GRATITUDE = LATITUDE

I try to make it a point each day to give "thanks" for the many joys and blessings in my life. It seems the more I express gratitude, the better I feel, the more blessings come my way, and the more apt I am to be a source of hope to others.

So, let me share today's gratitude with you. This past week, my husband, children and I took off a few days to go to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO. We were celebrating my son's birthday and my parents were meeting us there. We had such a wonderful time, and our hearts were thankful to have the time together. As we journeyed along our way, we were hit by one blessing after another. First, when we arrived, there were presents awaiting us in our condo. It seems my parents confused my son's birthday with CHRISTMAS. There were presents for everyone! And if that wasn't exciting enough, the last present was for my husband, which read:

"Congratulations. This certificate pays for your stay in Branson." Yippeeee! This was shaping up to be a super-duper trip. We were prepared to have fun, but to have fun for FREE is what I call a REAL good time!

On day two, we all went to Dinosaur Mountain to play miniature golf. The blessings just got better. My son and mother each got a hole in one on the only hole that awards you a FREE game. The blessings kept rolling.

Day three, we went to Silver Dollar City and had such a wonderful time. The blessing of the day was definitely the beautiful weather, laughs, relaxation, and my husband's "big find"......Succotash. He ate so much succotash that the workers came to know him as the "succotash man". He liked it so much that we decided to ask for the recipe so I could "de-fat" the ingredients and try to make it fit the qualifications for EMcafe Recipe (Under 10 grams of fat). Look for it as one of this month's EMcafe recipes. It is emmmmmmlicious!

Day four kept getting better. I received a phone call from the sister of a lady I had prayed for in ICU who had a brain anurism. The doctors didn't know if she would make it and the sadness of the family was evident. She was the mother of four young children. I was honored when they called me in to pray and sing to her. At that time, she was being kept alive by machines. But while singing to her, she opened her eyes the entire time I sang. The exciting news that came during our trip to Silver Dollar City was that, after one and a half months of being in ICU, she was up talking, and out of the woods of danger. They proceeded to tell me that she was feeling great and had asked to see me. They told us that she didn't remember much of anything during her coma, but she vividly remembers me singing to her and the peace she felt.

If that isn't enough for anyone to say "Thank You, God", it gets even better. That same day, we received the call from my husband's mother who has been battling Leukemia. She gave us the wonderful news that the leukemia had gone into remission.

I could go on with this gratitude list of just the past few days, but let me sum it all up to say this:
Gratitude is fertilizer for miracles to grow. The more gratitude you plant, the more blessings will grow.

What are you grateful for? Send me a comment and tell me why you are grateful. Let your gratitude become the latitude to your next level of increase!

Have a great week!