So I was just thinking back to this past Christmas break. It’s kind of unbelievable that it is already done and gone. It was kind of a hard and stressful break… it didn’t feel exactly like Christmas a lot of the time, and it was hard to be thankful for what God had blessed me with. I worked a lot over break – for Panera Bread, as well as writing for the blog. And it was just hard for a whole host of reasons…

But before I left to come back to Covenant to start the spring semester, my mom challenged me to sit down and make a list of the things I was thankful to God for, particularly over Christmas break. She told me that when she was first diagnosed with cancer some three and a half years ago… she regularly would sit down and make a list of the things that God had blessed her with. Instead of focusing on the discouraging things, the stressful things, or even something that was threatening her life and her family… she made a conscious decision to be thankful to God. My mom endured three long years of every kind of cancer treatment out there – from surgery, to chemotherapy, to radiotherapy, to other new treatments… it was and still is a long road. Click to continue »