photo: GrittyGrace.com

It will be a crazy day today, so I will dash this off quickly…and will most likely leave a few things out!  Yes, this is the big 66.  For me, that means I now qualify for that huge Social Security check that will now make me rich!  Are you hearing the guffaws in the background?  

So here is my grateful list:

• For the redemption provided me in Christ.  I remember repenting of my sin at the age of 4.  Yes, actually realizing what a sinner I was and realizing I needed a Savior!  That was a great gift to have most of my life.

• For the opportunity to grow up in a Christian home with parents who were committed to Christ.  During my childhood, they were missionaries, in a pastorate and started a christian school…long before they were popular!  They were far from perfect for sure, but I had many opportunities that others don’t have.  We had some amazing people in our home…were friends with others that were a privilege to know.  In many ways, I was fortunate!

• For the experience of living in a boarding school with other kids like me in high school.  Normally, I would have thought I was completely weird!  Then I met others who had been through similar, often worse experiences.  Learning what life what like in other christian, frequently missionary families was helpful.  Our family was more normal than I thought!

• For the type of training I had in nursing.  It was perfect for me.  It gave me confidence that I wouldn’t have had to do my job otherwise.  For the people I trained with. I learned a lot from each of them.

• For my husband.  We married right after I finished college.  He was 30 by then.  He could have been bossy and told me I had to do things one certain way…well he did in a few minor areas, but for the most part, he wouldn’t let me depend on him to make decisions for me.  He wanted me to make decisions for myself and express them.  Hopefully, he didn’t create a monster!  I had never lived in the outside world really.  He didn’t let me get by with “going with the flow”.  He knew it wasn’t the best thing for me.  He was right!

• For the children GOD gave us.  By the time our first pregnancy survived (#3) we were acutely aware children were a gift!  We learned so much about people, life and ourselves from raising them.  They grew up to be beautiful, godly women.  Each one is unique, and delightful: a testament to GOD’s grace.

• For the cutest, liveliest, smartest, charmingest grandchildren in the world!  With our seventh soon to come in a month, the count will be 5 girls and 2 boys.  Each one is different from the next, but delightful.  I laugh when I’m around them…a LOT!  We seem to specialize in girls.  There was a time I chafed at that…but no longer.  What could be better than raising women who will influence the next generation?

• For each church we have served.  Their patience with me has been encouraging and growth-producing.  I am so slow to learn and from each church I have learned a lot!  So many individuals have touched our lives in encouraging ways…even those who were difficult at the time taught me a lot…because ultimately submitting to them was like submitting to GOD even when they weren’t perfect.  The churches we served where Ron was either on staff or the pastor were: First Presbyterian Church of Plantation, Planatation, FL; North Miami Beach Presbyterian Church, North Miami Beach, FL; Old Cutler Presbyterian Church, Miami, FL; Shenandoah Presbyterian Church, Miami, FL;  Fifth Street Presbyterian Church, Tyler, TX; Hanna City Presbyterian Church, Hanna City, IL.

• For all the experiences GOD has brought into my life that have stretched me and taught me more about Christ.  More often than not, they have not been easy.  However, I have learned from them and my horizons have been broadened, my view of GOD has been greatly enlarged and I have grown!

• For the opportunity I have had to start writing a blog.  I am okay at it, not stunning.  I have loved the connections with women I have been able to make.  I have also loved the challenge of being able to write stories from my life, put ideas together and making connections with things I never did before I started writing.  That wasn’t my original purpose.  It has been a side benefit.

I’ve only scratched the surface of things for which I’m grateful.  But here you have it.  God has lavished me with so many good things.  For that I am grateful!

The day has flown by!  It was a busy one and I am weary…and grateful that my daughter and grandson are now safely in the US after a long flight from Ukraine today.

But he said to me, 

“My grace is sufficient for you,

for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,

so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

II Corinthians 12:9