Each day comes with blessings

It's a new year. I look back on 2013 and remember so many wonderful unforgettable things and yet also some tragic unforgettable things...like one of my best friends losing their baby Mary Anna who lived such a short life... But a life that has blessed so many. Their story blows my mind but what is even more overwhelming is seeing how God works in the darkest of times. The fact that they can see the good and the light in the midst of their tragedy is totally God. And then I think of what a testimony they have through their loss. And then I think of 2013 for kennedy and me... Our meeting up for the first time, our engagement, our marriage, me moving from Nashville and my job to go out there to Kansas, and then our worlds totally turning around and him leaving for Afghanistan. Definitely a time of sadness, but in my heart, a sense of urgency to run to God! And soooo many blessings throughout each day that if I don't stop and just sit for a minute, I know I would miss. And oh how I need to stop more and just praise God for the people, experiences, and day to day blessings God gives us. He is still God, He is still on His throne. And nothing comes as a surprise to Him. I pray He would help me to rest, and to live looking for and thanking him for the blessings. And to not miss opportunities to see Him in day to day moments. I get daily emails from Paul David Tripp, a Christian author. This came to my inbox yesterday and what a gift of an email it was:

"The fact of the matter is that the transforming work of grace is more of a mundane process than it is a series of a few dramatic events. Personal heart and life change is always a process. And where does that process take place? It takes place where you and I live everyday. And where do we live? We all have the same address - the utterly mundane.

I don't want to discourage you from making a resolution or tell you to throw away what you've already written, but I do want to challenge your way of thinking. You see, the character of your life won't be established in two or three dramatic moments, but in 10,000 little moments. Your legacy will be shaped more by the 10,000 little decisions you make in 2014 rather than the last-minute resolution you're about to make.

Jesus is Emmanuel not just because he came to earth, but because he makes you the place where he dwells. This means he is present and active in all the mundane moments of your daily life. In these small moments he is delivering every redemptive promise he has made to you. In these unremarkable moments, he is working to rescue you from you and transform you into his likeness.

By sovereign grace he places you in daily little moments that are designed to take you beyond your character, wisdom and grace so that you'll seek the help and hope that can only be found in him. In a lifelong process of change, he is undoing you and rebuilding you again - exactly what each one of us needs!"

Here's to 2014... To live in the mundane and cherish his grace and be grateful for his saving work.  And to have our eyes opened to little blessings & to opportunities to share his love and grace and blessings with others.