Gratitude List | July 2018

On my previous blog, I made a habit of sharing a list of things I was thankful for every month. It's such a good habit to start and it helps you to focus on the good things in your life, rather than the bad.

So I wanted to bring it back! Here's my gratitude list for July.

1. My church family. For years I was a serial church visitor. Just about every church in my county, I've been to at least once, and living in the Bible belt, that's a LOT of churches. I was raised in a church that was very clique-ish, and since I was homeschooled, I never fit in. All the other kids would have pool parties and plan it right in front of me, but not invite me. I'm talking up until I was like 19 years old. I had kinda given up on finding "the church" for me until I walked into the Grants Mill campus of Highlands 4 years ago. When they announced the Oxford campus, I was ecstatic. It was the answer to so many of my prayers...and I've met so many awesome people through it! I finally feel like I'm a part of something bigger than pool parties. I feel like I belong to the body of Christ.

2. Rain. Alabama summers are H-O-T. And humid. And I get that rain doesn't really help the humidity thing, but I love rain and I'm thankful for it. 

3. Hope. I'm thankful that though I've experienced a lot of dark times this year, I still have something to hope for. Something (Pretttttty sure it's God...)keeps getting me up every morning, to face another day. I have had a broken heart, but it hasn't broken me. I will press on and I'm thankful for the hope I have that gets me through each day.

4. Air conditioning. Our power went out for 26 hours a few weeks ago and we were miserable after like hour 4. It really opened my eyes and made me appreciate the fact that I can come into the cool when I'm hot, or into the heat when I'm cold. SO many people across the globe don't have that luxury and I'm definitely guilty of taking it for granted.

5. New friendships. Through different places: work, serving at church, small groups, etc, I have formed many new friendships over the past few months. I'm excited to see what adventures are to come in the future with these new influences in my life!