“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

I saw something recently that asked the question, “What do you have today that you prayed for in the past?”

It really struck me, because there are many things that I have enjoyed this year that I did not have in years past, as the budget did not allow for it.

I thought about the new clothes that I have bought over two years. I had been wanting to purchase something like these for many, many years, and now I have them.

Later I pulled out a gallon of milk from the fridge. For many years, living on food storage and with a very limited income, buying milk (rather than using powdered from our storage) was a luxury. I compared everything in my mind to the cost of a gallon of milk.

I’m grateful for lower bills (lower utilities from making changes and a lower mortgage from refinancing) and increased means to be able to purchase the things I wanted and prayed for in the past.

What are you thankful for today?

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48 Comments

  1. I am thankful that my husband and I are off work for election day and that we will walk into our polling site together and cast our votes.

  2. I am so very thankful for my granddaughters. They both fill me with joy. The eldest has stolen my heart with her sweet ways and gentle heart. The youngest is ten weeks old and all babies are beautiful but this one smiles at my silly songs and games. I love the privilege of viewing the world through young eyes. I never believed I would see my grandchildren.

  3. I am thankful right now for a washing machine that is currently cleaning clothes and a bread machine that is kneading dough that my hands can no longer tolerate without pain.

  4. My oldest son has been trying to have a baby for several years and they just found out they are pregnant- with a girl. My middle son just had a girl 7 months ago so hopefully they will grow up to be close. I raised all boys so this is such a blessing to me.

  5. The year 2018 was a difficult one for us. We lost a barn to fire one night, our crops failed from too much rain, our truck caught on fire on the interstate, and my husband got caught in an auger and ended up losing his leg to amputation. I am thankful for the many, many times that God said yes to our prayers and spared my husband’s life. But I am even more grateful that God said YES to our prayers that our six kids would see God’s goodness through it all and not grow bitter. I am so thankful! And blessed! 🙂

    1. Holly, your family sounds like the definition of resilience – a character trait I very much admire and respect. So grateful your family made it through these challenges with grace. God Bless!

  6. I had a very intense stomach flue, that lasted 4 days. i am very thankfull that I feel better again, and i can actually eat something again. I did loos 2 kg during this illness, wich I am also thankfull for.
    Tanja

  7. Oh Brandy that is such a profound question and makes you think of the many things to be thankful for 🙂 .Where to start is that we had saved 4 years for a good 40 % deposit for our home and had gone without many things to do that while renting, like yourself.

    So the things I am blessed we have is –
    – For having a home we are living in at the moment that we paid a rock bottom price for on acreage, yes someone was looking after us 🙂 .
    – Being able to have the finances to buy new clothing.
    – Having the finances to get the maintenance done on the home that was greatly needed.
    – Finding new fabric at really cheap prices to make our household curtains with.
    – I am thankful for people like you Brandy for offering such great information and encouragement for us all to save money and be good stewards of our money and resources.

    1. Lorna, I remember how long you saved for and searched for your home. You used to update everyone with the % downpayment you had saved so far. I am so happy that your dedication has been rewarded!

      1. Thank you Leigh Ann and yes it was a long haul but we got there in the end 🙂 .

        The home we purchased was kind of a deceased estate where the aged care facility purchased the home and the owners here went into aged care. The purchase price was at least $50 000 what the property was valued at and it had been rented out for about a year but was vacant for some time before we bought it. It needed a few things doing in regard to maintenance but most we could do and the other things we bought in a builder, plumber and electrician to do but the work was negligible in cost. Our home now is worth on the open market today is 60 – 90% more than we paid for it under 3 years ago so we are truly blessed.

  8. I am thankful for recognizing God’s hand in my family’s life and then recalling that I prayed for some of those things awhile ago.

  9. I am thankful for the kind help received electronically from archivists across Canada, who, during covid, found time
    to look up information for our book, from UNB, to McGill, to Ottawa, to Regina, Edmonton, Victoria. In a million years, we would
    never have been able to afford to travel to all of these places nor would we have had the time. I am grateful for the two years of time
    we’ve had to research and write.

  10. I’m thankful that God answered our prayers to work for ourselves. It took 10 years to make it sustainable but God doesn’t work on our timeline.

