30 Blessings

God has blessed me with so much over the last 30 years and I wanted to take a moment to share what I am most grateful for. I encourage you to also think about what you are grateful for. It is my hope that I will always have a grateful heart towards the Lord and I hope you will too. We have so much to be thankful for.

1. Mom and Dad- God really did give me the best parents for me. My Dad had me out working in the yard as soon as I could stand it seemed like. I learned so much from him growing up and I know as much as I do now because of him. My mom is simply the best. My friends would call her the “cool mom” growing up and it drove me crazy but she really is the coolest. She has become one of my very best friends over the years. When I want to do something, I call my mom. When I’m sick, I still call my mom. When I just want to call someone, I call my mom.
2. Alex- My brother Alex is the greatest blessing I have ever received. He drove me crazy growing up, especially when he would start singing the moment I turned out the lights to go to bed and I could hear every word through my bedroom wall. When he started having all of his back surgery’s and when I went off to college, we got a lot closer. He is the strongest, funniest person I know. When we are together, the room automatically gets louder with our random bursts of singing and jokes that only we think are funny.
3. Granny and Papa- Anyone that knows me knows I absolutely adore my grandparents. I want to do whatever Granny and Papa are doing. It doesn’t matter who else is there, I want to be with Granny and Papa. My Granny is the sweetest there is. She can get me laughing so hard I can’t breathe. And it’s no secret that my Papa has been my best friend since the day I was born. I immediately had him wrapped around my finger and I knew it. Not only did he teach me how to play basketball and throw a football, but he taught me how to kayak too (not many realize that). And any time I want to have a good spiritual talk, I know I can go to Papa.
4. My Mentor- I cannot simply express how thankful I am for my mentor. We have been walking through life together for quite a while now. She really did take me under her wing and train me up. She usually knows what I am thinking before I ever say it and I am so glad God chose me to walk closely with her. She has given me way more grace than I deserve as we have made decisions to walk closely together, and I am forever grateful. She is more than just a mentor though, she is family to me and I am so blessed by her.
5. Church Family- I absolutely love my church family. They are a special group of people. We really are a big family. I am so blessed to be a part of a congregation as amazing as the church family I am a part of and thank God every day for them.
6. Church Kids- You always wonder if you are making a difference in a child’s life and then they remember what you have been teaching them, or they call you their best friend, or they bake you a cake for your birthday to say thank you for everything you do. I proudly tell everyone I have the best church kids and it is so true. They will forever hold a special place in my heart. And yes, some (many) of them are actually my best friends.
7. Friendships- My grandma has always said “Melissa you have always had the best friends” and she’s right. I honestly don’t know what I’ve done to have the types of friends I have but I am so blessed. I don’t simply have one or even two best friends because each friendship is different and each friendship is amazing.
8. The Friends That Pray- God has blessed me with friends that pray for me, even when I forget to pray for myself. I once had a friend say “I’m praying for you for (insert situation here)” and in that moment I had realized I had forgotten to pray for said situation myself. This hasn’t just happened once but happens all the time. I am so blessed to know that I am covered in prayer by my friendships as I also strive to cover them in prayer.
9. The Friends That Remember- My memory is horrible but somehow I have been blessed to have friends that remember every detail of my life and then ask me about it.
10. The Friends That Care- I cannot express to you how blessed I am by the friends that care for me. The one’s that call to check on me, the one’s that say hey lets go kayaking because they know I want to get out and do something, the one that waters my plants even when I forget to water them myself. They are all so amazing. It is my hope that I will always care for others the way they care for me.
11. The Friends That Turned into Family- Then there’s those special friends that have turned into family. I was recently talking to my mom as she was planning a family get together and I said “well this person and this person will be here” and Mom’s response was “oh I put them on the family list.” When your Mom says that about your friends, it says something. They really have become family to my family.
12. Co-Workers- When you are with your co-workers more than you are anyone else, it helps to get a long. I love my co-workers. We frequently call each other work family and that’s what we are. We are a family. They make going into work every day a blast.
13. My Job- I am so thankful for my job. Some days are harder than others, but at the end of the day I really do love my job. I love working with the students. I love helping them out. And I really do love where I work.
14. My Apartment- I waited to live in the apartment I live in for four years, praying frequently that God would bless me with this apartment. It was worth the wait. Living in my apartment has been better than I ever hoped it would be.
15. My Neighbors- I am so thankful for my neighbors. I love where I live, but it really is the neighbors that make it even better. We have so much fun in the neighborhood and we have each others back. It doesn’t matter if we need sugar for cooking or a ride somewhere, we always know we can call on each other.
16. The Mountains- I love to mountains. My parents knew that as soon as I turned 18 I would move to the mountains and never turn back. They were right. The best part of the mountains is the beauty. I love that I can drive to work and the view never gets old. The way the sun or clouds sit on the mountains, it never seems to be the same.
