3 things that may never have been

Do you remember that group I wrote about on January 16th? It's a facebook group of people who want to focus on giving thanks to God daily for His gifts to us, and then sharing those things with each other online.

We've had "thinking" prompts for the first month. Each day we've been given an assignment-looking for 3 specific gifts to be thankful for. Some of those have been a bit baffling, some hard to face. For instance, on January 16th we were supposed to list 3 things about ourselves we were thankful for. That was a tough one.

However, today's assignment is easy peasy. What are 3 things you're thankful for that may never have been? Can I write my whole life? I know that's not not 3 things. It's one great big huge thing but I see God's fingerprints everywhere, all over my history. Even the fact that I'm alive and breathing is a miracle to me. Shortly before I became a Christian, (at the ripe old age of 13) I would lay in bed each night trying to decide which way would be the least painful way to kill myself....

That's a long story and not what I wanted to write about today. When I read today's assignment 3 things immediately popped into my head and those are the things I wanted to write about. Near misses. (Do you believe in those btw? Do you think if God is sovereign over who's president and how many hairs are on your head and that the thoughts He has about you outnumber the grains of sand, that there can be near misses in life??)

So anyway. 3 things that may never have been.

The first thing that sprang to mind when I saw today's assignment was our youngest son. I had him when I was 40. He was not a surprise and not a mistake. We wanted a baby, but fear held me back. I wrote about how he came to be back in July so I won't go into it again, but I will say this. He may never have been. When I think about that my heart falls down on its knees and praises God for the miracle of that boy....

The next thing that popped into my head is my friendship with A. I went through what some people call "a mountaintop" experience spiritually after my mom died and one day I told my pastor about it. He casually mentioned A. and said she was going through a similar situation at the same time. He said, "Why don't you give her a call? I think you two would get along and you could talk about what the Lord is doing in your lives right now..." Well, normally I'm a pretty shy person and would never, ever, not never no-how call a stranger out of the blue and suggest going out for coffee. Right....but I overruled myself, listened to my pastor and called A. That was 15 years ago. We became best friends almost instantly. I've never met anyone else who thinks so much like I do, and feels like I do about things and can tell me what I'm thinking when I can't even figure it out for myself. On the surface we don't have too many things in common and I don't know much about her. I don't know what her favorite color is or what kind of music she likes. I don't know what her favorite junk food is or what kinds of movies she likes or what she does when she's bored and restless. We are what Anne of Green Gables would call bosom friends. Deep friends. And A. may never have been if our pastor hadn't suggested a simple cup of coffee....

And finally, the third thing. Old friends. In the last 6 or 7 months I've reconnected with several old friends and what a huge blessing that has been. They've encouraged me, supported me, challenged me and given to me in so, so many ways. I hate to admit it was good old cyberspace that brought these friends back into my life, but there it is. And, if we didn't have a computer, or if my son hadn't set up a facebook account for me and forced me into it, those friendships may never have been renewed...

Can you think of 3 things to be thankful for that may never have been?