The Things I Took For Granted

There are a lot of things that I took for granted before quarantine. I want to share the list with you and challenge you to write your own list. These things that aren't necessary for life, but I enjoy them.

I encourage you to take a few moments today and remember that we are surrounded by so many good things. Let us not forget to thank God for them. 

Going into a store without a mask. 

Being able to find every food item I wanted in the store. 

Being able to give hugs. 

Going to work. 

Being able to hug little kids. 

Sitting down in a restaurant. 

Hobby Lobby. 

Getting thread from Walmart. 

Being able to meet in person. 

Going to a Church building. 

Having a normal routine. 

A family that is always there for me. 

A God who is always there when I slow down enough to hear His voice. 

A grace that always sustains me. 

An amazing life with Jesus. 

This isn't an exhaustive list, but I am so thankful for what God has shown me through this pandemic. It hasn't been easy, but it has been good. I can see God growing me and I'm happy about that. 

Identity #1: What I Wanted To Become

I stared at the list. I wondered what it was that had captured me. Why I was so mesmerized by this list of what I wanted to be from sometime a few years ago? 

Maybe it was that I was interested in what I thought I would be vs. What I actually became.

 

As I look back I think about me as an teenager. That girl had so many dreams of what life would be like. She could just picture how it would all happen. She would have some adventures and fun travels. Then she would meet the one and they would get married and start a family. 

But it didn't happen that way. The identity that I wanted so badly to assume didn't come my way. I felt so lost and confused. I hadn't planned for anything else. All I wanted back in 2016 was to be a wife and mom. 

Because it wasn't happening I became bitter and discontent. I was becoming increasingly upset because I thought God wasn't giving me the identity that I desperately wanted. 

There were several times during this time there were so many times when He was encouraging me. So many times when He was holding out a better way. Reminding me that who I was in Him had not changed. That He had already given me a beautiful identity in Him. But I wasn't really listening.

Sometimes the only way that God can get ahold of you is to give you what you have been begging Him for. And that is what He did for me. 

To be continued...