After a day like today, I am reminded of how blessed I am to have health insurance. It’s easy for me to forget how many uninsured and underinsured people live on the edge in fear of an event that could literally bankrupt them. As I write each copay, it usually doesn’t occur to me that the rest of my bill is paid by my insurance company, because my employer and I pay premiums.
Flu symptoms don’t send me into a panic. Muscle spasms aren’t as worrisome as they could be. Prescription drugs and quality healthcare are within reach. Generally, I have no daily worries about access to healthcare, and for that, I feel blessed beyond what I deserve.
Father,
I feel truly blessed to be able to obtain adequate medical care for myself and family. I praise You for reminding me just how blessed my family is. I pray that I am never so content with my own situation that I forget about the plights of others both near and far.
Also, I lift up the family of a good friend as they anxiously await tomorrow’s surgery to repair blocked arteries of their young daughter and sister. I pray that You will guide the doctors’ minds and hands as they work to reverse the heart disease from which she suffers. I don’t know her healthcare coverage situation, but I pray that she recovers without the worry of major medical bills that typically follow lifesaving surgeries such as what she will receive tomorrow. I ask that You comfort her family and provide for them in a way that only You can. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
There’s no big buildup to today’s message of thankfulness. I’ll get right to the point. I am thankful for the amazing man whom I call best friend, confidant, and husband.
He understands me. He works hard to maintain a wonderful marriage and to be a great dad. He works hard to provide for our family. He is caring. He is funny. He is kind. He is loving. He is patient. He is my hero!
I love that he frequently shares the Gospel with his clients, plays Christian music in his stores, and invites customers, family, and friends to attend our church. He takes seriously the command to make disciples of others. The Great Commission isn’t just a string of words for him; it’s his mission.
Father,
Thank you for blessing me with an amazing husband, best friend, and father to our children. I pray that you will keep him safe as he travels each day for work and as he spreads Your Gospel.
I love weekends. Especially long, holiday weekends. One of my favorite times of the week is sometime around 5 PM on Friday, because I have the whole weekend ahead of me to do as I please. Some weekends consist of spending quality time as a family. Some are full of running errands. When the mood strikes, some weekends are overtaken by home improvement projects. Let us not forget about the weekends that are filled (mostly) with me sitting on the sofa being the biggest bum that I can be. As a former Type A personality, this is an art that I’ve learned to perfect in recent years and I must admit, it feels great to relax a little. Live a little!
While I love a long weekend or vacation, today, I am ever so grateful to be employed. In recent years, I’ve fallen out of love with my career, but now have a renewed sense of pleasure in it. I made it through January without any serious gripes. That’s major!
Maybe it’s the economy that makes me more grateful than ever. Or perhaps the broken ties to a negative associate have given me new energy. Maybe it’s a little of both. However, I like to think that the biggest reason for the change in my attitude is Him. He has been
working on making me more content with where I am and what I have. He’s also been telling me to do everything that I do to His glory.
Today, I am grateful to be employed for a company that allows me to be creative and provides the flexibility that working moms desire.
Heavenly Father,
Thank you SO MUCH for providing a job that I wasn’t even seeking fifteen years ago. It has been an honor and pleasure to share with others the story of my life of which You have authored so amazingly. Only You knew that the door, which was opened door so many years ago would lead me to where I am today. I praise You for infusing me with a renewed spirit to do everything that I do in such a way that it brings glory to You. While I often stumble, I am always thankful for and overwhelmed by Your presence in my life. I pray for continued refilling. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
The month of November is the time of year when many of us remember to be thankful. We try harder to truly focus on the things for which we should be grateful. Some of us even post daily messages on our favorite social networking sites, so that others can see how appreciative we are. I’ve never had the urge to publicly share daily messages of gratefulness…until now.
I’m always grateful – even during the times when I grumble about one silly circumstance or another. But something washed over me this morning. Literally! So, here I am, sharing a message about something for which I am more grateful than words can describe. It may seem silly to some, but it is a genuine gratefulness for being able to do something that most people on the planet, and to a smaller extent (but no less important), people in this country, can’t do…
…wash their faces in warm water that comes from a faucet with a seemingly endless supply.
Washing my face in warm water is a privilege that I don’t think about often enough. Stopping to remember that the world is filled with people who desperately need clean water for drinking and for hygienic purposes makes me recognize how truly blessed I am.
So each day this month, I’ll share a prayer of thanksgiving, much like the one that I said to God as I cleaned my face this morning.
Dear Father,
Thank you for supplying the warm water that I had access to this morning. I understand that something as basic as this is not within easy reach of others, so I do not take it for granted. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Follow the links below to see just how blessed you are if you have full-time access to running water.
