Is is bad to be

thankful for things that at the time seemed horrible, tragic, or destructive?  I say no.  So I will share my thankful list for things that at first, seemed like things I could never be thankful for.

1. I am thankful for the mechanic in Colorado for putting on the wrong belts for my car in 1988.  I would need to have a mechanic fix my car and that led me to my Bill.  Seems like it was a perfect error that cost me money that has rewarded me in ways that I cannot place a monetary value on.
2. I am thankful for my childhood.  First-my dad was killed before I was born.  Second-mom remarrying-seems like they both needed help with raising a child or children.  This was not the best for several of us children but all of us gained a sister that united both families...and today 42 years after they married I can say that my step dad brought to the family another big sister.  I do not refer to my oldest sister as a step sister.  She is completely and totally my sister. Step parents not so great, step children struggled, but siblings united and for that-today I am blessed.
3. I am thankful for the time I had with Mom before she died.  I think about those days often and cannot believe how much she shared in those moments. She knew she was dying and she made every moment count.
4. I am thankful for my in laws. They raised my husband and allowed the man he is today to develop.  They instilled a strong work ethic in my Bill. The loving home he was raised in ensured that the home our children have been raised in existed. I am thankful that in spite of the hardships they endured that they always were strong parents and raised not only one amazing child but 7.  They came to the United States with very little and I am thankful that they appreciated that in America anyone can become anything. I thank them for instilling in their children this...that anything is indeed possible.
5. I am thankful for my preemie.  My daughter was born ten weeks early and we were only told that she would not survive. This tragic news changed me as a mother.  I decided then in my tears to never have my sons have a memory of their sister as horrible, or that she was always sickly, and such. I decided that if my precious baby was going to die we were not going to live anticipating it. We were going to live as if each day was the best day, so my sons would have a memory to cherish of their sister.  Now I look back and realize that this effort to ensure my sons memory of their sister, made us all a better family, as we look to each day as the very best, IN SPITE, of the situation we are enduring.
6. I am thankful for teenagers.  I can look back to my mom and appreciate that she had 7 teens at one time, and I only had 4. I can look to how I was, and see where I am today, knowing where mine may be or have been, where they will end up.  I am thankful ever so much that the time we all had as teens was given us, as we need to break free(so to speak), to establish our own identity and unit. I now have two teens although very soon I will be down to only one teen. I am ever so thankful that I am seeing the time pass and that my babies are becoming the adults that they are becoming.
7. I am thankful to have not known the Lord.  Because I did not grow up in a family that attended church, nor read the Bible, I am able to see how life with and without Him has been.  I see what my life was without Him and where I was headed, and I know now what my eternal life is because of Him.  Funny many of the problems or things I used to perceive as hard or bad times have all worked out for good.

and with this I will share Romans 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

If you would like a free Bible mailed to you please leave a comment here with your address(we will not publish this information), as life with Christ makes all the difference in how one views everything from the mundane to the grand.

Have a lovely day of travel or preps for Thanksgiving.