For June 29th:

“In all things give thanks,..’ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

I have been actively trying over the past few years to truly live with an attitude of gratitude, and recently I had an opportunity to see just how far I had come.  While doing laundry, my washer failed and flooded my home.  Our laundry room is on the third floor of our house. So, needless to say, there was quite a mess to clean up.  The top floor, main floor, and basement were all flooded.  While cleaning up the water the best we could, it dawned on me that this moment was an opportunity to be thankful.  As I mopped up water with every dry thing I could find in my house, I began listing all the things in that moment I had to be grateful for.  The following is part of my list. . .

1.     Thank you Lord for my washer, even though it overflowed.  Many people in the world do not have washer, and I am blessed.

2.     Thank you Lord for all of my towels.  I am very grateful to have so many towels to mop up all of the water.  (And there was an inch of water in the basement by the time we found it!  So there were a lot of towels!)

3.     Thank you Lord for our clothing. (Because when we ran out of towels, we had to empty some dresser drawers to continue to clean up the water!)

4.     Thank you Lord for my flooded home.  Many people do not even have a home that could flood.  What an amazing blessing!

5.     Thank you Lord for my family and their willing hands!

6.     Thank you Lord for keeping us all safe.  Water was pouring out of our electrical fixtures, and no one was electrocuted.

7.     Thank you Lord for my husband who did not get angry when I started laughing at the situation and did not become frustrated with me as I told him how blessed we were in our flooded house!

As we continued to clean up water into the night and I continued to count my blessings as I cleaned, I became overwhelmed with gratitude.  Yes we had a little bit of trouble in our house that evening, but we had so many things to be grateful for! 

Jessica Griffis