The Blessings

Standing in my kitchen building our potato casserole for lunch, watching/hearing my husband mow the lawn through our beautiful kitchen window, cartoon noises filling in around the edges, praying for my friend, my sister, I realized I am richly blessed.

Blessed, not just by the obvious things; a husband who loves me with no limits, boys who astound me with their natural boy-ness, a beautiful new home that meets my every earthly want, friendships as special as any I had as a little girl, parents who love their children before themselves, food on my table for every meal, Star-bursts hiding in the closet for my emotional indulgences, and people to share these blessings with. I praise the Lord for each of those, daily, but today I'm grateful for the deeper blessings, the ones that I don't always even realize I have above others. The blessings of hope, faith, love, and peace.

 I am so abundantly blessed to know about Heaven and know the One who will grant me entrance when I leave this earth. I am blessed to have Jesus in my heart, standing there at the ready to hold me up when my world starts to shake. To have faith that even through pain, suffering, and 9-11, the Lord had a plan and could work through even that sorrow to fulfill His greater purpose. Blessed to know that my child is in Heaven, making new friends in the most beautiful nursery I could ever imagine, even as we speak.

Blessed beyond words today by the prayers of the women in our church. Both today's prayers, and those uttered nearly 3 years ago, prayers I cannot fully recall but the effects of which I can still feel when moments pop up where I'm surprised that life had in fact carried on. How beautiful these women are, their stories each unique and yet the pain similar. How precious it is that we can come together in prayer and share deeply and intimately with each other, how encouraging this was to me this morning, even though I was on the praying side.

Blessed today, by the way my Lord has perfectly and beautifully woven our trials together with our blessings, how our hardest moments are some of my favorite memories, how my faith has increased through each struggle or hiccup, our hope has not wavered but grown stronger, and our love fuller, and our peace quieter.

Standing in the kitchen, feeling the faint fall sun on my cheeks, hearing my husband mowing our new lawn, listening to my children, thinking about my mom on her birthday, remembering what I was doing 10 years ago, cooking lunch and dinner for my family, praying for my friend, my sister, I feel so blessed to have faith and hope, and be filled with His love and peace.