At the beginning of this year, I determined to make this a year of thankfulness. Today marks 100 days of thankfulness, and although life is still messy, and hard, and there are many questions for the future, this year has been good. The focus on the good has changed me, and I want to share that with you.

This year, I have tasted that the Lord is good. I know we tend to associate God’s goodness with prosperity, healing, and the easy life. But God’s goodness is not dependent on our circumstances.

In the last 100 days I’ve seen God’s goodness and experienced His love regardless of my life circumstances. I’ve been aware of the many times He is my refuge. The blessings that pour out to me and my family even when life is more than I can handle have not gone unnoticed.

Being thankful every day this year – these last 100 days – has helped me to grab on tight to the joy and love and beauty and to  keep it inside of me as a light for when it feels so dark outside.

After 100 days of thankfulness:

• My attitude has changed for the better
• I’ve laughed more
• I’ve loved better
• I’ve gone to bed every night focusing on the good and the beautiful of the day
• I’ve been happier
• I’ve been more focused on others

And I want to invite you to do the same. You can start today to make this your year of thankfulness.

And I also want to share with you five of my favorite moments of the last 100 days.

Like our first day of the year, the first day of this year of thankfulness. gathered with my family, a pajama day, and the day we celebrated six years since Nina came home to be a part of our family.

And reading the first Harry Potter book with my oldest daughter. We share a love for books and writing. And we like to pick a book and read it together. And you know what is really fun? We are working on some children’s books we are writing together. It has been so fun.

And how much I have fallen more and more in love with our beautiful church. A church that embraces people and kids with disabilities, and how everyone fits in, how everyone has a role to play. We are the Body of Christ. And how perfect it is to see an adult with a  disability help a child with a disability, because they have a connection that goes beyond church.

And how thankful I have been for my husband. For everything he does for our family. For 13 years of marriage. For a year in which we have dreamed together, and asked hard questions, and looked at each other as a team. marriage is hard, parenting kids with disabilities can add extra pressure on a marriage, but cultivating thankfulness has helped me to see the many ways in which I am thankful for this man.

And I am thankful for witnessing one of the most defining moments in my daughter’s life. A day I got to experience first hand how some people treat those with disabilities. But that day, the wheelchair basketball team from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater came to her school to do a presentation. I talked to the coach about Nina and the guys were awesome with her. They answered questions, one of them let her use his sports chair, and the coach gave her some tips on how to play after the assembly was over. For Nina, it was a feeling of, “They are like me!” She will remember that day for the rest of her life. The highlight was when she was in the “team” with other kids going down the court, the guy in the far right (purple chair) stayed close behind her and was telling her where to go. She loved that she could move in the chair better than the other kids (she’s got an advantage on them) but when she got the ball all the kids started chanting, “Nina! Nina! Nina!” After the assembly was done I asked her how she felt when the school was cheering her on, she said, “It made me feel they believed in me, and I then believed in myself.” Talk about a heart melting moment! And then my oldest said, “Mom, when everyone was cheering for Nina, I felt so proud of her.”

And I feel I could go on and on, because this year already feels covered with so much goodness, and that increases my thankfulness.

Thankfulness is a way of living, and thankfulness will change you inside out.

Thankfulness leads to more loving, and more laughing, and more LIVING!

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