So since thanksgiving is soon approaching (tomorrow!!!) I figured a thanksgiving post would be a good idea.

A tradition that I love that my family and our close family friends, the Jones’, have done since I was little is to list what you are thankful for with popcorn kernels. Each person grabs a handful of popcorn kernels and places them in the bowl, one by one. As you do that, you say what you are thankful for.

I love this tradition because it is so easy to get caught up in the holiday traditions of food, sports, and even just regular conversation. Don’t get me wrong, these things are good, but you miss the point if you just settle for good and not strive for great.

It is funny how so often we take what God gives us to be something great, like giving thanks to Him, and warp it into something that is “just good” or even the opposite, bad.

This Thanksgiving, I want to make it great. This year I want to remember everywhere I have been from last Thanksgiving to this one. This Thanksgiving, I want to reflect on God’s grace in my life—the countless times he has taken what I have made “just good” or bad and has redeemed it and made it great!

Here is just part of my list:

1. Thankful for singleness. I thought I had it all in a relationship. And, thought that eventually in marriage I would finally “be there” wherever ‘there’ was. The Lord completely showed me that I was wrong. His grace is enough and will always be enough no matter what season of life I am in. I didn’t realize this when I first became single, but this new stage of singleness has changed my outlook on life forever, has really changed who I am as a person, and impacts all the other things I am thankful for.
2. Thankful that the Lord took me from a life of sin of idolatry, pride,  and sexual immorality and redeemed my life from those never-ending pits and is continuing to save me from those pits. 
3. Thankful for 1C. I was talking with a friend the other day (maybe yesterday, I can’t remember) about how I thought, in my perfect world, I was going to be married as soon as possible. I said to her, “WHOA, if I was married right now, I wouldn’t have been able to be an RA and I wouldn’t have known my girls, and the Lord wouldn’t have worked the way he has this year.” The Lord knows best, and the women of 1C have seriously been a huge part of my life and will continue to impact me for the rest of my life. I couldn’t imagine my life without them.
4. Thankful for my church family. While single, I now can serve in a completely different way than when I was in a relationship. I can’t quite explain why, but I am thankful for this. 
5. Thankful for friends. (I know that I keep talking about my life as a single person but,) When I became singe, I could devote so much more time into friendships and oh boy am I thankful for this time. Not only have I seen where I went wrong (while in a relationship) with my friends, but I now see where and how I can grow in those friendships and how to make them grow stronger and go deeper. The Lord is good and has provided so much more than I could ever have imagined.

This is probably the first real time I have talked about being single and out of a relationship but I did not feel like before now it was appropriate. I was so wrong while I was in a relationship. I did so many things wrong because I had the wrong outlook on my faith, the person I was dating, and the grace of God. I am thankful for this year and how much it has changed my life because it has changed my life for the better. The Lord only knows how stubborn I am and how much of a kick in the butt I needed in order to learn all the things I have learned.

This year, I am just thankful. His grace is abounding, and I am undeserving.