As we are creeping up on Thanksgiving, the homework is piling up, the Christmas decorations are coming out, the stress levels are rising, and I’m both happy and anxious at the same time. I find myself overwhelmed daily by how incredibly blessed I’ve been this year. That isn’t to say that there haven’t been difficulties, but I have found that God has just provided so abundantly. He is SO good.
I am so, so thankful for my family. I have been truly blessed by them each and every day, from vulnerable talks about real life, to group messages about Aaron Carter, 50 million inside jokes, and everything in between, I can truly call this group of people my best friends. Even better, I gained another sister this year, and if that isn’t something to be thankful for, I’m not sure what is!
I have also been blessed by so many incredible friends coming into my life this year. They are all just crazy wonderful. I love all the time I get to spend with the ones who are at Hope, and I truly cherish the time I get with the people who are in other places!
As you can probably tell from the pictures above, I have been able to build some really awesome friendships while at Hope and I’m so thankful for those. One of the things I am most thankful for this year is being here at Hope. I love love love the music program, I love the intentional Christian community that is cultivated and encouraged here, I love the people, I love the campus, I love the town, I love my classes, and I could go on and on. I’ve known I wanted to come to Hope for a long time, but sometimes it’s just still so surreal. I wasn’t always sure whether it would work out or not for me to come here, but it’s so clear to me that God made this all work out for a reason and that’s definitely something to be thankful for.
I am also so thankful to be a student blogger. It’s truly been awesome and something I had hoped to do for a long time! Kind of a mini-“dream-come-true.” 🙂 I also recently got a job at Pizza Hut (I start next week! Come visit me!) and that’s definitely something to be thankful for, too. Not only is it a way to pay for school, but I just truly enjoy having a job and I’m excited to start working there!
I am also just so thankful for all things that God is doing in my life. I know I talked about this in a different blog post, but a post about things I’m thankful for wouldn’t feel complete if I left it out! In the past few months, God has really been showing me that I need to let him make me new. Trying to give up the control over my life that I’ve always held onto so tightly has not always been easy, but I’ve just experienced so many great changes. My attitude is so much better. I am so much happier. I am way more easygoing and far less stressed. I even feel physically better (except the part where I was sick for like a month and a half… Doesn’t count.). I am also hopefully going to get placed in a school as a Young Life leader for next semester and I’m so excited about that and all the things that God is doing through that ministry in Holland and throughout the world. I can’t wait to see the things he uses it for throughout the next four years! I am also just so thankful that, like one of my favorite songs says, God’s love is strong and always penetrates our lives even though we can get so caught up and focused on other things. His plans are so good and his love is so pure and that’s definitely something to be thankful for.
What are you thankful for? Leave me a comment, email me at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu, or tweet @hopekathryn17! I’d love to hear from you! Thanks for reading and have a fantastic Thanksgiving!
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.”
Psalm 118:1.