Nomad Online

Life

I am grateful for life today. In all its messiness and glory. For the living of it. For the pain and joy of it.

Daunting and difficult it can be at times, I’m grateful we can’t hide from it. It’s there to be lived. From the monotonous days to the adventures ahead, we can only go through it.

Who knew when I left Hobart, Tasmania, with my bag full of clothes and a folder full of resumés to chase my dream on the mainland, I would end up in London one day? I didn’t. My plan was to learn all I could in two to five years and head back to Hobart to settle.

I didn’t expect that God would call me to Him. I didn’t expect to find love and marriage waiting for me there. When my husband proposed, my reaction was a mixture of joy and sheer terror. He was asking me to leave my safe harbour and go on an adventure with him. To live out our lives together.

Today I’m grateful for its unexpected twists and turns. I may change my mind tomorrow, but today I’m grateful that I can’t predict what’s ahead.

Family to love

I’m grateful I have people to love. I’m thankful for my family. For my husband and son. For my in-laws. For my own mother, father, brother and his family.

We’re not perfect. Sometimes we’re not that easy to love. Still, today I’m grateful God has placed them in my life with all their idiosyncrasies.

My life is richer with them in it.

A job I love

I’ve been lucky to work for organisations that gave me a sense that I was contributing to something bigger than myself.

I tried the corporate sector after I left university. I lasted about four years. Something about working hard to make a profit for the benefit of shareholders and myself became a little soul destroying after a while. There were people I liked who thrived on it. I just wasn’t cut out for it.

I worked as a public affairs officer for a charity back in Australia for 16 years. The last five months before I left for the United Kingdom I worked as a community engagement officer devising a plan to reduce stigma and increase awareness of mental illness in refugee and asylum seeker communities. I felt I was helping. And I loved every moment of it.

In London, I’ve found work as a writer for an international aid charity. The job opportunity came up on my husband’s social media feed and he encouraged me to apply. I loved the stories they were telling. I didn’t realise they’d be a delight to work for as well.

Sunshine after the rain

It wasn’t always like this. Life wasn’t always a wonderful adventure. There were times when it was hard and difficult.

There were long nights and days where I just had to breathe through pain. Try to close my eyes and ears to the screaming arguments. Walk on eggshells to make sure I wasn’t going to be the next in line to get yelled at.

It was hard time. Painful, terrifying and sad.

But it passed. I thought life was always going to be like that. But it passed.

So today I’m grateful for sunshine after the storm. Thankful that life does get better and there are moments of happiness and contentment that fall into our laps.

Joy

I am grateful for our capacity to feel joy. The kind that bursts within us from time to time. The kind that comes from knowing I’m forgiven and loved.

For me, it comes from knowing this world isn’t the end. That I have an eternal home that is just over the horizon and that I’ll be there one day. It’s going to be amazing.

For #bloganuary. What are 5 things you’re grateful for today?