Thanking God for the little things!

Today has been a very gloomy day outside and it has rained all day long, but God has reminded me of wonderful cherished memories, as well as many new blessings.

Growing up one of the things I was blessed with, was having the very best neighbors on Bellmont Drive. Our neighbors were like family to me, well really more like grandparents, but they were such role models to everyone one around them. I can remember many times wishing my parents would buy a bigger house instead of adding on to our current one, but they always said that we couldn't leave our neighbors. And until now, I never really understood why they were like this.

In Valdosta, we lived in a nice neighborhood, but never had neighbors that wanted to get to know John and I. This was a little disappointing, but we had so many friends from church I never really thought to much about it.

Now that we are living in Tallahassee, in our new neighborhood, I have realized what me missed out on in Valdosta. The day we closed on our house here in Tallahassee, John and I were painting and that day we had neighbors already ringing our doorbell to meet us. I was so amazed! It turns out we are blessed with some really great neighbors!

One of them, is an older lady in her 60's with no family close by, doesn't drive, and recently found out she has breast cancer. Even after all that she is going through, she has made such an effort to get to know me. Today, in fact I got the privilege of going to lunch with her at a cute cafe and then to help her pick out a wig for her to wear after she looses her hair from chemo. I have so much admiration for her strength. I can not even understand what it is like being in her shoes, but I am very grateful God is giving me the opportunity to help her in even the smallest ways. I am confident God will teach me many lessons through her! I have already been reminded today to thank God for my health, my families health, for being able to drive, and for my new caring neighbors!

As much as I thought I missed our house in Valdosta, I am even more grateful to have the experience I had growing up getting to know our new and wonderful neighbors! Between our new church here and our new neighbors, God has truly blessed us so much!

My challenge to you is to remember to thank God for the little things we seem to most often forget about.

I am reminded of Philippians 4:4 " Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice." This is actually a command from God and I hope we can all remember to rejoice in the Lord during the good times and even during the not so good times.