  11. I’m thankful for the financial guidance I received from Larry Burkett, the late founder of Christian Financial Concepts (now past of Crown Financial Ministries) and for Any Dacyczyn and The Tightwad Gazette. Their advice, guidance and tips assisted me in getting out of debt decades ago and helped me save for the things I wanted, especially retirement, which I am able to enjoy without too many worries even if I can’t have everything I want immediately. I was also able to pay 95% of my daughter’s college education and with the 5% she paid, she graduated without debt.

  12. I prayed for years for us to have a house of our own, but when nothing happened, I finally told God I would accept it humbly if he never gave us our own house, and I just put it in His hands and stopped thinking about it. Probably a year or less after I reached that point, He made it possible to build our home, in a way I never would have dreamed, involving lots of “coincidences.”

    I am still, decades later, so thankful for this home.

  13. I am thankful for the opportunity to be creative in the kitchen. Often when trying to use up items that are open or when I need to prepare a meal using only items I have on hand in the pantry, I need to experiment a bit. Sometimes the result is a disaster. Sometimes the result is a new family favorite. Today’s creative meal was a success and I have a new pantry meal that I can put into the rotation.

  14. Today I am grateful for a beautifully remodeled house that now provides the space to host friends and family comfortably. For years, we resisted because our space was very awkward and tight. Now it is open, bright and inviting!

    Thanks for hosting this, Brandy. I look forward to it every year!

    Lea

  15. I am thankful that we live in a country that has access to efficient healthcare and medicine for everyday illnesses. Both of my girls woke up sick, one with pain in her ear. I was able to make a same day appointment for a pediatrician that diagnosed an ear infection and wrote a prescription we were able to pickup within two hours. I used this example to teach my girls that this common annoyance to us is a luxury to others.

  16. Addressing the question Brandy asked…I am thankful for heat as it has gotten quite cold here. When my children were young, we lived for a winter without heat…in northern Illinois. Our oven didn’t work either (electric so no worries about carbon monoxide poisoning). When it gets cold, and the wind blows and freezing precipitation of any variety happens, my mind goes back to that winter, and all those who suffer like we did.

  17. I am very thankful for my youngest daughter. I wasn’t feeling great yesterday and she cleaned up all of dinner last night. She told me to go lay down. She then pampered me for the night refilling my water, getting me a blanket. It is nice to see how caring she is as she becomes an adult.

  18. I am thankful after years of effort to be out of debt except for our small mortgage. It is such a blessing not to make any car, credit card, or student loan payments.

  19. I am thankful that God brought me a wonderful husband after years of abuse and giving up that I would ever meet a man that I could share such a wonderful relationship with let alone the gift of marriage.
    I am thankful for our son conceived after doctors told us we would never have a child. Both of these are relationships that I longed for and brought to God in prayer. He answered so graciously and there is not a day that I don’t see Him in each of these people I am blessed to share my life with.

  20. I am thankful that I got to vote. In my district it was just one school board position, but I still did my civic duty and voted.

  21. My son. We prayed for 15 years for him. Next year he will turn 18.
    Healing from cancer. (I’m 7 1/2 years cancer-free. Praise God!)
    My wonderful husband who has been by my side through thick and thin for 34 years.

  22. I am thankful for many things, but for today’s topic, financial security. In the 1980’s my husband was dying of melanoma, with final inoperable tumors in his brain. The full burden of his care, our children and home fell on my shoulders. Our finances were tight and we lived frugally prior to his illness, with 3 young children aged 2, 3 and 9. The additional costs of his 7 medicines almost broke us, juggling which bills to pay and which could wait each month. When I didn’t know how we would survive the loss of him and our financial crisis, we received many blessings from God through family, friends, neighbors and my church. Through the local Salvation Army and Lions Club a mortgage payment and fuel oil for our home was paid. His co-workers held two food showers for us. His last Christmas we ended up with 5 turkeys! He had cared for the kids in the evenings while I worked a part-time job. With the brain tumors, he couldn’t be left alone with the children. Friends and family stepped in to care for them, so I could continue work. Today my 3 children are grown with families of their own. I became a college graduate and have secure employment. It is with a grateful heart that I now have the modest means to pay it forward and donate to the charities that so blessed our family.

