Give Thanks

Ya know those days when it seems nothing goes right?

Bad news?

Sadness?

Gray skies all around?

Sit down, close your eyes, raise your arms and open your hands to the heavens and

LET IT GO!!

Instead of thinking how wrong things are, think of how right things are.

Thank God for what you have.

Thank God for the bad stuff.

Crazy, right?

No.

By thanking HIM for the bad stuff you give it TO Him to handle.

Surely you jest, you say.

No, I'm not joking.

I remember a time when I thought I was going to die. Literally.

After many many years of praying for God to let me die, I realized I didn't want to.

He let me live.

Though for many years afterwards, I continued to make bad choices.

It wasn't until Micael was diagnosed with HIV that I came to know God FOR REAL.

Not just a prayer thrown out asking for help because that is the thing to do. Earnestly KNOW God.

I didn't want to bury another child, but I understood that if God wanted Micael there was nothing, absolutely nothing, I could do. So I asked for strength to accept whatever decision He made.

I sent emails out to with requests for that prayer. Just ask God to give us strength to accept whatever the outcome.

I realize that God has given me extra time with Micael. I want to enjoy every day I have been given. I did not realize that with Trace until it was too late. I never want to take for granted my time with my family and friends again.

I thank God daily for my life, all the bad, with all the good. Because without all the bad, I would not have the faith that I have now. I would not be able to talk to some people about experiences without the bad. Including my bad choices. Some of us take the short road to God and others of us, like me, take the long and winding road, up that mountain, down in the valley, through sunshine and rain, hot and cold, to get to the moment where we look up and realize that God is there, has always been there, just walking beside us, waiting for us to reach out our hand to hold His.

Some of us are hardheaded, like me, and it takes longer, but He is there, watching over us.

I ask that God fill me with HIS love and compassion so that others may see HIM in me. That others see a change in me from the bad girl to a better girl. That they are curious what is going on with me. That they will ask what makes my life now so different.

I want to tell them.

My life is not perfect by any means. But it is my life and I am grateful for it.

May your life become a blessing for you too.

May God bless you today.