I know it’s a bit cliché to write about giving thanks around Thanksgiving but as someone who loves tradition, I would be remiss if I didn’t share what I am thankful for this year. You might be thinking, after such a difficult year for me, how could I find anything to be thankful for, but trust me I have so much to be thankful for and as crazy as it may sound, especially this year.
It has truly been a difficult year for me and my family. This time last year our hearts were torn apart at the loss of the most important man in our lives. We lost a husband, a father, a brother, a son, a son-in-law, and a friend. We lost a shining light in our world and for a brief moment everything was quite dim.
The holiday’s last year were not easy and certainly did not feel the same. We made sure to focus on our time together as a family and the love we have for each other, and we made it through the first holidays keeping our loved one with us in all of our hearts.
I can’t believe it has already been a year and quite a year at that. I have come to realize with all that has happened this past year that I have so much to be thankful for.
I am quite frankly overwhelmed, and I feel so blessed by all of the love my family and I have received from so many friends and all of our family, and I am so truly thankful for all of you. I cannot begin to tell how much every one of you mean to all of us.
I am thankful for the blessings God has bestowed upon me by providing me with an incredibly special second family that has made me feel so accepted and so loved and will always be my family and mean the world to me, my husbands family. I could not have asked for a better family to marry into. I love you all so much.
I am always thankful for my family and all of their love and support and for my sweet mama who continues to keep me going and is always trying to keep me smiling. I love you mama.
I am thankful for my husband’s best friend who has been a consistent shoulder and ear for me and someone who holds so many of the same traits as my sweet love that he will always be a wonderful reminder of him for me and a dear friend as well as family to my boys and I.
I am thankful to the lord for carrying my sweet boy home in the comfort of his loving arms where he can finally be at peace in his heart and his mind. I can’t imagine a better place to be. All I ever wanted was for my husband to find all the happiness he was always searching for.
I have found this year, that the lord is always planning for you, and he always has a next step and another answer just when you think you have nothing left, he gives you more. The lord has shown me that I still had someone special to open my heart for, someone who has been a part of my life for a long time and may very well have been the someone who was meant to be in my life at this time and just maybe for the rest of our lifetime. Of course, that is something that we will have to see, but whatever the outcome, I am thankful that the lord has shown him to me.
I am forever thankful that the lord has been with me and walked beside me as I traveled through this year and all of its up and downs. I am thankful that he gave me strength through him, and he continues to show me that there is light at the end of this darkness.
All of us may find ourselves going through troubling times, but there is always something we can be thankful for. Life is never so broken that we can’t find more pieces to put it back together. They may not be the same pieces you started out with, but they are the pieces God was saving for you to fulfill his ultimate plan for you. So be thankful for not only the good times, the special moments and the kind people in your life but be thankful for the tough times, the rotten moments, and the crazy people in your life too, because those things are your reason for seeing what you are truly thankful for, and they are just another steppingstone in the greatness God has planned for you and your life.
I wish you all a beautiful and bountiful Thanksgiving and may God bless you all and let your hearts find a reason to be thankful this year and every year.