  23. Since today is election day, I am thankful that I live in a country where I get a say in government – at least at the local level. I try to pray for all our leaders – for wisdom and compassion; and mostly that God’s will is done.

  24. I am thankful for many things, my loving husband, my son , daughter in law, grandchildren, family, friends and much sweet dog.
    But mostly I’m thankfully to God for blessing us with more than we deserve and sacrificing his son for us.

  25. I am thankful for this blog and for all the frugal information I have learned over time, leading my husband and me to retirement.

  26. I, too, am grateful for the chance to vote, to help decide and shape leadership, and also the humility to accept when those I want aren’t elected and to refrain from making critical remarks about them.

  27. Thankful for our completely paid for snug little home that allows us to live a comfortable, not extravagent but comfortable, retirement. Not having a mortgage every month is a gift.

  28. I am thankful for my husband’s hard work over many years which has provided us with a private pension. I did my bit too over the years and although we didn’t get everything right financially we learnt from our mistakes and have achieved security. I know how fortunate we are.

  29. I am thankful for my diary. It holds the space for me no matter how I feel. It helps me set goals and pray and capture poems or bible verses which inspire me. I kept a diary since I was 7 yo. I am thankful that I kept the habit of daily writing.

  30. I am thankful we were able to put the comfort and quality of life of our 11 yr old dog Rascal above the want of keeping him when he was having bad seizures. I am thankful the emergency vet did not try to talk us into more testing beyond lab work that showed no poison or anything that was easily fixable.
    I am thankful for the friends and family that acknowledged this dog was the one beside me through horrible times when I couldn’t stand to be around any people much.
    I am thankful for my husband for dealing with the bill payment so I wouldn’t have to of putting Rascal to sleep.
    I am thankful for Charlotte (4 yr old “pup”)who has became distant after losing Wilbur (who she probably thought was her daddy as she was only a pup when she was adopted) and Rascal, has finally started interacting with us as we have made a point to show affection and take her with us on errands so she’s not alone much.
    I am thankful for the business of finishing the last of the apples from a tree that hasn’t produced much ever according to everyone .(Ran us and Amish family over).
    I am thankful for my FB friends, my blogger friends and everyone here, especially you Brandy for sharing the wisdom that has helped us in keeping finances where we could afford to have Rascal taken care of instead of my Hubby having to do it himself.
    I am thankful we vote in this country and our vote counts. Our school levy passed to build a new school building. We didn’t think about if we could not afford the increase in taxes for the first time ever.
    I am thankful for finally getting our first frost .. that really was a hard freeze.
    Blessings on each and everyone of you. You touch lives that you don’t even know about

  31. How beautiful! Milk is a lovely luxury. And so is that milk-white moonflower.

    Today, I’m grateful for the good examples and mentors that I have. For mother and mother-in-law, grandmothers and older friends, for Flylady, for kind bloggers like you, Brandy. When I look around my messy kitchen after breakfast this morning, I’m so grateful to know what to do about it! When I was just married, I was completely befuddled and sad. Hard work isn’t bad if you know what to do first.

    I’m grateful for my sweet children and their baby ways and beautiful eyes.

    I’m also grateful for the gorgeous carpet of marigolds that cover my garden right now, and that the frost left for a little longer.

  32. I am so thankful to have remembered early enough that I can support poor women in the Caribbean buy buying banana leaf Christmas cards through food for the poor. This year I have the money for the cards and stamps. I get to be a blessing through buying the cards and to those I’m sending the cards to who may be lonely. Just so thankful!

  33. I love the question you posted, Brandy! It has me thinking hard. I am thankful for the answered prayers of God’s grace as we parented our three youngest who are adopted. We had some very difficult decades but I see them maturing and so grateful that they are our sons!

  34. On the second day of November, I was thankful that I live in a country where I have the right to vote for our leaders. This year, it was for the mayor and 3 members of the city council. I am equally thankful that so many people across the country also voted.

  35. I am up early (4 AM) and the house is quiet and I can think.
    Back is healing and doing better.
    Email from Hubby-he is out of town-and I smile when he signs off “LovingYou, my Wife”.

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