Thanksgiving Service

During church today they did things a little differently, opening the floor to everyone, giving us the opportunity to share something we have been/are grateful for in honor of Thanksgiving.
It was so touching to hear people share little bits of their personal stories. God can use anything and anyone to make such a difference in our lives. It's so important to look at situations through the eyes of a grateful heart, even when it can be hard at times.

While the service was going on I wanted to share some things I am grateful for...but I was getting choked up just thinking about the things I would say and I didn't want to be a ball of a mess in front of everyone. Well, my husband Steven raised his hand and stood up for the microphone. What he had to say was exactly what was on my heart. He shared that for the last two years it had been our desire to move to Idaho, but due to wanting to save more, find a decent job in the location we wanted to move, etc it didn't happen right away. And then when we were ready to move, things weren't falling into place and a few months passed. It was hard to not get discouraged, but we kept praying for God's will-not ours to show. Then after those few trying months things started falling into place one right after the other and fast! We got pregnant, Steven found a full-time job where we wanted to move to, the moving process went amazing, we found a house right after we moved, etc. Things were going so freakishly well we thought it was too good to be true. But, we were just being blessed with God's plan. We have some great friends here, and it has been great making those stronger. Plus, we were able to get plugged into a life group through our church right away that has been wonderful. The couples we are getting to know have been encouraging and here for us. (I may be missing somethings he said, but that was the gist.)

I loved that Steven shared this and pretty much as soon as he started saying these things I started crying. When he looked at me he was surprised to see the tears streaming down my face (but then in a way he totally wasn't surprised, because hello, it's me!! I did have a smile on my face, too) and then for the first time since we have been together I saw him get a bit choked up himself (which then made me more emotional). We are just so grateful for the ways life has played out, even though there were hard times as well. Those hard times taught us to rely more on God. We always know His plan is great - we just need to be patient and have faith.