I am SO thankful to God, for giving me the energy and the thoughts to create a post this month!
This year, I headed to Greensboro, NC for Thanksgiving with my favorite family the McNeil’s, who have opened up their hearts and homes to me time after time for the holidays. I am so THANKFUL that God saw fit, prior to my arrival to Raleigh in 2015 to orchestrate our lives in such a way that our paths would cross. This family, their extended family, and their hearts are forever imprinted on my heart. Gratitude is an understatement.
Thanksgiving is such a special day of the year. Majority of us were blessed enough to have family, friends, and loved ones to share our time with. However, there are many people who find the holidays very painful and heartbreaking.
How do we enjoy holidays and experiences in our life when it’s uncomfortable and painful?
How do we remain thankful when our situation communicates that we should feel defeated, confused and fragile?
Ariana Grande’s break up anthem “Thank You, Next” begins with her naming her experiences with her exes, and the expectations that she had attached to those relationships. So many times in my life, I have found myself attaching my own expectations to people and experiences completely forgetting that God has full control and the FINAL say. We are charged daily, to remember that our very small human expectations don’t determine almighty God’s provision for us.
Ariana’s smash hit lyrically illustrates three different experiences with her exes: Love, Patience and Pain. While many relate on a relationship/romantic sentiment, I found parallel experiences to Ariana’s within my professional career.
The beauty in the transition between, Thank you and next is the comma. The comma represents acceptance. Being thankful for the good the bad and the ugly, because all of it is connected to your purpose and all of it positions you one step close to your “next”.
One taught me love: Raleigh, NC
One taught me patience: Kent, OH
One taught me pain: Greenville, NC
While these are not all of the cities where I have served in leadership, every experience within my career and in my life has taught me a beautiful, fulfilling lesson that I carry into the next experience. Are you willing to look at your experiences and find thankfulness? Are you able to sift through the memories and replay the moments of pain and find something to be thankful for? Some professionals may be panic stricken that I named the locations that I attached Love, Patience and Pain to. Please don’t be! Remember that within all experiences there is good and bad. Just because a location taught me pain, doesn’t mean for a second that I didn’t have enjoyable experiences, and that God wasn’t working through and within me to bring glory to his name and growth within my heart and being in that season. CONTRARY, the pain, the patience and the love ALL worked together for the NEXT! This is why the song is a HIT. There is something to be thankful for in every single experience. Even in love there is a lesson. In the pain there is a purpose, and in the patience there is growth.
What’s next for your? We have one month until 2018 comes to a close. What has taught you love, patience and pain this year? Where is the beauty and thankfulness in each of those? Can you find it and articulate it? Just don’t forget that all things are working together for the good and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can’t have what’s next until you can say thank you for what you have and where you have been brought through. Thank you for the love, patience and pain. My next has already begun, but we will save that for next month <3
Thank you, Next.
Ase
Kasai Marie