Giving Thanks

     I wrote this Thanksgiving night, but this is the first time I've gotten to a computer with internet since then.

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Be joyous always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this  is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18)

     I have so much for which to be thankful.  God has blessed my life in so many ways, many of which I never even thought would ever actually happen.

     The people in my life are amazing.  I have truly wonderful friends.  Friends who have been there for me through think and thin.  These are people who truly want the best for me, and I can only hope that I will be able to someday bless their lives even half as much as they have blessed mine.

     My family is amazing and has supported me through so much, especially in the past few years.  I tried for a long time to get away from family, but now I am realizing how much I need family around me. 

     Then there are people I thought were gone from my life forever.  Through circumstances, mostly of my own making, I distanced myself from these wonderful people, taking for granted all the things they had done and tried to do for me.  This is where I really started to see God working in my life.  He brought a couple of the people who had meant so much to me a few years before back into my life during a rough time.  I was shocked – I really thought I had lost these people for good.

     And then, against all odds, someone I had worked really hard to alienate started reaching out to me.  I was beginning to regret the way I had treated him years ago, but was too stubborn to take the first step.  Several months after this, my only regret is that I missed out on so much because I stubbornly decided to hate him from the very beginning, just because I was too afraid of “starting over” again to give him a fair chance.

     Now that God has shown himself to me in far more ways than I could ever even begin to mention on here, and I have trying to start a relationship with Him, it is the people who I never thought I would never talk to again are the ones giving me the most insight into a spiritual journey.  This, in and of itself would be enough to leave me amazed.  And even if I were to try to take credit, somehow, for all of this having come to pass, I know that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

     Still, the best and most wonderful blessing I could ever imagine is the truly amazing grace and love of God.  Despite everything I have done, and all the time I have spent running away from Him, He still loves me and welcomes me back with open arms.  What else could I possibly ask?

     Regardless of anything else that might happen in my life, I know that I always have God.  This realization gives me a kind of peace I have never known before.  Experience has taught me that I am not really the best at running my life.  Plus, when it really comes down to it, I don’t even like to be in charge.  I really like having someone to turn to if I need help.  Now, I always have Someone to guide me.

     I cling to the promise that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 1:6)  With God, my failures and inadequacies are nothing.  With God, all things are possible, and it is my goal now to use my life to honor Him.