Day 236 - Surprises

As soon as I posted yesterday's entry I checked my email and saw that I won a giveaway on one of my favorite blogs. I felt like God was saying, "yoo hoo, here's something that's not normal, but really awesome. Enjoy it." Maybe life won't be normal or easy anytime soon, but there are still surprises, right? And often they can be good surprises. I just need to keep remembering that.

Yesterday I was also reminded that the most important things in life are the people we love. Hands down. If you have your friends and family, you are wealthy. Life can change at any moment so spending our time loving others instead of dwelling on our own situation will give us a life well lived. Being faithful gives us more time to love and less time to worry, more time to care about other people's problems and less time to obsess over our own. I am reminded how lucky I am to have everyone I love the most in my life right now, at all times.

And so, as it has happened over and over again during these past 236 days, I have gone from despair to joy overnight. My darkest days never last long because I am constantly reminded that this is all temporary and that the importance of who we are never lies in riches, but in our hearts, our actions and the people we love. That God is always with us, even providing small surprises when we least expect them, and even though He hasn't fixed things he isn't saying "no", he's just saying "not yet." That alone shows he hasn't abandoned me or forgotten about us.