Thankful. So incredibly thankful.

It is all too socially acceptable for me to make a list of things I am thankful for on this day set aside to do that which we should do every day of our lives, yet I have a feeling that is exactly what this post will turn into. In reality, I should praise God with thanks in all things, and I am well aware that I fall short of this every day of my life. But I am glad for this day, and the togetherness it brings about for people. Not only was I blessed to break bread and share fellowship with loved ones, but I had the opportunity to rest and spend an entire day doing the things I almost never do anymore; running, relaxing, playing board games with family, thinking without stressing, and eating way too many cookies (I still manage to do that one all the time). I feel overwhelmed as I sit here and reflect on the past year of my life. Overwhelmed with thankfulness, joy and satisfaction in the blessings that have found their way into my life. The past ten months or so have held some of my most precious memories with some of the most precious people to my heart. Learning, love, heartbreak, healing, and a growing relationship with the God I love have kept me going, and taught me more about myself than I ever thought I could know. I finally found my place with a clear vision of what I want my career to be, and feel like my school is the environment I want to shape myself in as a musician. But even with that in mind, I am extremely excited and blessed to have the opportunity to start visiting schools to transfer to. I have had my heart set on the East Coast for quite some time and will visit those schools this next week in their freezing cold conditions!, but I know that God will lead me to wherever He wants me, even if that means staying here in California. One of the most prevalent things I am grateful for today and every day, is my role as a youth leader at my church. I can not even begin to accurately describe how much those kids mean to me so I will not attempt to let the words I type fail me. I will just say that I never want to take the perspective that I experience through the eyes of those kids for granted; it has shown me more than I will ever be able to give them. And of course, I am forever grateful for God's grace, which brought me into the arms of my very own Grace, along with the other girls at the Providence Children's Home in Kenya this past summer. I still think about them every day and am extremely comforted by the reports we get every few months to update us on the health and progress of the girls. At the perfect timing, in a perfect way God used that mission to show me where my heart was and where it needed to be. That's not something a person can forget, and I constantly remind myself of just how amazing He is for giving me that experience when He did. I have also discovered an overwhelming amount of encouragement in the past few months, with new friends and encounters that have really pushed me to grow in my faith and contributed to my own walk to have a Christ-centered life, which seems to be not less challenging but even more humbling with these people in my life. I am constantly amazed at the wonderful people I have met and inspired to be a better person myself because of them. My faith community could not be left out of this post as well. With my new calling as an elder and the relationships I am building through that responsibility, I am constantly reminded of what it means to be dedicated children of God. Faith, family, friends, food, and fun. The list could and should go on forever. I pray that others have experienced similar joys but that even if they have not, they can still see the blessings they have in their lives. God is so good to us and with that in mind, the challenge presents itself; to be satisfied. To lift up His name with praise and thanks in every situation, whether it be "good" or "bad" because if we trust Him and put our whole lives in His hands, He will bring us to exactly where we need to be.