Grateful, Grateful, duly Grateful

In youth group this week we had a worship service. It is always interesting to see how youth worship with no other adults around. :) As part of the service, our fearless leader read a book as part of her sermon titled Grateful, a Song of Giving Thanks by John Bucchino. I had never heard of the book, but was instantly in love when she finished reading. I think this is a book that everyone should own and read to their children. It is a book of thanks and faith, with beautiful illustrations.

There was one page of the book that struck me more than any other page. It read:

"In a world that can bring pain,

I will still take each chance-

For I believe that whatever the terrain

Our feet can learn to dance."

Tomorrow it will have been 1 year since our first miscarriage. Everyone told me that if I made it through the due date, that I would be okay. I think they were wrong. In the weeks leading up to tomorrow, I have been a mess. I'm not sure why this date seems to be harder for me, but it has. Maybe it's the time of year, or the fact that I have several people in my life pregnant now, some of whom are due the time I would be due if we hadn't lost a second baby. Maybe it's a day that I have to get through once, and then things will be easier.

I know that the service was supossed to be for the youth, but I believe that God was talking to me during the service when Nancy read that book. I think it was something that I needed to hear, something that I had been waiting to hear.

Of course, the main idea of the sermon was not for me, or what I needed to hear, but about how we don't thank God enough for what we have. We say "thank you" to people all of the time, but when was the last time we counted our gifts from God? If we woke up tomorrow with only the things that we had thanked God for today, would we have anything?

She asked us to do an acitivity where we wrote down 5 things that we were thankful for.  It took me a while to think of things, not individual people, I was thankful for, but by the time she said done, I had my list. She asked us to keep the list somewhere where we could see it and help to remind us to say thank you for those things everyday. Here is my list:

Five Things I am Thankful For

1. Faith in God

2. Unconditional Love of Family

3. Fellowship with Friends

4. Support of Church Family

5. Hope for a better tomorrow

These are the five things that I will be thanking God for every night. I will count my blessings instead of sheep.  I will learn to dance, no matter what the terrian.