Give Thanks In Joy

Give Thanks In Joy.

This past Monday I turned a year older, and in a way I feel different. It's not like when you were little and you'd blow out the candles and someone would say, "Well kid, do you feel older?" and you'd be left feeling a little silly, because were you supposed to instantaneously "feel" older?  Well, no. And for a long time you feel like the baby in every situation. No matter where you go there will be others older than you reminiscing about "when I was your age..."  But in the past few months things have changed in my life.

 I went from being an independent 20 something, living with family and somehow rarely seeing them as I came back and forth from work to drinks with friends to road trips to cleaning the jungle growing in my room from lack of time spent there, to something a little different. I "leveled up" in the video game of adulthood that we all plunged into without reading the instruction manual.

 I am now a 24 year old, close to the "mid 20's" mark. I am a 14hr drive away from my family, friends, hometown, and Autumn weather as I know it. I am married. The people living around me are actually peers, and if you are older than 35 then you are in the minority and feel out of place. It is a leisurely 3 minute(if that) stroll to our private stretch of the OBX that I do not take advantage of near enough. I have two crazy cat children, and at this point my husband and I talk about what it'll be like to have kids in the not really distant future...someday. I am dealing with having a flooded vehicle, something I never imagined I'd actually have to think about much less take care of.  

With great freedom comes an equal amount of bills, stress, and anxiety. And lots of prayer. 

Anyways, today's #SheReadsTruth was about giving thanks in Joy. 

"And when we arrive, what then? 

Do we dwell there in gratitude?

Do we offer up a "thank you"

to correspond to each "please"?

Or do we shift our gaze to the next thing on the horizon?"

Calling out and calling to recognition something that we probably do pretty often without realizing it. Is the time we spend rejoicing, praising, and thanking our God the same or longer than the time we spend pleading, and asking? I'm not sure my answer would be yes...like most of the time. 

Somehow I get really caught up with life at the moment. I pray and ask and deal with whatever the issue is at the moment, and then when whatever that is reaches a conclusion(positive or negative) I'm on to the next thing that needs help... Those who know me know that I am not really a negative person, but equally not positive, either. I am what you would call a "realist".  And many times over I am thankful that my husband is an optimist and constantly reminds me of what could go right, and how it's not that bad even if things go wrong. He sees the silver lining always. This man is a gift to my realist brain, especially when the person from insurance is telling me that most likely my car is going to be a total loss. (Thank you salt water) 

Life is certainly never dull, especially when you find yourself in the midst of adulthood, which means that with every cup of coffee there is something to ask for and pray about, and equally there is something to rejoice and give thanks for. So if you excuse me, I have a nice fresh cuppa french press waiting for me, and some kitties to cuddle, and some things to do while I wait to hear more about what's going on with my car...