On Fridays, Lisa-Jo Baker invites you to write for 5 minutes without stopping, without editing. 5 minutes on a word prompt. There is a whole bunch of ladies that write and link up and even have a twitter party the night before in anticipation of the event. Yeah, it get’s that exciting! You can find them on Twitter here #FMFParty….. For more information about 5 minute fridays click here.
This weeks prompt is Grateful…
GO.
Grateful.
Because, well, of course.
Because this week. The one of migraines and endless runny noses, and tummy aches, and end of the year ceremonies, and playing at being a single mom while my husband is out of town.
Because grateful is just not in my vocabulary. Instead it’s grumblings and complaining, and my mind is numb from it all, and there is no reserve of gratefulness left. And I’m thinking of all the glorious posts I will read of grateful, written by such beautiful women, and I know I cannot measure up to them. Not his week. It’s just not happening here.
And it’s a lashing. This reminder of being grateful. I want it. I do. Gratefulness. In the good, in the bad and in the downright ugly. I want it. I want that heart. The one that spills over with gratitude no matter the circumstance. And yet, so often it is forgotten in the tumultuous sea that surrounds me. It tosses me about like wave on the ocean. And I try to pray it. But I can’t find the words.
But as the weekend lingers, I see it all around me. The mom who struggles to keep things together in the wake of losing her husband, father and mother, in the course of just a year. How she struggles to mother and father her children while working at a job that is long and hard. The mother going through transition with her little boy of just five years. The watching of his life leaving and there is nothing short of God’s grace that will save this boy. The woman not knowing where the next meal will come from to feed her children. The woman wondering if her marriage will make it, her just wanting to be loved and cherished.
He changes my focus.
And I know He hears me, even without words, He knows me. He knows the gratefulness is there hidden deep in struggle because I took my eyes off of Him. But He doesn’t leave me there. He woos me back through song, the light coming in slanted across the room. The blue sky above. The words of a friend sent through text. A chat on Facebook. A gracious email from a new friend just to check in and tell me she praying.
I am grateful.
Grateful for a God of grace.
A God who knows no borders.
A God who stands in the gap.
Grateful for the laughter of my girls.
A yard for them to play and food on their plates.
Grateful for a husband who comes home every night.
A husband who loves like Jesus.
Grateful for a God, that even when I lose sight, He does not lose me.
He holds me and draws me close and calls me His own.
STOP.
To read more stories about Grateful, check them out here.
