The Year of Gratitude
New Years Eve 2009 I was approaching deaths door step due to a Crohn’s flare and was being prepped for emergency surgery.
Tonight I am toasting in the New Year with the love of my life. ?
When I choose “Gratitude” for my word of 2019 it was because I wanted to intentionally focus on what I could be grateful for in my life currently. I felt too discontented and too focused on my dreams for the future. I wanted to be grateful for the present.
But as I’m learning, when I pick a word of the year, God usually has a way of creating a whole new meaning for it in ways I could never expect.
Instead of having to intentionally look for what to be grateful for this year, God opened up Niagara Falls of abundance over me and doused me in His grace.
While this has been the best year of life as I’ve found my One and Only, this year hasn’t been without its pain.
I started the year in a courtroom, facing my ex-cult leader for the first time in seven years and then testified against him.
I got hit with a life-threateningly bout of bronchitis that knocked me off my feet for four months.
I lost two different jobs due to no fault of my own.
I had to go through a huge growth spurt in learning how to support myself for the first time, after leaving the cult mentality of Stay At Home Daughters.
I’ve watched my parents go through the divorce process.
I’ve been enduring a Crohn’s flare for most of the year.
And yet, I feel as if I have more to be grateful for than ever before. I’m living in a beautiful apartment with many treasured items that were gifted to me. I have a sweet-as-pie service dog who adores me. I have cherished relationships with family members. I have an amazing church that supports me and encourages me through thick and thin.
And of course, I have Joshua. ?
After enduring the hardest year of my life (2018) I can honestly say that 2019 has been the sweetest.
I can’t wait to see what 2020, The Year of Restoration will bring. ?
#theyearofgratitude
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