a new marriage, moving and job searching, this year has been overwhelmingly happy, in so many ways.

It’s been the year I married my sweet guy, a year of other engagements and weddings for those I love, a year of healing for my family, a year of watching God provide as Dave and I moved and found jobs.

Indeed, new trials will come my way, probably sooner than I would like, but God was good to give me this happy good year (as well as good to sustain me and provide good moments even in rough years!) God is always blessing us, but sometimes His blessings are so much easier to recognize. So, I am grateful that in most areas of life, it is indeed, very easy, this year to be grateful. I pray my heart still strives for gratitude on the years that are more difficult.