thankful Thursday...

And the week goes on...
Austin is still sick with the sinu-pneumo-pharyngeal crap. I don't know what he really has. Couldn't get him an appointment yesterday. He's not throwing up any more and he SEEMS better... but still dragging.
I'm dragging too.
I'm battling a stuffy head, sneezing, sore throat... extreme fatigue... back pain but no muscle spasms today, yet. Those are the worst.
I could sleep for 24 hours straight and just might do that this weekend.
It's thankful Thursday, y'all. Time to rally the troops (ok, me and the cat) and remember what an awesome life we have.
I was thinking about that yesterday when I made a run to the store for juice, fruit, soup and popsicles for us. How many people would LOVE the life I have?
Not that I'm trying to evoke envy or encourage anyone to covet.
But my life is good. Blessed. Anointed.
I may have married twice... and not been able to keep those marriages afloat.... but I am not harassed or bothered by either one of them. Gone is gone.
I lived long enough to raise all three of my kids to (almost) adulthood. There are so many parents who don't have that blessing... so many kids who grow up wondering who their biological parents were or what they were like.
My car has been hanging in there... minimum maintenance... reliable... that's a huge blessing.
My insurance has covered so much of the medical costs I've had this year... each trip to the pain clinic is AT LEAST $225... I pay around ten bucks. That's a blessing.
If I had led this kind of hermit existence twenty years ago - this whole "work and sleep and little else" existence - I would have been so lonely. Instead... I've got a thousand facebook friends... a hundred or so blog readers... I'm able to keep in touch with so many.
I was able to move away from an area that was increasingly scary for me... after my car was vandalized twice in my driveway... after they put in the speed bumps every twenty feet which made getting in and out of the trailer park incredibly frustrating... after my kid was being hurt at school, almost daily.. despite the ultimate outcome of my relationship with Michael, if I had not met him, I would probably still be in that trailer.
There are blessings to be found in every negative.
Had Michael and I not divorced, I would have been living in various parts unknown... an unstable and nomadic life that would have continued to pull me away from the people in my life who matter to me.
Had lightning not struck our last little nest, we would still be trying to struggle to pay the rent - which I never could REALLY afford - and I would still be worried over what Austin was doing and who he was keeping company with.
I believe, had we not moved, Austin would never have had the opportunity to finish school.
I don't know what blessings God has in store for me through this back pain. It's a lesson I'm still learning but I'm learning more and more every day.
There is no doubt in my heart, though, that nothing in this world is permanent, nothing is secure... health and wealth can be snatched from you in a heartbeat.
The only thing you can count on is God.
And He is good.
I know that none of these situations are new... and I apologize for a redundant blog today... but no matter what's going on for you... there are blessings that can come from it.
Sometimes the blessing is just in the fact that you woke up again today and you still have the opportunity to impact your world... and be impacted by it.
And just now... I knocked over my mug of coffee and had to move the recliner and everything around it to clean it up. The blessing in that? Well... at least I have coffee... and creamer... and a really cool table that my friends brought me last year when they cleaned my house... and a cozy nest... and although it's harder to bend over and clean things off the floor, I still can do it.

Have a great Thursday, y'all.
God bless.