Category: Blessed

“What am I thankful for?” my daughter doodled on a spiral notebook page at a Thanksgiving dinner. Each of us were to take a moment to answer the question.

I have been pondering on that question again this week. What am I thankful for? The list could go on and on.

I am thankful this week that my son and daughter-in-law who live over 1000 miles away were able to afford flying home for the week. I am thankful that they still want to come home to visit and that we have room for them to stay. I am thankful that when I told my boss that I was going to take Tuesday off to spend the day with my kids, he asked, “Aren’t you going to take Wednesday as well? You don’t get to see them much.”

I am thankful that all of our children and their significant others were able to join us for dinner on Saturday night even though they all have very busy lives and only one of them lives in town now. Not only did I enjoy seeing all 10 of us squeeze around the table, I loved hearing them joke, laugh and catch up with each other. Despite the distance between our homes, our hearts remain close.

I am thankful for the plans we have tomorrow. It has become tradition for us all to cram down into the basement to eat breakfast and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in our pajamas. One of the boys has been anxious for “the one time a year we get to eat monkey bread.” I used to get up and watch the parade alone because none of them wanted to get out of bed, but now that we don’t see each other as often and now that we have added more ladies into the family, this has become one of our favorite traditions.

I am thankful that my sister is hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, and that my parents, my children, my siblings, nieces and nephews will all be together to enjoy each other’s company while stuffing our bellies. The conversations will be good, there will be plenty of hugs, and I’m sure we will have way more than enough food.

What am I thankful for? I am thankful for so many people. I am definitely thankful for family and that we are all able to be together again this Thanksgiving. I am also thankful for all of my friends and for their support, encouragement and prayers. I am thankful for good neighbors, teachers, doctors and dentists. I am thankful for the policemen, firemen, and armed servicemen who risk their lives to protect us.

I am thankful to live in the United States of America. I am thankful that we have freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the right to bear arms. I am thankful to live in a country with so many job opportunities. I am thankful not only for all of the agencies we have in place to help those who are struggling but also thankful that there are so many citizens in our country who are willing to assist those in need and help them get back on their feet when they fall.

I am thankful for my home, my vehicle, a heater that works, indoor plumbing, clean water, a dishwasher, refrigerator, freezer, oven, microwave, washer and dryer. My house may need a lot of repairs, and not all of my appliances work perfectly, but some people do not have these blessings at all.

I am thankful for each day that I wake up. I am thankful for the medication that helps me breathe and for the eye glasses that help me see. I am thankful that I can hear, that I can talk and that I can walk.

I am thankful that though I am becoming more forgetful, I still have many wonderful memories. I am thankful not only for the good times but also for the difficult times because it is through the difficult times that I have learned and grown. I am thankful that in those trying times, God is teaching me to have a heart that can give thanks in all circumstances.

I am thankful most of all for God. I am thankful that we have His very words to us written down in the Bible. I am thankful for His love, mercy and grace that He extends to me even though I don’t deserve it. I am thankful for His Son, Jesus, who He sent to die in my place. I am overwhelmed by His sacrifice and forever indebted to Him. I am thankful that through Jesus, my sins have been forgiven and my relationship with God has been restored. I am thankful that I can go to God in prayer knowing that He is listening and that He will respond. I am thankful that He has filled me with His Holy Spirit who blesses me with discernment, counsel, guidance, wisdom, strength, courage, comfort, peace and absolutely everything I need to live the life that God has called me to.

I am thankful that in Jesus, my life has purpose. Though God doesn’t need my help, I am thankful that He allows me to join in His work and witness lives being saved and transformed for eternity. I am thankful that God can take a mess like me and work in me, through me and around me to accomplish His will. I am thankful to know that despite my shortcomings, God isn’t finished with me yet. I am thankful that “He who began a good work within me, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

I am thankful that whether I die or whether He returns, whichever comes first, I have the assurance that He will take me home to live with Him forever in heaven where there will be no more tears, death, mourning, crying or pain. I am thankful that between now and then, whatever life throws my way, He will be with me through it all and that He will see me through to the end.

What am I thankful for this Thanksgiving? I am thankful for far too many things to list. I pray that you too will take time to think about all that you are thankful for, that you too will find that you are thankful for far too many things to list and that you too will realize that Jesus is your greatest blessing of all and that you have found life abundant in Him. I pray that if you have not yet surrendered your life to Him, you will boldly step forward in faith and find true peace and satisfaction in your decision to accept Him as your Lord and Savior.

