Thankful

I do love Thanksgiving...lots of food and fun times with family. This year I spent Thanksgiving with my friend Lindsay and her family. Such a cool group of people! Her mom made an amazing Thanksgiving feast with a broken oven. Holler for Meem!

I still get a little homesick on Thanksgiving, but got to talk with my parents for quite a while. My mom asked me a question with an interesting twist on the traditional, "What are you thankful for this year?"

She asked me, "What are you thankful for this year, that you didn't have last year?"

I didn't have an answer then, but I do now....

I'm thankful for the way God is working in me, through the power of the Cross. I feel Him working in me in new, different, and exciting ways every day. It's a total 180 from where I was last year.

Looking back only one short year ago, my heart was much more callous, hard, and selfish than it is now, although I'd be the first one to admit I'm a major work in progress. I see God working in me, transforming me, conforming me to Christ. I'm learning to see God at work in the sometimes mundane of my every day life.

My friend Elyse gave me some great advice on my birthday: she told me not to sit around waiting for the big things God is planning for me, but to see Him daily. She reminded me how many people (such as David and Moses) spent years and years preparing for the 'big one,' the big plan or event where God would really show up and use them. Yet for these men, God's big work was the preparation, not the destination. True also for myself.

I've also wondered why now...why can God change me so much now? I know it's His perfect timing; however, I think I am starting to learn the meaning of surrender. I'm learning it's not all about me, that I need to/want to give up parts of myself in order to receive all of God's blessings, adventures, and challenges for me.

Learning to surrender has afforded me so many amazing opportunities, challenges, and adventures, which have allowed God to work in me in so many mind-blowing ways. That seemingly small change in me has allowed the big change to take place, for which I am so thankful.

Thankful for the Cross. Thankful for the Cross at work in me. Thankful for surrendering my heart to Him.

So amazingly blessed beyond my wildest imagination, beyond what I deserve...and still waiting on prayers to be answered!