gratituesday.

I preface this by saying I'm not creative enough to come up with this word. "Gratituesday" comes from the brilliant mind of actress Kate Walsh on Twitter. I just wanted the title to sound REALLY cool, so I stole it.

Today started out in a most unique way. When I scrolled Facebook this morning--and just took a step back to look at life, so much seemed to be going on, and it wasn't good news. Families were mourning the loss of loved ones and people I knew were dealing with different trials in life. I'd felt this way before, but today it hit hard.

I was feeling bad about being blessed.

On a brighter note,
I met CHESTER CHEETAH this weekend!

It made me start thinking about how God allowed my family to have an awesome weekend together--safe traveling to see them, a good time of fellowship, an amazing time of worship with ALL of us at the same church (a rarity), lots of laughs and playing games. He's blessed me with a great job (I celebrated three years there today) where I love what I do, an awesome church family, the ability to walk and talk and, if needed, RUN...I could go on and on.

But around me, people were going through things. It made me wonder if God didn't think I was strong enough to deal with trials, or maybe He simply found favor with me and wanted to protect me. I'm not saying I want to have to have trials in my life, but compared to others life was okay for now...but I felt bad about it.

The phrase from a worship song kept resonating in my mind: "Break my heart for what breaks Yours." And I have to say that I think that's where God had me today.

My heart hurt for people I barely know--is this what ministry is?

Is this what truly loving people is, with a heart of God?

We learned a little about that on Sunday at church (an AMAZING service at Odessa Bible, as always), and I'm thankful that God would use something like this to teach me a lesson.

I'm also thankful for little things. In my mind, it's the little things that matter. One time in Bible college, our professor started off class by asking us what we were thankful for. I raised my hand, and all I said was that I was thankful to be alive.

Cue the crickets. Even the teacher looked astonished/weirdly (is that a word?) at me.

So, to close out this post, let me list a few things I'm thankful for on this GRATITUESDAY...

• Our first win of the softball season!
• The ability to yell and holler for my teammates, even if my throat hurts right now.
• Legs to "run" and walk
• My cool highlighter-yellow socks!
• A gracious God that continually teaches me lessons and softens my heart for people
• Simply being me...I'm the dumbest person I've ever met. :)
• Half-price burritos at Sonic today. Dinner ROCKED.
• An awesome mom who makes goodies for people, and is there for others, and who watches me play softball!
• Trying my best at new things. It's not about winning or the competition, but simply trying your best.
• Amazing blog posts that I've stumbled upon, especially today!
• A bed to lay in and fall asleep after I finish this blog & wash dishes. Good night!