We stopped at a flea market in a little town somewhere near the Ohio river several years ago, and I was pleased to find a familiar framed print of an elderly gentleman bowing his head over a tiny meal. The portrait wasn’t in great shape, but I had to bring it home.  The woman who was selling it excitedly called it “The Thinker” as she told me that her asking price was one dollar. I had loved this picture since I was a child and was shocked (and a bit sad) that the woman couldn’t see that the man in the painting was praying rather than thinking. Though she knew the painting was special, she didn’t quite appreciate it the same way I did.

When I was a little girl, the man in the painting reminded me of my great grandpa. Not only did Great Grandpa’s character seem to fit that of the man in the painting. He actually looked like him…from my memory anyhow. I was pretty small when I visited him, so I may not remember things exactly as they were. However, what I do recall is that great grandpa lived in a humble little farm house way out in the country. I remember a bible along with a magnifying glass for Great Grandpa’s old eyes, a tiny Christmas tree (which may have been out year-round), a kitchen sink with a handle to pump water and a table where he and his guests would play dominoes. Mostly I remember that Great Grandpa was kind, and his house felt full of love when family gathered to visit. From my observation, he was a man whose life was simple yet full.

This work of art is still special to me today, maybe even more special in that as I am growing older, I can now see my aging father as the man in the picture. As I stare into the face of the man in the painting, I see a godly man who is at peace. He is giving thanks to God and is content with what he has. He has surely known hard work, difficulties and struggles. Yet, he has lived a happy life, a life that is simple yet full.

After bringing my flea market treasure home, I later researched and found that “Grace” was originally a photograph taken by Eric Enstrom but later painted in oils by his daughter Rhoda Nyberg. “Back in the year of 1918, a bearded, saintly, old man, with foot-scrapers to sell, called on Eric Enstrom at his photography studio in the tiny mining town of Bovey, Minnesota,” explains the writer on gracebyenstrom.com. For the photograph, Enstrom arranged a table with bread, a knife, a bowl of gruel, spectacles, and a family book (which I believe to be a bible) and asked the peddler, Charles Wilden, to pose by bowing his head in prayer. Eric said, “I wanted to take a picture that would show people that even though they had to do without many things because of the war they still had much to be thankful for.”

Enstrom’s photograph and his daughter’s oil paintings became so popular that by 1945 he sold the copyrights to Augsburg Publishing House because he couldn’t keep up with the demand. Prints can be ordered from the Grace by Enstrom website, but I like my old, weathered copy just fine.

I see past the faded colors, the warped canvas board and the scuffed-up frame and remember what is important. God has blessed me so richly. Yet sometimes I take those blessings for granted and complain about what is broken, worn out or lacking. When I begin to get self-centered, I am always convicted. I stop making my mental list of what I do not have and start counting my blessings, realizing that God has blessed me with so much more than I need or deserve.

Not only has God blessed me with plenty to eat, a house with hot and cold running water, a dependable vehicle, a loving family and way too many physical blessings here on earth to count, he has also sacrificed his only Son, Jesus, to take away my sin and give me eternal life in him. With God, we can be content to live a simple life and still live life to the full in Jesus. As long as I have Jesus, I need only food to sustain my body and his Word to sustain my soul. I can live a life that is simple yet full.

I slipped away for a quiet moment before this evening’s company to read each blessing on my 2017 “blessing calendar.” I started keeping a blessing calendar at least 4 years ago when Cassie (now my daughter-in-law) created a personalized photo calendar for me. It seemed a shame to simply write down our busy schedule on the beautiful calendar and throw it away at the end of the year. I loved that calendar so much that I wanted to find an extra special use for it. So I decided that each night before I went to bed, I would write down at least one blessing that I received that day.

Every year, Cassie continues to create a new calendar for me, and every year, I continue to write down my blessings. Looking for these blessings each day has been very therapeutic. No matter what troubles arise or how bad my day is, there is always something to be thankful for, even if it is simply that I was able to get out of bed or that I was able to make it through the day.

Every year on December 31, I read through each blessing that I wrote down that year and reflect on what a wonderful year it has been. Sometimes, if I’m feeling a bit discouraged, I read through the blessings before the end of the year as well.

So many special memories resurfaced this afternoon as I read through each day on my calendar. Once again, this has been year with both laughter and tears. We’ve had times of celebration as well as times of trials. Whatever the day, or week or month brought, each day still brought blessings. The trials and heartaches are not written down on the calendar. However, when I read the blessings and answered prayers that are recorded, I am reminded of the difficult times while being able to see at the same time that God came through.