17. The Lake- I love the lake. I was just two weeks old and my parents had me out on the boat cruising up and down the lake. Most of my favorite childhood memories come from going to the lake with my family and taking friends to the lake. There is just something about it that gives me a sense of peace and rejuvenation.
18. Never Ending Grace- I am always amazed at how much grace I have received in my life. I am even more amazed at how much grace God has given me and continues to give me. The grace of God is never ending and I am forever grateful for it. Sometimes we may not always believe we deserve grace (and most of the time we don’t, that’s why it’s called grace) but God always gives us grace no matter what we do. We all make mistakes sometimes but God is always quick to give us grace when we mess up.
19. My Eyesight- Several years ago I had a scare with my eye sight and was told that I was at the risk of possibly going completely blind. I had lost all of my peripheral vision at the time. God healed me later on that year and I gained back my peripheral vision. I still have to wear glasses, but I know God healed my eye sight. Everyday I see, I am thankful to the Lord for healing my eyes and giving me vision, something I had always taken for granted.
20. Ice Cream- This one is kind of silly but anyone that knows me knows I love my ice cream. Ice cream is definitely my favorite food (or treat). I’ve never had ice cream I didn’t like, though I definitely have my favorites.
21. Music- Do I really need to say much about this one? I have been around music my whole life. My grandparents played instruments, my dad played an instrument, my brother and I both started playing instruments at a young age. Music is how I connect with people. Some of my favorite memories are just hanging out with my friends or my family and having jam sessions. When I play music, I get lost in what I’m doing and could do it for hours.
22. My Cousins- I once heard it said “cousins are your first best friends growing up” and I believe this to be true. I have been blessed with a lot of cousins and many of them I am super close with. We always have so much fun when we are together. There are several cousins in my life that don’t even feel like cousins. We are more like siblings and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
23. Laughter- As I sit in the living room at my grandparents house with tears flowing down my face from laughing, I am reminded of how grateful I am for laughter. I am so thankful that God gives me opportunities to laugh often. It really is the best feeling there is.
24. Papa’s Stories- My Papa loves to tell stories. He has been telling stories to me since I was born. I tease him and tell him I have heard every story of his, and most of them I have heard more than once. Of course I have my favorites and ask him to tell those stories to others when we are spending time together. Every now and then he manages to tell me a story I’ve never heard and it’s always a special time.
25. Living Rooms- It might seem strange for me to add living rooms to this list (but hey, I’m a strange person :)). This week especially, I have been thinking about living rooms and how they really are a blessing. Several of my favorite places to be are the living rooms of those I’m close to. It’s in those living rooms where we have had some of our deepest conversations, we have grown together, we have worshipped together, we have played together and we have experienced God in incredible ways together. Now that I have my own living room, I am starting to have these same experiences in my living room and I am richly blessed by it.
26. Kitchens- Similar to living rooms, kitchens should be added to this list. I love being in the kitchen. I love being in my kitchen, I love being in my families kitchen, I love being in my friends kitchen. Kitchens tend to gather people. Some of my favorite memories come from being in the kitchen. I have experienced a lot of laughs in the kitchen whether it was learning how to cook, laughing at life or just being silly. It’s also where some of my realest conversations have happened as we are gathered waiting on something to cook and we talk about what’s going on in life. It’s where I failed at making bread, learned how to make bread and succeeded at making bread. It’s where I get to serve others and serve the Lord while doing so.
27. Coffee- I have been drinking coffee since I was a young teenager. I remember trying my mom’s coffee for the first time and honestly I didn’t like it. As I got older and realized I could add more milk and sugar to my coffee then I started to like it more. Coffee is more than just a beverage to me though. Yes, it gives me energy but that’s not why I like it. I like it because it allows me to connect with people. When I want to spend time with someone, I ask them to go get coffee. When I have a meeting, coffee. When I have company over, coffee. I love sitting around with my family and friends drinking coffee and just talking about life.
28. The Gift of Writing- I have loved writing since I was a young girl. I have been told I’m good at it. I don’t do it because I’m good at it. I do it because I really enjoy it. I started writing poems and books when I was a child and continue to write all the time. No, those aren’t published and they won’t be haha. Writing allows me to get my thoughts on a page. It allows me to express how I’m feeling even when I don’t have the words (or the courage) to say it out loud. If I were to have a happy place, it would be in my writing.
29. My Heritage- I really do have a rich heritage. As I hear my grandpa tell stories that have been passed on from generation to generation, I am richly blessed at how amazing my heritage is. My great-grandparents (who both passed away when I was a child) and great-great-grandparents were amazing folks. I am proud of my heritage and blessed to be in the family I live in.
30. Salvation- I am so thankful for the salvation of Jesus Christ. I have so much to be thankful for but this is the one I am most thankful for. HE is the one I am most thankful for. It is because of Jesus that I get to live the life I live. It is because of him that I get to have eternal life. I make mistakes sometimes, we all do, but I still get to live forgiven because of the death and resurrection of Jesus.