Grateful

Quite a while back I wrote about the importance of gratitude and how keeping a daily gratitude list has been helpful for me.  I fall in and out of the habit of doing it, but always find time and time again the benefits of having a running list of all that I have to be grateful for.

Keeping a gratitude list:

• Keeps me humble
• Puts things into perspective
• Reminds me of God's faithfulness
• Encourages me to look at the small, simple things and not just the big
• A reminder not to take things for granted
• Makes me smile

I keep a daily journal of at least 3-5 gratitudes for each day.  Sometimes I have more, but I challenge myself to have no less and to try not to repeat any so that I am forced to really search for even the smallest thing that I find gratitude it. 

So here are a few gratitudes I have since getting back into the swing of blogging again.

My parents lovingly accepting me back home for a bit while I 

work on Recovery.

Getting to participate in the NEDA Walk in Dallas with good friends & the generous donations from friends and family for Team Eden.

Rootbeer, our dog.  A reminder of God's unconditional love.

My treatment team- the first time I have ear had a team of support in recovery that is all in communication, on the same page and have my best at heart.

My new car that I desperately was in need of and the great deal we got.

Sweet friends that have been such faithful support.

and the little things like:

Time to read

A good color of toe-nail polish

Hugs

Afternoon naps

And sunshine!

So, what are you grateful for?

Gratitudes

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and
creates a vision for tomorrow."
-Melody Beattie

Off and on over the years I have kept a list of daily gratitudes and have found this to be a very fruitful, life-affirming habit to get into. This has helped me see the good regardless of the immediate circumstances of the day. Time and time again I discover how content and hopeful I end up feeling from reflecting on the positive in each day, the blessings from God. As I focus on the abundance rather than on the lack in my life, I design a wonderful new blueprint for the future. This sense of fulfillment is gratitude at work, transforming my dreams into reality and bringing glory to God!

I have decided to make a point to do this again, but a bit different than a daily list. I have been highlighting a daily gratitude on facebook to share each day and my goal is to post the my weeks worth of gratitudes on here the end of each week! Hopefully this will not only help me keep my things in perspective, but inspire you to look at the good in your life each day as well.

Week of: August 9, 2010 - August 15, 2010

8/9: Today I am grateful for the quote a friend was randomly led to send me
that I have no doubt was from the Lord!
"A woman's heart should be so lost in god that a man
needs to seek him in order to find her. "

8/10: #1. Today I am grateful to have the opportunity to catch up with a very
supportive friend, Brandie, who has stuck by me over the last few years
and to meet her precious daughter, Kinley.

8/10: #2. Today I am grateful to have for the courage to face my fear, and allow
myself to have something I enjoy regardless of the LIES the enemy tells me.

8/11: Today I am grateful for the three messages I got from the 3 most important
men in my life, God, my Dad and my Brother. I got special messages from
each one of them today in their own unique ways... an index card, an email, and text.

8/12: Today I am grateful for my paid-off car that the Lord continues to
sustain for me and the ability to accept it regardless of the condition it's in.

8/13: Today I am grateful for the eyes God has given me to see His beautiful creation. I saw a blind woman today which triggered a gratitude for my own sight... and to see clearly, thru Jesus' eyes rather than the worlds.

8/14: Today I am grateful for the opportunity to serve with

The Village Church at Transform 2010

8/15: #1. Today I am grateful for my parents 29 years of marriage.
What a great reflection of unconditional love!

8/15: #2. Today I am gratful for the reminder that inspite of how far I have to go,
the Lord has brought me quite far compared to this time last year when
I was in the hospital, confined to a wheelchair.

(I saw a wheelchair at church and was reminded by the Lord of the progress we have made, Him and me)

"When you are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears."
-Anthony Robbins

Perfect love cast out all fear. God is perfect love. Within every gratitude is God.
What are you going to see God in today?