GROWING IN GRATITUDE

Last week I began a 30 Day Challenge "Growing in Gratitude" published by Revive our Hearts.  I know I've been greatly blessed, but I don't often stop to actually express my gratitude to God and others.  I am asking God to transform me into a truly thankful person. It may take more than 30 days :)  

Day 4 challenged me to make two lists under these headings:  "Gifts from God' and "Gifts from Others.  then put down everything that comes to mind. This is to be an ongoing exercise not something to do in ten minutes.  A list that I will add to over the next 30 days.   

As we discussed Caleb and Joshua in Sunday School this morning and the spiritual legacy they left behind to the generations after them.  I thought of someone very special to add to my list of "Gifts from God".  Thank you God for my fraternal grandmother, Zelma Irene Bicknell Herring.  I know without a doubt I am walking with the LORD today because of her prayers.  She loved the LORD, read her Bible every night, served faithfully in her Methodist Church and loved her children and grandchildren unconditionally.  

Six years ago when I was anticipating being a grandmother for the first time, I sent an email to my cousins asking them, what made Grandma Herring special to each of them.  They answered back, "because I was so special to her, I was her favorite".  I laughed at each one, because I KNEW I was her favorite.  Then I realized that we were each her "favorite".  She treated each of us as her favorite whenever we were with her.  When I visted her we watched Lawrence Welk and Billy Graham Crusades together, I helped her "put up" fig preserves, snap green beans and dry the dishes. She would brush my hair, rub my back and read to me clippings she had saved out of the paper of things she thought I would be interested in. She was always interested in what I liked, what I did in school, who my friends were and was always eager to "show me off" to her "Circle".  (The Methodist Women's Circle). 

I am grateful for a godly loving grandmother.  I desire to be that godly loving grandmother to all my grandchildren. I desire to treat each one as if they are my "favorite".  I long to leave them a godly legacy.  I pray that 40 years after my death, my memory will stir in the heart of each of them sweet memories of a grandmother that loved the LORD with all her heart, mind, and strength.  

"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul and forget not all His benefits."  Psalm 103:1-2

For more information on the 30 Day Challenge "Growing in Gratitude" go to www.reviveourhearts.com