Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Gratitude Journal: March 2008

It's the time of the month again when I share a partial list of all the things I have to be thankful for during the month just ending. This was a particularly difficult month for me, partly due to the snowballing effects of being laid off and losing my health insurance. I've also undergone a personal crisis that zapped what little emotional energy I had left.

Yet, in spite of the challenges, and they were HUGE, I am so thankful that God has been more than faithful this month. He has shown me that He does and will provide for me in ways that seem incomprehensible and inexplicable to my modest mind. He has also answered complex questions in ways that can only be explained by Divine intervention. He has given me comfort when I thought I was inconsolable, and once again, He's given me hope.

Here's just a small listing of all the things He's done in my life in the month of March alone:
  • My daughter came home from Iraq for nearly 3 weeks. I hadn't seen her in a year, and she came home in March to celebrate my birthday. We had a wonderful time together and she's doing so well. I am so proude of her.
  • My weekly women's group meetings have been absolutely awesome. God has taken a group of women who didn't know each other at all, and created a tightly-knit, Spirit-filled support group where we can share our deepest fears and our most private prayers. Even though the official 8-week session ends in two weeks, we've decided to keep the group going on our own.
  • Every Sunday this month I've heard exactly the sermon I needed to hear that day, including this past week's message which was entitled "Men are like waffles, women are like spaghetti." Yes, it was hilarious, but it was also an awesome tutorial on the differences between men and women and how we can learn to communicate with each other better.
  • My discount prescription card came just in time to help defray a portion of the added expense of my medications now that I don't have health insurance.
  • A wonderful woman from church has recommended me for a job opportunity with a colleague of hers who I'm meeting for coffee on Friday morning.
  • I'm working on a full-time time contract which is helping to pay the bills for now. And, it's less than 5 minutes from my house.
  • I joined the church I've been visiting for the last few months and I'm absolutely convinced that it's exactly where God wants me to be. I've even been asked to prayerfully consider enrolling in upcoming Small Group Leader Development training so that I can co-facilitate a new women's group.
  • The final copy of my book came back from the printer and it looks great. I'm about ready to start marketing it (stay tuned for more on this soon).
  • I had a great lunch with a very dear friend that I hadn't seen in years. It's been a long time since I laughed so hard.
  • I got a box full of wonderful birthday gifts from my dear friend Susan, including some items that had been hers and/or her Mom's that she chose to share with me. I am so honored.
  • I completed a small consulting contract.
  • No matter how much money I've spent this month, the balance in my checking account has somehow stayed the same. I can't explain it other than to say that even when no money was coming in, I continued to give offerings at church and to the charities I support.
  • I was able to take my daughter to have her first full-body massage. She loved it!
  • The facilitator of my women's group introduced me to an entirely new way to "pray" that has made a miraculous difference in my relationship with God.
  • I've lost the extra 6 lbs that I've been trying to lose for the last year.
  • God is answering my prayers about a personal situation in ways that can only be described as miraculous.

Amen.

4 comments:

Nancie said...

Thank God for His goodness to you in sustaining you and answering your prayers in so many wonderful ways. May His love and faithfulness continue to strengthen your heart as you look to Him daily. Keeping you in my prayers. Take care.

Anonymous said...

Amen. I was thinking lately how I don't write in my gratitude journal when I am going through the storm and that is when it would benefit me the most. Thanks for leading by example...I think that would be an awesome place for you in your church ;)

JC said...

What a great idea. For the longest time I kept track of prayers so i could also watch how they were answered, but my thoughts and moods are so everchanging that i eventually stopped keeping up. But being able to keep track of the answers and the thinks one is grateful for is such a healthy way of thinking and a simply wonderful idea. you have inspired me to do the same. Thank you.

Annie said...

How incredible that you can make such a list. You have so much going on in your life and much of it painful. I respect how you turn it around to the positive. I am new to your blog and will return again!