It's Thanksgiving Month. I love all the posts on Facebook and Twitter about what people are grateful for each day. So far, I've limited myself to just 140 Twitter characters in my expressions of gratitude, but today, I want to elaborate. So, I came here.
November 1: I am grateful for God's stubborn pursuit of my undivided heart. I kicked this month off sitting in a counselor's office discussing the fact that God is never satisfied with any portion or percentage of my heart and obedience. He knows that I will only be truly happy when I am fully surrendered to His good, pleasing and perfect will, and He does not rest until my heart toward Him is undivided.
November 2: I am grateful for 5 "never-a-dull-moment" years of work and ministry at Cornerstone Assistance Network. This was my first full-time ministry position. I was young and fresh out of seminary, idealistic, and completely green. This job has taken me so many places I never knew existed, introduced me to so many fascinating people, harsh realities, and beautiful testimonies. I work with an amazing team of people all committed to fulfilling God's call on their lives through serving the poor. I am blessed.
November 3: I am grateful for seasons. No matter how long and hot summer is, fall and winter eventually bring a cool reprieve. A lot like life. The long, hot, dry summer seemed to mirror my very dry soul. It's been a long, dry season spiritually that seemed interminable, but almost perfectly coinciding with the temperature reprieve outside a sweet sweeping sensation of the Spirit's presence began to refresh my soul.
November 4: I am grateful simple things brighten a day, like having money left on a Starbuck's gift card for a peppermint mocha. When I was growing up, my dad used to say, "If you get everything you want now, what will you have to look forward to?" My life is rich and blessed, but it is not extravagant. It's simplicity leaves plenty of room for joy in simple pleasures. I love that a drive-thru the coffee shop and treating myself to a hot flavored coffee still has the ability to delight me.
November 5: I am grateful for rich friendships. Today I'll be with people who have walked closely and done life with me for a very long time. Last Saturday provided a rare opportunity to spend time with two different friends from two different seasons, and I was keenly aware of how fortunate I am to be surrounded by people who are not content to sit on the surface of my life but swim boldly into the depths with me.
November 6: I am grateful for the years and family God provided at Wedgwood Baptist Church and for the beauty He's brought me at Commons Church. I am blessed by two incredible bodies of believers. I joined Commons Church because I believed it was a door to community God was opening for me. I found an opportunity to do life and ministry and experience the joys of seeking the Kingdom of God together through this beautiful family in ways I had not yet known. I recognize, though, that the incredible family at Wedgwood and the years I spent there were training ground for this season, and I am so thankful for the love and support of that training, sending church.
November 7: I am grateful for family and friends who generously support the work and ministry God has called me to do. Next week, I'll depart on my fifth SPARK mission trip. I love these trips and this ministry, and as much as I love what God does through us in the lives of the women we serve, I am always humbled by what He does in me as I go. This trip, I did not send out any support letters or request, yet by the first of this week, my entire trip was covered by generous family and friends who simply said, "God put in on my heart to give." That kind of affirmation is priceless.
November 8: I am grateful for the women in my Monday night Community Group and how God enriches my life through their fellowship. I spend Monday evenings with a really beautiful gathering of women. Married moms, single moms, singles, grandmothers ... it's awesome. Every week, no matter how tired I am when I get home from work or how much I wish I could just curl up at home rather than drive across town, I am always blessed by my time with them, their words of wisdom and encouragement, and their insights into Scripture and the character of God never cease to speak to me.
November 9: I am grateful that "The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to rightly divide between soul and spirit, even joints and marrow, able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart," and for old Truths being made new in me. As that sweet refreshing wind of the Spirit has begun to blow again in my soul, I have been swiftly reminded of the power of God's Word, how it quenches my thirst, and satisfies my hunger like nothing else can. I am grateful that things I may have known or memorized long ago can be made fresh as they are newly and rightly applied to my life.
November 10: I am grateful for my pastor and his wife and how they sacrificially love and serve me, our church, and this community. It's a new experience for me to have a pastor who I also call friend. As I spend time with him and his wife and family, I am so blessed by their willingness to sacrifice home and comfort and security and so much more to be here, to follow God's call, to serve this community. I learn so much from and am challenged frequently by their example.
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