Gratitude and Transformation

Erwin McManus, in a couple of the talks I’ve heard him give, has posed this question:  Why are some people transformed as they go through things and other people are not transformed?  Why do some move on, and some stay stuck? 
 
His conclusion is that gratitude makes a big difference. 
 
I’m well aware that I’ll always have days here and there (like last week-end) when my emotions go up and down.  And there will be days that are harder than others.  But I’m also so aware of what I have to be grateful for.  For instance …

I get to …

• … spend time with family.  I don’t take lightly that this is a precious thing.  The last few weeks have brought many opportunities – an Easter trip to Chicago to see the kids, a trip to Roanoke to see my mom and sister, a visit from my daughter who lives in Chicago, a trip to the aquarium with my nieces, shared meals with in-laws. 
• … be part of an organization that disciples teens and 20-somethings in exciting ways.  I love being a part of what God is doing in this generation.  This week I’ll spend a day at World Race Training Camp.  In July we’re launching 3 World Race squads (approximately 150 people) who will spend 11 months bringing the Kingdom to far away places.  I get to watch it happen and meet the people and hear the stories.
• … open my house to a wide variety of people.  People who are home from mission fields like Peru, or looking to move to Georgia, or preparing to launch long term to Cambodia, Swaziland or Ireland.  People who need a place to stay for a while or people who come just for dinner.  It’s all good.
• … enjoy a home in a beautiful setting, with plenty to eat and enough resources to do a little bit of pampering of both myself and others. 

I love …

• … parenting adult children
• … ministering to parents
• … making a house a home
• … baking cookies
• … reading
• … going to movies with friends
• … holding babies in the church nursery
• … talking about both big and little things
• … seeing water (Lake Lanier and rivers) and mountains as I drive to work

I will never forget that …

• … hard times, and the work put into surviving and getting through them, can bring gifts that last far beyond the end of that particular heartbreak – and which have far wider applicability in your life.  They shape your character, your outlook and your compassion.
•  … in the hardest of times, I was grateful for His Presence.  God was bringing the recognition that I was stronger than I thought I was and that I had more value than I thought I did.  And seeing myself that way was life-changing.
• … when who I was as a person and as a woman was most under attack, counselors walked me through the process of accepting that I was deeply loved by my Heavenly Father and by my friends.
• … when I’ve been underutilized and frustrated in past jobs, I’ve learned what it means to find all of my identity in Him – and I’ve learned when to accept a season of “invisibility” and when to step out in faith toward something different. 
• … when I left friends and community behind in Connecticut, I came to a new place that is bringing life to me in Georgia.

 
So I’m grateful.  And I hope Erwin is right.  I hope it continues to transform me, to bring me deeper into the heart of God, to make my character and my actions more like His.  I hope it gives me eyes and ears and hands that hear and serve and enjoy and bless others.  That it causes worship to rise plentifully from my lips and my mind and my heart. 
 
Thanks be to God … who gives good gifts … and who brings deep and real transformation.