There are so many things that I feel like I take for granted. The list is endless: clean water, a safe community, a safe country, free and amazing schools, heated houses, yards for our children to play in, parks that we can ride to on our bikes for our children to play in, soccer leagues, basketball leagues, dance classes, groceries stores that are stocked with a crazy amount of variety of foods, bank accounts, healthy children, healthy spouses, jobs that pay the bills, jobs that we enjoy, God's beautiful creation that is everywhere if we really look, the freedom to worship ...
Just feeling so profoundly blessed. I wish my heart always stayed in this state of thankfulness. It is my heart's desire, but too easily my heart can start to wish for things that cause discontentment ... in our case a bigger house that better suits our slightly big family (for example).
It is in those moments that I need to get on my knees in praise for ALL of the things our Father has blessed us with - including our very unique, well worn out, beautiful house. Gossssh, my heart can help but think about the one room homes that soo many live in, yes across the world, but also in our own town. We usually drive past them on the way to the beach, it is where most of our migrant families live. My heart so easily forgets what I saw in Northern Ghana, the literal one room mud huts that all of the families lived in, them living off of whatever the land provided (or in most cases didn't provide).
I believe the enemy's goal is to blind our eyes with all that God has blessed us with, and to divert our attention to our too excessive current culture that is all about meeting every possible want we can conjure up. It is such a balance to live in the world, but yet not to be of it.
We too often do the comparison game, comparing ourselves to others ...
As school and work are starting back up there are MANY things that I could be stressed or discontent about, but my heart is CHOOSING JOY and is CHOOSING TO PRAISE instead. My Father has my heart and that of my children and husband AND He has SO richly blessed us! We had such an incredible AND fun summer and I feel soooooooooooooooooooo completely thankful for it and all the time of playing that we had.
Here's a few pics from our latest trip to Whistler, our happiest place on earth :)
And just a few more ...
We are blessed and my prayer is that as we hit the school year running, our hearts live out of God's rich blessings and love of us!
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