30 Days of Gratitude 1.23

~ Gratitude turns what we have into enough. ~

I read that today on Pinterest. It's interesting to me that a culture of envy and materialistic need and want has to be reminded to be thankful. Just last week, I found myself counseling a jealous heart, encouraging a sad and discouraged heart and doing a few other things, and my answer to all - Be thankful. Change your perspective through gratitude. 

Gratitude is the most profound perspective shifter in this world. Find reason to be thankful in every moment of your day and you'll change every single thing about your life. Here's an hour by hour list of what I was thankful for today. 

7:00am - an alarm set to remind me to pray for a friend. I was thankful to be awoken from sleep to pray for her. She & I texted today and that encouraged me. I'm thankful for that friendship. 

8:00am -  the 90-day Reading Challenge. Today I read in Leviticus and Numbers. Two of the most daunting books to muddle through. But I was thankful to be able to read them. I felt nearer to God just by opening up my heart to it. 

9:00am - a Giant bottle of Ibuprofen to take away some of the pain I was experiencing. Common grace, it is, and for that, I'm thankful. 

10:00am - a hot shower, soap that smells lovely, and clean towels. Things that we take for granted in our first world living. 

11:00am - smiling & friendly familiar baristas who know my name, chat about the day and life. First world treat, yes, but an opportunity to establish some Jesus connections. 

12:00pm - Got to see and spend time with my best friend 3 days in a row. Thankful for that. (So was she)

1:00pm - praying with my brother, I was thankful to know and have a brother who is my brother in Christ but also brother in real life. We can share Christ and share blood - and serve in a body of Christ together. A gift. 

2:00pm - Laughter. Nothing better in the world than a hearty laugh on a day you're feeling kind of low. :) 

3:00pm - a talk with my "wifey" - my west coast bestie for an hour and a half. Heart to hearts, talking to my far away niece and hearing her say "talk to aunt manderz????" and chatting with her a bit. Thankful. 

4:00pm - Hugs from my mom, time to catch up with her for the day and just talk about God things with her too. 

5:00pm - Books. I like to read and I love reading books in any spare time. Electronic devices like my Nook and my phone both let me have a book at my finger tips all the time. 

6:00pm - My nephews - Tonight we went to his little AWANA awards ceremony and that was just cool. I'm one proud auntie of 4 little guys. Everything about them makes me love them. I'm thankful for each face, each heart and each one of them. 

7:00pm - Songs from my childhood. At the award ceremony, they sang some songs that I sang in sunday school as a child. The memories were lovely. I'm thankful for them. 

8:00pm - Family time. Went to Bloop with my family and just loved laughing with them, cuddling with Little Man on the way and all around just being with my family. Thankful. 

9:00pm - Laughing with my dad. We watched the American Idol finale together and I just loved having that memory with him. Arguing about who would win (in fun of course) and enjoying the final moments together. (I was right, for the record!) 

10:00pm - Music. Got to just enjoy some interning music moments with my dad and the A.I. finale. But it reminded me as always how deeply I love music and how thankful I am for it. :) 

11:00pm - This time. This hour. This moment. I'm thankful for it. I'm thankful that God has allowed me to keep pressing into this on good or bad days. Gratitude is the best exercise of faith and hope and belief in m life. 

....

Hope you can find reasons in each hour, each moment to be thankful.