I will finish 2017 off this evening surrounded by my family which is one of my biggest blessings. We will eat, play games, talk, laugh and enjoy each other’s company. I will go to bed knowing that I am a very blessed woman and wake up to 2018 looking for the many blessings that I know are in store.

Today, I write with a thankful heart and am having trouble keeping my words few. Last week I spent a lot of time counting my blessings and reflecting on all I have to be thankful for. I kept a notebook and my favorite pink ink pen on my nightstand and started a list each morning when I woke up. I carried my list around with me and kept adding to it until I went to bed each night. As I thought about each thing that I saw, heard, smelled, touched and did, I realized that I have so much to be thankful for.

My heart grew more thankful with every new day. The list on just the third day was over a page and a half long before I even got out of bed. That is also the day that I totally depleted the ink from my pen and was thankful that I had another pink pen that could take over. At the beginning of the week my list started with, “I am thankful for…,” and by the end of the week, my list became a prayer of “Thank you God for….” It was through this simple little exercise, I have gained a thankful heart.

Some of the things that I am thankful for seem obvious. I am thankful for a family who loves me, for a home to live in, for a rewarding job, for a dependable vehicle and for an abundance of food in my pantry, refrigerator and deep freeze. I have a closet full of clothes to choose from each day and a washer and dryer right inside my house so that I never run out of clean things to wear. The list goes on and on and on, but as I wrote each item down, I realized that not everyone has a family who loves them, a home to live in, a job, a vehicle, food, clothing…. I am thankful. I am so very thankful.

Some of the things that I am thankful for are things I could easily take for granted. I am thankful that I can breathe despite being an asthmatic. I am thankful that I can see and that I have glasses to improve my vision that has gotten worse as I grow older. I could easily take for granted the clean water available to me any time I am thirsty or need to clean something. I don’t always give much thought to the fact that I have access to electricity so that I can turn on a light when it’s dark, have access to hot water to shower with, heat or cool my home so that I’m comfortable or charge my phone so that I can talk or video chat with my son who lives over 1000 miles away. There are so many things I could easily take for granted. Yet again, not everyone has been blessed with these things. I am thankful. I am so very, very thankful.

Some of the things I am thankful for are the experiences I have had and the learning that resulted from those moments. I am thankful that though my mind is starting to fail at times, I still have so many memories from my past. I was blessed by being born to loving parents and had a wonderful childhood. I am thankful not only for my parents but also for my husband, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, school teachers, Sunday school teachers and pastors, and for the many, many important things that those relationships have taught me. It may sound absurd, but I am especially thankful for the difficult times in my life; the personal and meaningful lessons I learned through those storms of life helped me grow. Those seasons have given me more strength, wisdom and purpose. My experiences, both good and bad, and the people who helped me along the way all brought me closer to God. And that thought leads me into my most important blessings of all, my spiritual blessings.

God has blessed me over my 49 ½ years in ways far greater than I could have ever asked or imagined, and he continues to wow and amaze me more and more all the time. Just the fact that I am part of God’s family is more than enough. My greatest blessing, what I am most thankful for each day, simply and truly is God. I am thankful that he is on my mind the moment I wake up each day. I am thankful that he loves me. I am thankful that he sent his Son, Jesus to die in my place and that Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life so that he could shed his blood to pay for my many, many sins that separated me from God. I am thankful that God chose me and that I heard his Spirit calling me. I am thankful for his forgiveness, his mercy and his grace that I do not deserve. I am thankful that God sent the Holy Spirit to live in me, to comfort me, to convict me, to bring me into his truth and to lead me in his will. I am thankful that God works in me, through me and around me. I am thankful that he is approachable. I am thankful that the veil in the temple was torn in two so that I have direct access to God through a Jesus Christ. I am thankful that the All Powerful, Almighty, All Knowing, Omnipresent, Sovereign God who created the universe desires a relationship with me. I am thankful that he who began the good work within me, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. I am thankful that through Jesus Christ, my Savior & Lord, that I have the promise of eternal life and that one day, I will be IN THE VERY PRESENCE OF GOD in the most perfect place that my brain can only begin to imagine. Yes. I am thankful. I am so, so extremely, eternally thankful. Thank you, God for giving me a thankful heart, and that in you, I am given more than enough. I am blessed!