Gifts

I've been thinking a lot lately on Matthew 7:11 that talks about God giving "good gifts to those who ask for them".

I think whenever life gets stressful and painful, it's much harder to see the gifts he gives.

You are so desperate for gifts that the asking is even more fervent.

And the gifts do come.

God has been so good to me, even though the past couple of months have many times been overwhelming or stressful. So I've been brainstorming the gifts I've been given lately, including some that I never asked for:

-the rose bush and beautiful purple flowers that grow outside of my new house
-my car has been running smoothly
-for Jamie as a running partner, because she always pushes me to go WAY farther then I could ever go by myself.
-for the ability to run at all and the discipline to keep eating right.
-to have been able to talk on speaker phone with my brother and dad last week.
-the details surrounding my Kenya trip this summer becoming clearer and helping to calm my fears.
-all my friends who are helping me switch out and clean off paint from my wall outlets this weekend.
-for hearing two very encouraging John Piper sermons about Palm Sunday and mercy ministry over the podcast.
-for a fun party last weekend as we said goodbye to four years in Graceland, our old house.
-for my friend Alison from my school who told me about Mercer University's library that's open on the weekends and at night that I can use since my school's library is only open when I'm at work. And Mercer is like 5 min from my house. YES!!
-for friends and family who love me and care about me and pray for me.
-many reminders this week that God gives me enough grace to make it through each day and I should not analyze so much about what could happen.
-text messages
-for friends who while they are in NYC they take a picture of a big truck that said "Nebraskaland" on the side and sent it to me on my phone which made me smile BIG.