Counting My Blessings

It may look an ordinary jar. Perhaps a bit too small when you think about what its for, but this represents a journey I took over this past year. This is a thankful jar, my thankful jar, filled with blessings both big and small from 2015. Inspired by a post I saw on Instagram, I set off to the local craft store to find these glass containers for the ladies in my Bible study and myself.

See far too often in life, our focus is on the negative. We can only see what we don't have, where we aren't yet, the struggles, the pain, and we forget to measure the successes, the joys, the blessings and answers to prayer. This jar represented a culture change in my thinking, my way of living, as I began to keep track of all that God has done in my life and in essence, a place to go back to when life is tough. I proudly marked my jar Jubilee as 2015 was declared, a year of personal freedom, a year of restitution of property and year of the simple life. I was excited to embark for what lied ahead.

I have to admit this process of thankfulness started off very slowly. It remained empty for several weeks until I realized I was making this a lot more difficult than necessary. There were no rules when filling the thankful jar. No measure of certain size necessary....just simply what are you thankful for? What blessings have you seen in your life?

From there my jar begin to fill with simple joys, gifts and life events that told the story of my past year. Here are a few of the things that filled my jar in 2015:


A unexpected encouraging note and gift from Sara, a beautiful writing/journal set. What a blessing to have friends that will not only pray with you when you share your heart but also find a way to say I'm supporting what God has called you to do.

Another one read "Blog"....yes almost a year ago I started this personal blog "There Are No Ordinary Days" where I write about my life experiences to share and encourage others on their own personal journey.

Raise....March 2015 I was give a full time pay status at church which included health benefits for my family. What a blessing as my husband was going through a transition of helping his Dad liquidate and sell the family business after over 20 years of working there! God's timing is perfect and that paved the way for our future endeavor later in the year.





Free American Idol tickets....I'm a huge fan of the show and heard they were coming to Detroit to film. Blessed by a friend who posted on Facebook "free tickets!" I believe God gave me the right timing to see her post. First to say "I'll take them!" Those tickets were a hot commodity! My boys and I enjoyed a once in a lifetime opportunity of being a part of the show. We got to see Ryan Seacrest face to face and see the show right at the front of the stage. It was amazing! It was fun, and I was the cool mom who go the boys out of school early!

Finding something that was lost that was precious to me! Faithful
God..... even in the little things God shows He cares!

The list does go on and on, a family cruise with the kids, speaking opportunities, singing live on the TCT show, unexpected inheritance money, areas where we gave and saw how it blessed others. Far too many to list.

Truly, my life is filled with blessings and even as I grabbed pictures on my Instagram roll, I realized there were many that were never written down and put in the jar. My thankful jar is just small measure of the big picture of the hand of God on my life. The every day ordinary things that we forget to include like the gift of life, our freedom, health, a home, a car, food that we expect and forget to give thanks for.

So as we move into 2016, I'm starting this over again. A journey of thankfulness, a journey of blessings. Looking at this new year filled with expectation and thanks to God for all He has in store for my life. I encourage you to do the same. Go grab yourself a jar, begin to jot down what you are thankful for because there are no ordinary days, and there are always blessings coming our way!