One Thousand Gifts

Today is a mile marker in the practice of counting His blessings!  Today is the day that I post my thousandth gift.  Life has been busy lately and I am well past one thousand in my journal, but I wanted to separate this gift out and take a moment to reflect on the journey so far.

As I look back through the pages and pages of counting,

I see an interesting mix of the "every day" things of life like 
#77   Windshield wipers 
#114  A reliable car
#159  Clean drinking water
#352  Fresh blackberries
#506  Iced coffee
#919  Blankets tucked in

I see pauses to marvel at His glorious creation
#1  My son's eyes pausing to look up and gaze at the night sky
#111  How she gets distracted by a V of geese when raking the leaves and races across the yard, staring at the sky, arms flapping
#273  The way prairie grass changes color in the sunlight
#399  Fourteen geese in a row, gliding with the current
#602  Watching waves build and crest
#819  Sandpipers scurrying along sea foam

I also see gifts that show His ever-faithful presence on our journey toward eternity
#142  Hearing my father read Luke 2
#151  Hearing her sing praise songs when she's supposed to be brushing her teeth
#228  How hard they work to memorize Scripture
#311  His grace on the hard days
#330  Prayer warriors
#444  Talking about the Lord while we picked (strawberries)
#509  That my son chose Philippians 4:13 as his life verse
#562  Nathan's baptism
#617  That she was a peacemaker on the playground

Somewhere in the mid-900's, I stopped putting the numbers on each line of my journal.  Knowing that I was approaching 1000, I wanted to do everything I could to keep that gift a surprise.  As the days and weeks went by and I continued to count, I wondered...what would it be?  Would it be an "every day" gift?  Would it be one that caught a glimpse of eternity?  To my delight, it ended up being both in one!  So without further delay...

1000.  Standing next to him in worship, harmonizing together

The Lord has blessed me with an amazing husband.  First and foremost, he loves the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength.  He works so hard to care for our family, and is a wonderful father to our children.  The Lord has blessed his gifting in music, and turned that into a full time ministry that our whole family can be a part of.  I look back over twenty four years of marriage (#987) and am so thankful for how He has knit us together.  I love to stand next to him in church on a weekly basis and sing with him, and I look forward to singing with him throughout eternity, when we praise our Lord and King together!

If you have enjoyed this journey with me, I invite you to stay tuned!  I am still counting, but will change the title of my weekly entries.  His mercies are new every morning, and His blessings are abundant!