Lord I'm Struggling, But I am Thankful

Let me be the first to say- I went into this spring break in a crappy mood. Very much so in a "Whyyy meeee" kind of mindset. Everything that has gone wrong in my life over the past few weeks seemed to be magnified in the last few days before break. I kind of got into a mindset of "I have nothing to be thankful for. There is nothing positive to focus on. My whining and complaining is justified."

Today my mindset changed a little bit. I observed for appx. 10 hours at Hurley Children's Hospital today in Flint, MI. Flint is not exactly the nicest town in Michigan, as you probably know. There is a lot of poverty, a lot of problems, and a lot of despair. I watched as these families came into the emergency room for simple things: sore throats, coughs, vaccines, etc. because they cannot afford normal health care. Almost nothing that Child Life saw today would have been brought in to a typical emergency room, but at Hurley they don't turn anyone away. It blew my mind to see all these dysfunctional families, and to watch their interactions with their children. I walked away at the end of the day thinking this: "My goodness. I know my life is chock full of problems right now, but I can at least be thankful for these minor things that I have; food, water, healthcare, the ability to walk, talk, etc." I may be struggling, but boy am I blessed.

An example of this? My gas money for this week. I have to make 4 trips to Hurley this week. That is a lot of gasoline for my car. My bank account is running close to empty. I know my parents can cover me, but that is a frustrating place to be when you want to provide for yourself and you are struggling to budget correctly and have enough funds. I got in the car Saturday morning and I prayed "God, please make my gasoline go farther this week, just like the oil for the widow. Make my oil go farther." I then kinda laughed a little and went on my way. So far since Saturday, I have driven 306 miles. My car usually only gets appx. 216 miles for one tank of gas. Boo yah! I still am not empty yet!! AND- I got a birthday check from my grandparents in the mail, I have a small check to deposit from work that I forgot about, and I got a call yesterday for a babysitting job for Friday. God provides peeps. You just gotta trust Him!

So here is my random thought of the day for you: I don't care how much you are struggling through life right now. There is always a reason to be thankful. Even if it is just one itty bitty thing, there is always something. So find that glimmer of hope and make that your focus for the day. God's got you covered, and he is going to provide for you in ways you can't even imagine, you just gotta trust him and be thankful even in the season of the desert.