Growing in Gratitude

Happy Thursday Y'all!

Last month, I passed out this "Gratitude Game" to my students, and then decided to play along on my blog for my February Growing in Gratitude post.

And just for the fun of it, I thought I'd continue the tradition and just use this "game" to guide my monthly Growing in Gratitude posts. I may change it up every now and then. But why not have a little fun with it? :)

I'm thankful for good friends. I'll always say the hardest part of being a missionary is being so far from family. But, God is gracious and generous enough to have placed me in a community which includes many people I consider to be like family. There have been so many friends over the last 8.5 years who have become like family. And for those people, I am definitely eternally grateful.

I'm thankful for my classroom. It took a lot of prayer, sweat, and even some ( or maybe a lot of ) tears, to get this class up and running. And I often sit in my room, reflecting on what it took to get here. And I'm just truly overwhelmed with gratitude for the chance to be here. I am honestly just so incredibly thankful for this classroom, for what it means, and most of all, for the students God's placed in my care. 

I'm thankful for the deliciousness pictured below. 

However, more than that, I'm thankful for the sweet ones who sent this to my class and me. What a special treat (and what special people)!

I'm thankful for the opportunity to "sneak" away for a couple days and enjoy some rest and relaxation. Taking time like this for myself doesn't happen very often. And while I've enjoyed my job this year, it's been tough. Lots of work... And I have felt like I was in an almost constant state of physical/mental exhaustion. So this time away with friends came at a perfect time. And yes, it's hard to leave, even for just 2 nights. But as a friend pointed out, even God, Himself, believed in a time of rest. So, I'm thankful for a time of rest and relaxation. And I'm also thankful this time was just the refreshment I needed to re-energize me to finish out this school year strong. 

There's far more brown sand all around me than there are beautiful flowers. So when I do see some, I'm definitely quite thankful for God's creative/beautiful artistry, as displayed by the beautiful flowers we saw at lunch the other day.

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Today I'm joining Julie and Trista for their monthly Growing in Gratitude link-up, helping us to focus more on having an attitude of gratitude.