Thankful!!!

This Thanksgiving I am so thankful! Thankful for so many things. And the past year has showed me that being thankful or full of joy has NOTHING to do with your circumstances and EVERYTHING to do with who God is. So this Thanksgiving I am thankful even for the situations that have caused us pain because God has and is getting glory out of them! God has been so real to us this year and my prayer would be that everyone would know that kind of relationship!
This year I am thankful for:
*My Saviour - what more can I say than that. He truly has been everything that He has promised He would be!
*My husband - we have walked through lots of things but he is the person who lives out his Christianity to me every day - from daily reading his Bible to witnessing to anyone, anywhere. To loving his wife and son in ways that are practical and meaningful!
*My son - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TY! I am so grateful that every few years we get to celebrate on Thanksgiving one of the greatest gifts that God ever gave us. Thank you for bringing fun and creativity and for showing us a different side to the world that God created and lives through you every day!!
*My parents - they truly live God's grace and His power and His peace every day of their lives and I am blessed to call them Mom & Dad.
*My siblings and extended family - you make me a better person and enrich my life in so many ways. A special salute to my Grandpa Boynton and Grandma Bedford - you model God's faithfulness for all of us!
*My friends - who are way more like family to me. You challenge me, love me, pray with and for me - I am grateful for the impact you have in my life!
*My ministries - God has given me such a passion for youth and young adults - I am thankful for those that allow me to live out that passion in ministries that I love!
*My friends and acquaintances who have walked though hard times this week - makes life all the more "real" to know that life is short and tomorrow isn't promised. To live today fully. Thankful for the ones that came through situations and are on the road to recovery. Thankful for the knowledge of those that will spend their first Thanksgiving in heaven. Thankful for the parents that spend every day caring for special children - God given and I think - so very close to the heart of God.

If you don't have anything to be "thankful" for - borrow some of mine. We always go around the table and say one thing we are thankful for. I will be remembering so many Thanksgivings from before - the first year Ty was born - straight from the hospital to the Thanksgiving meal; the year Thanksgiving was spent in MS doing hurricane relief - the tears that flowed as we stood in a destroyed neighborhood listening to my dad pray for the meal over a cell phone; this year as Dad will be on the phone praying for our meal from his own mission field. Thankful - very thankful.