Thankfulness

As you can obviously see, there is a delayed response kind of thing happening here on the Michael Chronicles. Just last week I got around to posting about Halloween! Yikes. But lately, I have been thinking about Thanksgiving and well, being thankful. I thought I’d share it with you.

The last couple of years have been tough on me and on mine. Since this isn’t my online diary, I won’t be sharing with you the details of why, but suffice to say, it was one of the most difficult seasons of my life, possibly the most difficult. The circumstances haven’t improved, but we’ve just kind of adapted to a new normal.

During this time, it seemed like I was also under a weird barrage of attack. I broke my foot, my thyroid went berserk, and I had a general grumpy, exhausted, and irritable perspective that comes with those kind of physical issues. Yes, it was good times in the Michael household!

Things have gotten better. I’ll just tell you a few things. I feel so much better, I lost lots of baby weight plus thyroid issue weight gain (a personal goal that’s ALWAYS on my “list”). My thyroid is on the way to being under control.

As I took a step back from my life and examined where I’m at, I realized that I have met many of my life goals and I’m pretty much on track for where…no, who I wanted to be at this point in my life. I found and married an amazing person. He has been growing in the Lord so much and so quickly, I’m having a hard time keeping up! His focus on becoming the man God wants him to be has definitely ramped up our family’s spiritual life and challenged me to walk in God’s promises and to be who the Lord wants me to be!

We are serving in ministry together at our church. We love having the regular fellowship of our small group and the privilege of serving them. Honestly, every Friday afternoon, as I’m preparing for home group, I think, “I don’t have time! Why do we do this?” And every week, they remind me of how vital it is to fellowship and actually spend time together in the Word and in prayer and I’m so glad we do it! Really, Facebook is great, but it can’t compare to actual face to face time.

My kids. I think it goes without saying that I’m thankful for them. But, I think I still need to say it. There are so many families out there that are having a difficult time getting pregnant. And so many children without families. Wow, it’s very humbling to have ours here with us, safe and healthy. This first year of school has been a challenging one with Isabelle, but in hindsight, God was present, and so very faithful!

I have to say that throughout the last season of trials, the Peace never went away. If anything, it increased. Now, we have more peaceful circumstances, but the Peace is just the same. I have more understand of the scripture that talks about “peace that passes understanding.”

Another area of our lives that is a constant struggle is finance! It is a weird and challenging thing to live a balanced life in America these days. Life is very expensive and it seems like there is hardly ever enough money or time! Working part time is something I am extremely grateful for. I get the privilege of spending time at home with my kids and the privilege of appreciating that time when I’m at work. And it makes me love my job oh so much more for this balance! But it’s a bit of a strain, to say the least. So I’d like to say that I am thankful for my ambitious and hardworking husband who recently got a nice raise that has put us on the path to (as Dave Ramsey would say) financial freedom. We have a solid plan to pay off all our (mostly MY college) debt in the next two years. How long has THIS been on our goal sheet? Forever! Praise God!

And I have also felt like for the past couple of years I haven’t seen much spiritual growth in my life. It seemed like I was in survival mode, if you know what I mean? Just keep racing toward the goal. As long as I’m on the right track. I kept telling myself, keep your head down, focus on one foot in front of the other. You don’t have to be the fastest or the brightest, just keep moving toward the goal. And I kept on track. Often not well, and definitely not first, but I’m still running! Now I can look up a bit and consider the Prize and how I’d like to finish.

I guess that’s what I’m doing now. Considering the Prize. Contemplating the Price. Making a plan for finishing well. Looking back and being thankful.