God is so good!

I woke up today kind of cranky because it has been a super busy week. I started back to teaching full time this week and also have had cheerleading practice for two hours every day after school (tonight is the last one this week though!). My body has been so sore for doing things no one my age should be doing any more, and middle schoolers.... you know, sassy. This week I have been trying to wake up earlier so that I can do some reading, praying and preparing for the day. Tuesday I woke up at 5:30, made dinner in the morning and I was so excited at how prepared I was, only to go out to my car and find that my car battery was dead. :/  My family doesn't live nearby and Mark was already across town at work and I had no idea what to do. I started to get the feeling where your face gets all hot and you feel overwhelmed and confused and nervous. I tried calling a few friends but everyone was already at work and couldn't pick up. I started to say a quiet prayer to myself to calm down because I knew crying wouldn't be helpful. The next thing I knew a guy pulled into the spot next to me, a total stranger. I asked him if he knew how to jump a car because my battery was dead and he said "yes". Then he asked me where my cables were, and I asked him if I could borrow his. He ended up jumping my car and I called into work to let them know I would be late. Everything ended up being fine. The only reason I knew the battery was dead was because I went to brunch with a friend a few months ago and her battery died while we were eating. At the time it seemed like such an inconvenience, but now I am SO glad it happened because I was able to troubleshoot the problem with my car. Afterwards I was able to call my mom and spill my guts to her about how stressful life is, and she gave me such a great pep talk that I soon after forgot all about my car.

This morning in my devotional book I read about praying with a "grateful heart". The assignment it gave me was to pray about the 5 things I am most thankful for out loud. Here is my list:

1. My wonderful, patient, loving husband who has so much grace for me that I don't deserve.
2. A healthy, loving family from my grandparents to my nephews.
3. Having a great job(s) that I love going to every day.
4. Motivation for self improvement and to change my heart and attitude.
5. For being blessed with so many amazing friends (and stranger friends) that enrich my life and help get me through everyday.

Wouldn't you know that I am now having a much brighter outlook on my day. I am no longer focusing on feeling exhausted from my jobs, or stressed out about my car. Each of those five blessings are so much bigger than every day problems. Everything that I thought was so irritating and stressful seemed ridiculous when I actually read my list out loud. I thought, this is such an amazing list! How many people get to read out a list like this? Things look so different when put into perspective.

:)