Guest Post~Learning to be Grateful!

 

When Kerrington approached me about submitting a guest-post for her blog, I was SO excited to be a part of,
something so very great! 

Then I thought...
What the heck am I going to write about?! 

I really didn’t feel like I had any profound wisdom to share...

Then one morning, while I was getting ready, I felt the Lord put something on my heart to share with you, something that I have personally struggled with and am still learning about on my “journey” so far… that something is learning to be grateful…sounds like a simple concept, right??? WRONG! 

Maybe it is for some of you, but it wasn’t for me. Apparently, I didn’t quite understand the meaning of being grateful, so here’s a definition to help us out.

Grateful- adjective. Warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful: I am grateful to you for your help.

(Thanks dictionary.com) 

Now for a little history- I grew up with three beautiful sisters and two lovely parents who put every effort forth into raising us girls to be respectful women of God, who were kind and loving towards others, and of course GRATEFUL for all of our blessings. (obviously, I didn’t get that memo) 

Being the loving parents they are, they wanted us to be happy and pretty much tried to give us whatever we needed or wanted, and they did everything they could to make sure we had a “cushy” life…

Well, they succeeded. In doing so, 

I personally became a bit of an ungrateful person. I didn’t realize how ungrateful I was until my life changed drastically! (I’ll get to that shortly.) 

I didn’t really have to work for the things I was given, so I didn’t have an appreciation for them. Sure, I loved the things I had, all the typical teenage -girly things- clothes, shoes, makeup, cell phone, car etc. but, wasn’t really grateful for them.

 I pretty much never wanted for anything and everything was just given to me so I developed this notion that things should be handed to me on a silver platter.…

how obnoxious of me, right?!?!? 

By now, you’re probably thinking, “What a spoiled brat!”  Well, you’re right, I was…Don’t worry, there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

Now, I’ll get into how my life changed drastically, and by drastic I mean giving up and saying goodbye to my family, friends, job, car, my beloved dog, and even my country.

 I started dating my now husband, Nathan, in 2009. God blessed me with opening up the door to having a long-distance relationship with this wonderful man! There was only one small issue……my husband just happened to be American, who lives in America, far away from my home in Canada. 

 

Saying that the decision to move to America was tough is an understatement… it took lots of time and lots of seeking the Lord to try to get used to the idea. I didn’t like it, but we both knew God wanted us to live here, in Lafayette, IN USA. 

We moved here against all odds, 

I couldn’t work until I was a permanent resident here, and Nathan did not have a great job at the time. 

We lived on one very small income.

 I had no job, no car, no fancy cell phone, no money to go on shopping sprees to buy clothes, makeup, jewelry etc., no getting chai tea at starbucks, no going tanning 

or getting pedicures, no getting massages, no getting my hair done, I could go on and on. 

We just couldn’t afford all the “extras.” All the things I was used to doing on a regular basis back home.  This hit me like a brick wall, I was sooooo depressed that I wasn’t able to have/do all these spoiled-girl things.  I was also confused as to why God would want me to leave my “cushy” life back home to this. 

God works in mysterious ways, and if you follow His direction for your life, His way is always the better plan! Believe it or not, I survived not doing all the extras! Haha, who knew?! After I worked through my “sadness,” God started slowly revealing to me how ungrateful 

I really was, that was not something I was excited about realizing or admitting. 

Being grateful for not only material things, but more importantly for my family and friends, and to not take them for granted. God showed me that I needed to be grateful and content with all the amazing things 

I already had. A roof over my head, food on the table, a warm place to sleep…these simple things are more than what some people had. I slowly started to become thankful for all the little  things, and through this God blessed us abundantly. 

He is so faithful to His promise to take care of His children. One of my favourite verses is from Matthew 6:26 where it talks about the birds of the air, and how they don’t plant seeds in the field and harvest their food, yet God still takes care of them and makes sure they are fed. 

How much more does He care about His own children?!?!?  Amazing love. Through this little journey of learning to be grateful, God continually blessed Nathan and I. It actually blows my mind how much he has blessed us and continues to bless us. I can’t stop smiling when I think about it. My perspective on life has completely changed for the better by changing my mindset to be grateful for everything!

I challenge you today, to sit down and list every possible blessing you can think of, whether it be something a person has done for you, or about the amazing new purse you got from the mall….You will be amazed and overwhelmed with how many you can come up with. 

It’s a good reminder to stay grateful and thankful. If it is a person or multiple people, make sure to let them know how much of a blessing they are. Again, I don’t have profound wisdom, but I hope all of you reading this are encouraged by how much the Lord truly loves us and how much He wants to

bless us! 

 

Sincerely,

~Jennie

 

About Jennie: 

 

Jennie is 24 years old and loves the Lord and loves her family so very much. She enjoys shopping, doing hair and makeup, drinking coffee, working with children, loves animals and has been married to her wonderful husband for 2 years and 2 months now. She lives in Indiana and officially loves it there! She works at a daycare and has an incredible love for children. Her and her husband can’t wait to start a family one day soon! They both love the Lord with all their hearts and want to continue to follow His direction for their lives!