Count your blessings, name them one by one

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. Families get together and enjoy a big, delicious meal. There's lots of love and laughter around the table. Everyone eats until they're stuffed and then the men adjourn to the living room for football. The women begin clearing away the dishes talking as they work. Christmas shopping trips are planned. Life is good. All of these sounds are the sounds of blessings. We always have so much to be thankful for, don't we?

This year, my focus is a little different than in years past. This year, I will just enjoy a quiet, peace filled day thanking God for giving me a second chance at life.  It's amazing how things can change in the span of a year's time, isn't it? Never did I dream my life would change so drastically from one year to the next, but then, no one ever expects a health crisis, do they?

In years past, I've always enjoyed scouring my cookbooks to find new and exciting recipes to try on my family. Every once in a while, I'd find one to sneak in amid the old favorites. No one ever complained, they graciously tasted the new dish and gave either a thumbs up or a thumbs down. That's the way we finally decided on our family traditional meal which usually includes Turkey and gravy, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, hashbrown casserole, sweet potato casserole, and some sort of dessert. I've always loved cooking and usually made everything from scratch. But not this year, I just don't have the stamina. It won't matter what we eat, I'll just be thankful for being here and being able to give thanks for all the blessings God has so graciously provided.

Here are some of the blessings He's given me this year:

• a wonderful breast surgeon who was kind and caring
• protection from infection after surgery
• complete healing of surgical incisions
• strength to endure radiation treatments
• a low Oncotype score allowing me to escape Chemotherapy
• provision for our medical bills
• caring medical staff
• a supportive, loving family
• encouraging friends
• an Oncologist who is willing to listen
• new friends at the Cancer Wellness Center
• free art therapy and writing classes

There are so many, many blessings God has given me...too many to count, in fact! But I have decided to list at least 10 blessings each day in my gratitude journal. By taking time to purposefully look for blessings, I find my heart of gratitude growing.

May God fill your home with the sounds of blessing this year and may you choose to look for each and every one. I am thankful for you and pray you have a wonderful time with friends and family celebrating all God has given you.  Count your blessings! Name them one by one! Count your many blessings, see what God has done!

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