the art of being thankful :)

I've come to realise a lot in the past two weeks. Being alone in another country has definitely given me some perspective where I didn't have it before.

First of all, I realise now how much I am loved. Mr 'one-email-a-week' has been sending me the most beautiful, thoughtful notes once or twice a day. I'm so lucky :) My family Skypes me everytime they happen to notice I'm online, even if it's just to make me laugh by showing me the puppies playing in the living room. And most definitely, I know that Papa God is watching out for me - keeping me safe, setting me up with a beautiful new 'family' of other international kids who are just as lost as I am! :)

Second, taking some time away from my normal life has given me a chance to look back and see how I got to this place, and how even when I thought things were terrible and there was nothing I could do about it, Jesus always had His hand on me, guiding me down a path I couldn't see at the time.

For example - I crashed my car about this time last year. Sucky? Yes. Inconvenient? Definitely. Hopeless? I thought so. I couldn't afford to buy a new car, and even if I could, I couldn't find one that was cheap enough for what little money I had. It really is no surprise that it took me a while to stop worrying about the situation and just trust God.

But oh boy, when I did finally let go...I ended up with an almost-new car that is super cute and just right for me. And I got it for an awesome price. And the week that I got my car, there was this boy who I'd known for a while who invited me out on his boat - but I stood him up so I could get my new car checked out before I bought it. Later that week then, he invited me over so he could take a look at the car, pop the hood and be manly...so I went to Ryan's house that day and well, the 10 months since then have just been fabulous. :)

But if I'd never had the 'disaster' of crashing my car, who knows what would have happened?

Thank you Jesus, for working ALL things together for good. And that's just one example...

And thinking of that, I don't really need to worry about if I'll have enough money to cover this trip to America, or if I'll have a job when I get back. Because I KNOW, I have experienced, I can stand here and say - my God IS a God who provides.