Monday, October 10, 2011

Reasons to Smile

I had a really rough day today.  Almost rough enough to make me want to cry... almost. :)  BUT it's 11:30pm and it's almost over.  Despite the difficulty of the day, here are some reasons to smile:
  • Jesus is much bigger than all of my anxieties and worries, doubts and fears
  • His grace and love are sufficient even when I don't recognize it that way
  • I am washed by the blood of the Lamb
  • I am my Beloved's and He is mine
  • I have a family who loves me no matter what
  • Safety on the crazy roads, even when driving my not-so-awesome manual vehicle
  • Seeing a breath-taking African sunrise
  • I live in Africa
  • Prayer/Bible study with my "Africa mom"
  • Friends here who have become family (Ackers)... and being comfortable enough to walk into their home and help myself to dinner
  • Celebrating Saudi's birthday with everyone
  • Living in a country where I'm free to sing praises to my King
  • The moon bursting through the clouds to illuminate the world around me on my drive home tonight
  • Being loved, really loved, all of me
  • Hearing an R. Kelly song on the radio on the way home
  • Clean drinking water and food
  • Electricity (and an inverter when the electricity goes off for 36 hours at a time)
  • Little boys I was babysitting shouting, "Bye Christina!!" as I'm getting in my car
  • Seeing Lino and Angelo on Skype
  • Looking at a picture of my nieces who I love dearly
  • Seeing pictures of my youth kids in America on FB and being proud of the people they are
  • Baby goats
  • Watching "Far and Away" with Saudi and everyone and thoroughly enjoying reactions to realizations of happenings
  • My knee is healing well and starting to feel stronger... hopefully I can be more active in about a week
  • "Monkey birds" laughing in the trees
  • The beauty of this land
  • Feeling at comfortable and at home here
  • People speaking Swahili to me and me being able to understand some of it
  • Music
  • Coke Light aka Diet Coke
  • A friend picking some stuff up at the market for me
  • Glow in the dark stars on my bedroom ceiling, left by the previous family, reminding me of my childhood
So even though today was incredibly rough for me, I can still smile and say "Thank You, Jesus."  I am blessed.

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