Blessings

So this week has just begun and it has been FULL of blessings! I guess when you have a Sunday morning sermon that reminds you to "sum" your blessings at the end of each day, you begin to notice them in abundance!
This weekend my Grandma and Aunt came up with my younger cousin to visit me! They also attended church on Sunday with me as I was accepted and welcomed into membership at Trinity United Presbyterian Church (major blessings). The opportunity to take part in a Service Learning Trip has been offered and I am looking to leave on Saturday to go to Appalachia and learn more about the people there, in the spring we will go back to do some service work. Then today I received an email informing me that I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve on the Leadership Team of the Academy of Preachers (Festival of Young Preachers).
It is amazing how time and time again God has opened opportunities for me to continue to grow in service and relationship as I continue to discern God's call. A friend of mine the other day said "For some reason you resist God's call"...I wrote back saying "I promise I quit resisting!" Why is it that we resist what God sees as best for our lives? Because it is scary!! My supervisor the other day was talking about how 5 years from now I could be leading a church, that is a scary thought! With that said, it is also a very exciting thought! For so many people to see gifts that I had and shed light on them, it affirms what I feel, what I hear God saying to me. I have been blessed with a love for people, a love for the church, and a desire to serve the God I love...and with that I have been blessed with leadership skills that continue to develop and continue to be put to use time and time again. I also have a gift of relating to people, over the years people have come in and out of my life in various situations, and for the most part I have kept relationships with people of all ages. Especially the interns from LPTS who worked with my youth group over the years. They are very special people who have continued to play a huge part in my discernment process, and continue to serve as a sounding board for me and I for them.
During the last week, I have been collecting my thoughts for a paper I am writing for a class. While thinking about the paper I came up with some questions that may help me write it and I sent them to some of the interns, some teachers, some mentors, and a few other people who have been a major part of my life, and I was surprised at how many people were so willing to answer back and give me new insight to the person I've grown into over the years. It is a blessing to know that I've been a big enough part of someone's life that they would all take the time to do this for me.
Blessings, they make us happy, they make us thankful, and they make us realize how much of an impact we have on each other. In the next week and a half, I will be realizing just how blessed I am as I travel to a part of our country where they do not have quite as many material blessings as we do, but they are so thankful for what they do have and it will only shed light on the smaller things that we have to be thankful for.

Count your blessings, and thank God for all that you have.

Lenten Blessings to you,
KP