Thankful Thursday

I am going to try to consistently blog what I'm thankful for. I am definitely not known for keeping to a schedule, so I won't be posting every Thursday, nor will I only post on Thursdays. It just happens to be a Thursday when I decided to start this. :)

In Mexico, at the end of each day I would thank God for things that happened that day. It really kept my perspective in line. I found myself writing down things I was thankful for that earlier in the day I was complaining about (painting a fence in the heat, the septic system being full and not able to use our water, etc). At first, I just wanted to be thankful for the "good" things, not the inconveniences. But when I really thought about everything-- the possibilities of what could have been, or what came about as a result of those inconveniences-- I realized that I had a great reason to be thankful. God was in control. He has my best in mind. It got me thinking that that should not just be something related to Mexico, but I should continually be thanking God. The Lord has been so merciful in this area. I find myself thanking Him for the little things- a green light, a safe ride home in the rain, etc. Things that before I took for granted.

So, here are some things, little and big, that I'm thankful for:
= The gym
= Friends
= God's mercy in getting me through this week of craziness. Two more days and then next week it slows down. Thanks to God for answering that prayer.
= Freedom
= Parents who care about my physical and spiritual life. They provide so much for me. It's also a blessing that they trust me in my decisions about who to hang out with. Some of my friends they haven't even met yet, but they are trusting God that I am making wise decisions and that means so much to me.
= My brothers. It's so cliche, but I honestly don't know what I would do without them. = My job
= The opportunity to go bowling this coming Saturday night for the first time in probably 3 years. It seems so small, but the chance to hang out with friends and have a good time, and knowing that because of who I'll be with the conversation will be edifying is so great. I'm really excited.
= Babysitting
= Reliable transportation and car rides. The chance to talk with whoever I'm with is a blessing!
= Thunderstorms! I love them and we've had two or three this week. My brother is in NC all this week so the other night I slept in his room with the window open. It was so relaxing to fall asleep. I could hear the stream, the rain, the thunder. It was all so beautiful.
= The chance to clean my room. All I needed was like 15 minutes to quickly straighten it and make the bed but I've been so busy all this week and when I was home, I was too tired. Today I didn't have to work and got it looking nice. I even took an extra few minutes to give away a huge bag of clothes and go through my school papers from this semester (trash 1/2, keep 1/2). Woo!
= The opportunity to have a friend meet my family, go bowling with me, stay over Saturday night and come to church with me this weekend.

Okay, so there is probably a lot more, but this is getting long.

What are some things you are thankful for?