Gratitude

What would Thanksgiving week be without a blog post on gratitude? :) In all honesty, it's not something I've had lately. I'm generally a happy person who loves the little things in life. I get happy when my mom buys me a Lunchables or when a teacher says good job. It just doesn't take much to make this girl happy. The last couple of months have been different, though. I've been in a challenging season of life where I've really had to figure out why I believe what I believe. I had some of it figured out, but God presented me with some new ways I was not expecting. In the midst of my struggle, I stopped fighting. I became so consumed with my "difficulties" that I slowly started becoming unhappy. I lost my joy. I stopped wanting to live my life abundantly. I just wanted to lie around all day doing nothing. I was by no means depressed. I just stopped seeking God and started seeking happiness in materialistic things.

This past week was really hard. I was torn between two worlds: the one I wanted and the one I knew was right. It's amazing how those two worlds often don't mix (and by amazing, I mean annoying..I want what I want ;). I've had a lot of talks with God this week. Actual talks with God where I argue and get angry and then sad. I also realized that despite my battle, my life is still amazing. I mean, really! I am so blessed. I don't want you to think my life has been terrible lately. Because it hasn't. But I have to admit I'm not where I want to be right now. I feel like I'm stuck in life. But when I really think about it, I'm so thankful for it. It's easy to be thankful for the good things in life. Our families, friends, food, shelter, and a number of other things. And it is wonderful to be thankful for those things. But what about the hard times? Isn't adversity what helps build character? Aren't those difficult times what often brings us even closer to God? 

Romans 5:3-5:
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

So I'm choosing this week to be thankful that I'm having to fight for joy. It's been rough. I'd just rather sit around feeling sorry for myself. But I'm thankful for the battle because every single time my Savior proves He is faithful and He is love!

What are you thankful for this week? :)