Thanksgiving with a grateful heart!

I so enjoyed Thanksgiving. I was able to go to my family and my husband's family on different days. :-)

On Thanksgiving, I wasn't really feeling very well and wasn't sure I was going to make it through the day but just being around people really cheered me up!

Today I was able to go to church....although wearing a winter hat with a suit looked horrid, I was so happy to be in service. I've not been in service for 3 weeks!! For those who do not attend church, I can't even imagine. There is so much gratefulness and joy that I get every time I go to church!

Today's service was of course about our blessings and how we often forget the benefits of serving God. As our Pastor stated, Thanksgiving is not just a holiday but should be the condition of our hearts everyday. Everyday is a day of Thanksgiving. It is our attitude. We need an attitude of gratitude! I've always felt that way....in fact, I get a little upset sometimes at our children/teens in our society and their ungratefulness. Yes, it is because we spoiled them.

We've become a disposable society. If we don't want it, just toss it. Adults are often at fault for the same thing. Relationships which should be meant for life are disposed of easily. It is because we have so much abundance of things, that we overlook how blessed we really are! It is often said that the poorest family in America is wealthy compared to those in Third world countries. Yet we often hear grumbling and complaining because we were not able to find the latest and greatest toy for our child or how we live on a hamburger and beans budget! Thank the Lord we even have enough money to budget.

I recently read about a man in China whose hand was cut off because he stole a chicken for his starving family. He was imprisoned and was sentenced to death...all because of a chicken he stole for his family. Stealing is never correct but think of Black Friday when someone was trampled to death inside a Walmart all because someone wanted to be the first in line for a bargain. It still blows me away. How could so many people rush through the doors in such a hurry that someone could be trampled to death in America???

Our lives have become so easy and simple compared to our ancestors. We have remotes for everything, dishwashers, microwaves, garage door openers, water heaters....on and on and we complain when our efficiencies do not work. Well, they do need to be fixed but it is a time for reflection on how much easier our lives really are. Yet again, the poorest family here will have most of the same efficiences.

We are just so blessed! I have always said that God has blessed me more than I deserve. It is always the way that I will start praying. "Thank you so much for all my blessings". At a time like this when I'm trying to be normal and go through the Holidays...I realize even more how much we take for granted. Our health to start with...we take for granted that we are going to get up and be able to do whatever it is in the day that we've planned. It can be taken away just in a blink of time. I certainly never considered it in my days of planning. I took it for granted. I knew I had not abused my body, therefore why would I need to worry. Well, life has a way of reminding us of our blessings and making us realize the important things in life. It certainly is not things.

I would give every material thing up not to go through chemo. However, this is one time it is not my choice. Clinically I must do it to survive. However, I'm so grateful to know that I have a Savior who continues to bless me and my family through this hardship. It is through all of YOU who pray, encourage, and let us know that this journey is not forever and when it is finished....it is finished. I have a church family that prays for me every single service, along with so many other people that my family realizes we are not traveling this journey alone. I cannot express how much that means in my times of sheer agony when I just want to go away. I think of all the people that are praying and lifting our family up and it comforts me. The pain doesn't go away in my body but my spirit is lifted up into the comforting hands of Jesus Christ. My heart is so grateful!

May the Lord continue to bless all of you and may his reason for my journey be revealed! As always, love to all for your kindness to my family. We are forever grateful to you! :-)
Love to all,
Leah