My Heart is Filled With Thankfulness

At the beginning of this month, I was with some friends who have young kids, and the kids were making a craft of gluing a turkey onto a brown paper bag. Then, throughout the month of November, the kids were to write down something for which they were thankful, and put it in the bag. It seemed like a good exercise for adults too, so I made one also.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it seems an appropriate time to be reminded of what I was thankful for throughout this month. Here's what I wrote on little slips of paper and stuck inside this turkey over the past few weeks:

November 1: New friends
November 2: God's plan for my life
November 3: That I have a home to clean (had spent the better part of that day cleaning the house)
November 4: The Gospel
November 5: My job
November 6: Freedom to vote!
November 7: Laughter
November 8: My family
November 9: That I can trust God with my future
November 10: My sister
November 11: My friends' and sister's children
November 12: Our Veterans
November 12: The gift of prayer (must have been extra thankful this day!)
November 13: When even only 1 thing in my day goes right (hmm...must have been a rough day)
November 14: For faithful, gospel-preaching churches
November 15: My sister (it was her birthday this day - and second time making the list!)
November 16: Seeing God help me through looong days! (this had been a tough week)
November 17: Rest
November 18: Sarah (it was her birthday this day!)
November 20: Encouraging words from friends

I stopped after the 20th, but even doing this for just these couple of weeks, and going through them now again, makes me realize anew how much I have to be thankful for. I'm also reminded of the words of this song, which has been running around in my head a lot lately:

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who walks beside,
Who floods my weaknesses with strength
And causes fear to fly. 
Whose every promise is enough
For every step I take,
Sustaining me with arms of love,
And crowning me with grace. 
(K. Getty & S. Townsend)