I got hit by a car hit by a car yesterday (I AM GRATEFUL TO GOD FOR THAT)
I usually
walk my kids to school in the morning. (I AM GRATEFUL FOR THAT TOO, THEY ARE NOT)
They never had to do that in the states, they´d be playing games or ignoring the beautiful country side, not paying attention etc. So they might not appreciate it as much.(I AM EVEN MORE GRATEFUL)
To me it´s family time, great exercise, about a mile up hill, (EXTRA GRATEFUL)
Also, our only form of transportation blew an engine, and we can´t afford to fix it! (grateful too, just can´t go as far as yelling that with CAP LOCKS, still kind of hurts)
So I was walking with my kids on the side of the road. I was carrying my little girl´s hello kitty back pack (doing a little exploring I guess 😉 (GRATEFUL FOR FAMILY TIME)
This huge brand new suv came down the road like 40 mph, usually it´s only country people, the Millionares here do not slow down for them,, don´t ask me why. I hope it didn´t speed up cause I was a gringo,, but then, better me than some little farmer girl. (GRATEFUL THAT IT WASN´T SOMEONE ELSE, OR WORSE YET, ONE OF MY OWN!)
So we all squirmed on the side of the road, and bang it slammed against Gorda´s Hello Kitty back pack which was between my shoulder and the passenger side mirror of the SUV,, destroying on impact the mirror,, HOOAH! (I am Kitty, hear me Roar!) (GRATEFUL THAT HELLO KITTY TOOK THE FORCE OF THE BLOW, GRATEFUL THAT GOD INTERVENED. didn´t die and go to heaven, would have even been more GRATEFUL, but God knows our days) GRATEFUL
It only hurt my shoulder, which was already hurting really bad, so macht nichts. You should see that $80k luxury SUV that got away minus one rear view mirror (probably to the tune of 1000 bucks!) (hahaha GRATEFUL,, the lunatic behind the wheel deserved it)
I am grateful though,, my kids will ALWAYS remember to look both ways now. (GRATEFUL)
Plus, thanks to Mike MacIntosh, his Horizon Christian Fellowship Team, MedxMedical, and friends and relatives, Dean and Winnie passed the German Embassy School´s sixth and third grades respectively. (GRATEFUL)
They are used to getting straight A´s without trying. Now the language they are learning in is German, and the social language of the school is Spanish. They sweat it out, study harder, and only manage b´s and c´s with a few a´s. But they have to WORK (GRATEFUL!)
Gratitude, that´s a funny thing.
Are we grateful because we are blessed? O rare we blessed because we are grateful. (THIS IS SHARED TO ME BY A GUY WHO MOST OF MY RELIGIOUS FRIENDS WOULD SAY IS A FALSE SECT). I don´t care, I help him, he helps me, and he shared that with me today. We have so much fun loving each other, and sharing Jesus with each other, that we don´t care. I learned that by my son going to a school that is non religious, and the majority of the students are not evangelical Christians. They have a blast, and have some really GREAT conversations. The Jesus Style I guess.
I have witnessed first hand people in oppressed countries THANKING GOD that they did NOT have freedom of religion that we do. I remember sweating like I was committing the worst crime in the world because I was fellowshipping with other believers. we used to have to hide, and whisper, no lie. It was scary and exhuberating at the same time.
People who don´t know God, or have been taught bad things, always talk about God ´showing up´. The sin of that is they are disappointed IF He doesn’t. God is there, he is omnipresent, THAT´s a given. Just because you don´t see Him, or His movements, He is there. He doesn’t need fanfare. He isn’t deaf. He doesn’t have a nervous condition.
Our gratitude does NOT make God show up to give us a goose pimple or to . But it DOES help us to be thankful enough to see HIS BLESSINGS
We want to show this in Nicaragua. Although there´s ample freedom here, We want to love unconditionally, without the show, without the expectations and without the barriers that you begin to build when you throw all your beliefs in the equation.
We are a 100% COMPLETELY NON religious not for profit, staffed by totally, radical evangelical. That is better than being in a 100% Christian not for profit, staffed by heathens.
The good news is in transformed lives, not in events and spectaculars. It´s taking whatever is given to us, and to be thankful for it, so we can be blessed to bless others.