kickin' off the lenten blog (:

Here we go. Today is Ash Wednesday, which begins the Lenten season. I've actually been really excited and looking forward to it. Not exactly sure why..maybe because I came up with my "thing" like a month ago. Instead of giving something up like a lot of people do, I decided that for 40 days I was going to write about something I am thankful for. I didn't want it to be like "Today I am thankful for food." or "Today I am thankful for my family". While I am definitely grateful for them, I wanted to take 40 days and really think deeply to things I am thankful for, not all on the surface. Got ya intrigued?? Stick around until Easter (: 

So for my first day, I need to say thanks to the big man upstairs. As if I didn't already thank Him everyday, it only seemed fitting to say thank you today. I am a firm believer in everything happening for a reason, and that sometimes what we think we want is actually not as great as something else we could get in the long run. ie) 2 weeks ago at church, I left my purse in my car during mass. When my mom asked me if I put it in my trunk, her eyes bugged out with my simple reply of "no". If someone needs to steal what's in my purse during church, they clearly need it more than I do. Sometimes I think this mantra might hurt me in the future, but why would I believe it so strongly if I wasn't meant to think that way? Riddle me that.

One thing a lot of people don't know about me is that 5 weeks ago, I got into a car accident. My first one ever. Coming home from a fantastic weekend visiting friends in Iowa, the road conditions were that of a "blizzard". I've braved driving in worse, so I thought "I can do this, no problem". Welp, clearly not. The road conditions weren't terrible, just the visibility was tough - sometimes you could see 30 feet in front of you, and others, you could barely see the hood of your car. At one point when the wind stopped, I could see like 100 feet in front of me and taillights. Not what one expects to see on the freeway. Slamming on my brakes as fast & hard as I could, I managed to clip the back of the lady's car with mine, spinning both into opposite ditches. Both cars ended up being totaled (both were 2002 cars, so a flat tire would almost qualify it is totaled, almost (;), all parties involved were okay - minor whiplash, bruising from the seatbelts. But all I could think of after was that we were all lucky. The roads were not anything to be driving in, and I was reminded that I am not invincible. But it clearly wasn't my time to go - just time to learn a lesson (:

So, to the multiple times I've had God do things in my favor, whether I can see why yet or not, I owe everything to Him. Much more than a blog. Possibly all my positive thoughts during the day, the ability to bring people's moods up, etc. I'm very excited for this journey over the next 40 days, and hopefully I just get in the habit of writing in here everyday with something to touch at least one person (: