Beyond Grateful
My journey in faith.
In an instant, I could wake up in the apartment I spent my childhood in, the smell of incense strong the air.
In the blink of an eye, I could be depending on public transportation to get around instead of driving my car to work.
With a snap of a finger, I could lose everything I have: my family, friends, my home, and my possessions.
Just like that, the past twenty-five years could have been a dream and when I open my eyes, I’ll see that my circumstances have not changed.
But God.
As I do every day, in this season of thankfulness, I reflect on what I am grateful for in my life.
I don’t take for granted that I ‘made it out’. I don’t presume that I ‘deserve’ anything that I have. I don’t pretend that finding my husband was a chance coincidence. I don’t minimize the fact that I have accomplished more in the past ten years than I ever imagined I could.
Instead, I thank God for orchestrating my life before I was even a thought.
As a kid, I prayed for two things:
One, to escape the bleak, known for it’s drugs and violence, nowhere-to-be city I lived in, and two, to be successful.
As an adult, far removed from the place He brought me out of, I made a public declaration of my walk with Christ by being baptized and I doubled down on my faith. I started reading the bible more and did independent and group bible studies, on top of attending church. I’ve invited Christ into every aspect of my life; little by little, turning everything over to His hands, understanding that I control nothing and that everything is working according to His plan.
So, here I am. A wife and mother living in the suburbs with a good career. Neither my husband, nor myself have lost our jobs during the pandemic. No one close to us died from COVID. Mercifully, we are living blessed lives.