This thanksgiving I feel like I have a lot more to be thankful for than I've had in the past. Or maybe I'm just more aware of the blessings. Either way, I'm grateful, so very grateful.
A week ago today I got back to America. Saturday I got back home to Austin. Since then I've been spending time with family and friends. They warned us about reverse culture shock and the difficulty we would have being back home. As much as I miss my HIZ family, my babies, the singing, the people there, and just the simplicity of life I've found joy in being back in America. God puts us where He wants us and we get to choose what to do with it. We can jump in feet first and make the most of it or we can let change and difficult circumstances bring us down and hold us back. God has blessed me with an easy transition back to real life here in America.
Since I've been home I've been watching Facebook blow up with the news of Samantha Bahl. I went to camp with Samantha for years and although we were never really friends just her presence was enough to make an impact on my life. She was always smiling, she was full of the light of God, she was positive and encouraging and just excited about life no matter what it threw at her. Even when she battled cancer for 2 years she didn't lose any of those qualities that drew people to her. Yesterday she was finally freed from all the pain that she's dealt with for 2 years and she went home to celebrate with our Father.
Last night my family got in and my house was automatically filled with 18395053 people. At least that's how it seemed! We took up half the attendance at church, we ate enough food to feed an army, and we were loud enough to keep the city of Austin awake all night! But we had more fun and shared more love than seems possible. And that's only the first of 4 days of thanksgiving celebration!
All that to say that now I'm laying here in my bed with my sweet little cousin Madison, waiting for the family that's covering every square inch of my house to wake up, and not being able to stop thinking about how blessed I am, how grateful I am, and how humbled I am to have a God that loves me this much.
This thanksgiving...
Im thankful for the fact that Im awake, breathing, and able to spend the day with people that I love. Today isn't promised for any of us. God took Samantha home before today. But for me He's given the gift of another day in this world. I'm not going to take it for granted.
I'm thankful for a God that loves me despite all my mistakes. I'm thankful for his grace and mercy. Im thankful for his power. I'm thankful for his patience, his understanding, and his love. I'm thankful that he loves me not because of anything I do, but just because.
I'm thankful for the opportunity God gave me to live in Africa for the past 3 months. I'm thankful for my babies there. I'm thankful for the work God is doing there. I'm thankful for the things He showed me and taught me while I was there. I'm thankful for the 29 best people I know that I got to share the experience with. I'm thankful for the joy, simplicity, service and faith that shines out from the lives of the Africans.
Because of that experience I'm thankful for the lack of poverty and disease in America. I'm thankful for the abundance of food that will be on our table for lunch. I'm thankful for clean food and water, dirt and water that dont give you parasites, and mosquitos that aren't full of malaria. I'm thankful for good health care and access to any medicines that we need. I'm thankful for a peaceful government. I'm thankful for our country's foundation of faith. I'm thankful for opportunities that we are able to have that a lot of people around the world don't have. I'm thankful for Gods blessings here even though it doesn't make sense why He gave us more than we could ever use when people are dying from the lack of necessities.
Being back home I'm thankful for my parents and brother and sister. I'm thankful for a house that I can call home, even if I have 10 other homes around the world. I'm thankful for lifelong friends and the ability to go separate ways in life but still come back to each other like nothing ever changed. I'm thankful for my church family. I'm thankful for my school that shaped me from the time I was able to walk up until I left for college, and the fact that I can still walk in there and feel at home. I'm thankful for ACU and Harding. I'm even thankful for the difficult decision I have of which school to go to now because that means I'm blessed enough to have 2 schools that I can call family. I'm thankful for grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Im thankful for the love, the laughter, the hugs, and the sincere joy that pours out every time we're around each other. And I'm thankful for the loud, crazy, busy, and overwhelming 3 days we're about to spend together!
Today I'm thinking about my babies and my Zambian friends that I wish I could be celebrating Thanksgiving with. But I'm also grateful that God put me here with my family to remind me of everything I have to thank him for and to celebrate with. I'm blessed. I'm grateful. I'm thankful. I'm loved by a God that showers me with blessings even when I don't deserve it.
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