so very thankful

I want to take a minute to say that I am filled with gratitude when I reflect upon my life right now and how God has directed me and brought me to this place. To the Bronx, to this meaningful job, and to this community of believers. I read this morning from Heart Aflame (a devotional based on the book of Psalms and Calvin's commentaries on the Psalms) that when we, as believers, see God's hand of goodness in our lives, the proper response is to be overjoyed and to let praise spill out of us. I don't do that often enough. My guess is that it's not always second nature to us. But it's so good to remind ourselves of the faithfulness of God in our lives. Doing so serves to establish more firmly in our distracted minds the fact that God is good and that He is for us. It diminishes the negative things we encounter on a day-to-day basis by stirring up hope and faith inside.

Wednesday night, I had the chance to go on a walk out in the middle of nowhere in Rapidan, VA with my friend Laura (who drove 40 minutes both ways to come see me). Her visit was like a breath of fresh air amidst what had been a very lonely few days of work training. We talked about God, we prayed, we reminisced on the ways He had been good to us during the few weeks we had together living in Naomi's house. All we could hear as we sat by the side of the road was crickets and the occasional frog. No lights, no other sounds, no human beings anywhere near us. And I was blown away by the simple beauty of that moment and the nearness of His presence with us, His daughters.

So here is my list of things for which I am thankful:

I am thankful for friends, for times of prayer and recalling glimpses of God's hand in our lives.
I am thankful for my parents, for the chance to see them again this past weekend, for how much they love me and each other, for their generous hearts and the ways they make me laugh.
I am thankful for a job in which I can help people who are struggling to get by, network with similar organizations, and have my eyes opened to the fact that not everyone has had it as good as I have.
I am thankful for M&Ms I found this morning that I left in my desk last Thursday because now I can snack on them.
I am thankful for cooler weather and relief from the heat.
I am thankful for Lisa coming to pick me up from downtown Manhattan last night so that I didn't have to take the subway carrying all my luggage, as well as the chance to talk to her about working in a secular environment.
I am thankful for lunch breaks!

Now what are YOU thankful for?