Rockdale Citizen

Photo by Kristen Ralph

I am thankful for so many things in my life.

First and foremost, I am thankful for my salvation. There is no telling where I would be if it wasn't for Jesus saving my sinful self.

I am also so thankful for my husband. He has made me a better person in so many ways.

Of course, I am blessed with a great family and many friends that I call family. The older I get the more I realize that people who become your friends and then, in turn, become an extended family are part of God's huge blessing He graciously gives us.

I also have two wonderful churches that I get to attend every week. I know that is a huge blessing because some folks don't even have one church they like.

Something else I am grateful for is my faith in Jesus. You know it takes great trials in your life to build a firm faith foundation. I can honestly say I am grateful for every one of those trials.

The combination of faith and prayer makes for a great reliance on the Lord, a reliance I wouldn't trade for anything.

There is a song that says "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever." You might recognize those words as a song, but those words also come from Psalm 107, verse 1.

God is so good, to all of us. His love that endures forever covers a multitude of sins and His mercies are new every morning.

It is often said you don't know what you have until you lose it. That is so true for so many things in our lives and even true for people we've lost in the journey we call life.

But it doesn't always have to be the case. Take a moment and just sit back and relax and enjoy life. Be so incredibly grateful for what you do have instead of focusing on what you don't have.

Life can and does change in a matter of seconds. What seems so permanent and gloomy today may not look that way tomorrow.

I think we should all be grateful for that.

Julie Wells is the editorial assistant in the newsroom at the Rockdale Citizen. She can be reached at julie.wells@rockdalecitizen.com.