God, thank you...

My God, my Creator, thank you. 

Thank you that I have experienced true love. The young, giddy, naive love and the mature unconditional love. Love that expresses itself in the written word and love that could never be explained in human terms. 

Thank you, Father, that you have allowed me to experience the undying love of a mom and dad. A mother who has held my hand for thirty years and reminded me to keep walking even when I couldn't remember how to put the next foot forward . A father, who has so exemplified God's grace in the way that he always put us first and reminded me to follow your leading first and foremost.

Thank you for so divinely allowing David and I to meet and commit to the ultimate act of love and holiness. Thank you for teaching me so much more about you through him. Thank you that I have been able to learn through his actions and his words and his intentions and his ideas and his dreams and watch as they all point back to you. 

Thank you, Savior, for your grace in allowing me to be a mother. As I watch her copy my every move and word, what a weighty responsibility I know and the highest honor I feel. Thank you for giving her to us to raise as a daily reminder of your provision for us, your children. Thank you for what you have already taught me through her and all that she represents. 

Thank you for friends. Friends that I have known since childhood days in elementary school. Friends that have carried me through life in more ways than most will ever know. Thank you for friends who know me. For those who impact me with the way they are committed to you above all. Thank you for friends who make me laugh. For those who love me despite my failures and distance. Thank you for our sweet memories. Thank you for the fullness of life that they have added to mine. 

Thank you that I have danced in the rain, played in the snow, felt the warmest sun, and smelled the most fragrant flowers. Thank you that I have climbed majestic mountains and that I have rafted through white rapids and hiked rain forests. Thank you for the places you have allowed me to see and those in which you have called for me to live and invest. 

Thank you for a full life. Thank you for an abundant life and for the fulfillment of the life you promise through your Son. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for loving me so much that you would take everything comfortable away from me for a time because you knew it would bring greater contentment and fulfillment and joy in the long run. 

Thank you for the ways you have pruned those things that I have held tightest to, so that I might depend on you that much more. Thank you for the times when I have felt most alone so that I would cling to you and trust in you that much more. Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for reconciliation through the cross. Thank you for being patient with me as I still have so far to go. 

Thank you, God. Thank you for these thirty years. Thank you for all that you have allowed me to experience. Thank you for those you have brought in my life to teach me, guide me, encourage me, disciple me, love me. Thank you, Father.