Being Joyful

How many of you have an easy time seeing joys and gifts daily in your lives? I do not have an easy time doing that, but it is something I am working on. I have to admit that the past few weeks there has been far too many times where I have been so annoyed with my kids, days on end, that I couldn't find any joy at all in them. There were many times I could not find gifts or joys in life, while at the same time still loving life. It was kinda weird. But with the kids, I think I have come to the point of realizing that I was just exhausted as a mom. Thankfully I do know it's something all moms go through from time to time, and that it is quite normal. But it's still not fun.

We have a group of missionary ladies from all over GDL that get together weekly on Thursday mornings to do different studies together. This past 2 weeks have been the beginning of a series called A Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. If you have never checked out her blog, you can find it here. It's so worth it. I have yet to read her book but want to. Anyway, back to the study. This past Thursday was the first to watch the video and now we have homework to go along with it. What a challenge to find gifts daily, right around us. It is also so encouraging as we aren't alone in this journey with it so difficult to find these gifts. But we have each other to lean on, help, and encourage along the way. I love these Thursday mornings out, and get very excited about them as it's a chance to connect with women that are in the same kind of situation...being a mom, far away from your biggest support system. There's been many times where we just let the tears flow as we share from our hearts our biggest challenges, fears, joys, etc.

I found the past few days way more filled with joy in my life. I'm seeing my kids in a different light, and just seeing things around me that I take for granted so often. This week's homework challenge for me is to think of 20 gifts God has given me. How about you join me in this challenge. Can you think of 20 gifts God has given you?