40 Things I Am Grateful For

1. I am grateful to my God for loving me in a way that I never thought was possible.  He saved my life, cleaned up my mess and gave me a second chance, and a third chance, and a fourth chance.......  I have given up on starting over now and just live each day by His grace.  There is no more condemnation, I live freely as a beautiful butterfly. 
2. I am grateful for my husband who patiently and lovingly stands by me and loves me for these past 10 years!  Without him I would not be as happy as I am today.  He is the cherry on my cake and the warm fuzzy feeling in my heart :)
3. I am grateful for Lorah-Kelly, my first born child who has been with me on this journey called life for 22 years.  She has been with me through my best and also through my worst but has only ever seen the good in me.  I am hugely who I am today because of her constant encouragement and support.
4. I am grateful for Samuel who has loved and cared for Lorah since she was 14!  He is definitely the one for Lorah and I cannot be more grateful that he married her.
5. I am grateful for my second born daughter, Jordan, who has a very special place in my heart.  She is full of life, laughter and fun and I know that she is going to do great things in this world.
6. I am grateful for Jamaine who is loving and caring for Jordan.  He was a little naughty member of my youth group in South Africa, who would have thought that all these years later he would be here in England and part of the family!
7. I am grateful for my third born and my only son, Daniel.  He is talented and loving and kind.  I hope he always stays that way.
8. I am grateful for my baby, Amy, who is growing up into a lovely young lady.  She is beautiful but showing sign of being like me - she is already giving everyone lists of things to do - we are working on that!  
9. I am grateful for my mom - she has always been very positive and supportive of me in all that I am and do.  I melt every time she says she is proud of me, I will never tire of hearing her say that.  My mother is amazing. I am so grateful for her and so proud of the wonderful woman she is.  
10. I am grateful for my step-dad, Gerald, who is kind, gentle and patient and who has brought out the best in my mother and made our family a very happy and complete one.
11. I am grateful for my dad who always worked hard to give us a good life.  He is an amazing man who did his best for us kids.  
12. I am grateful for my step-mom, Bonny, who has loved my dad and taken good care of him all these years. She is a precious woman and I am very proud of her.
13. I am grateful for my little brother, Ian, who I miss very much.  He is one of those rare, lovely men that are hard to find in this world!
14. I am grateful for my other little brother, Jonathan, who always showers me with Facebook love.  He is such a sweetie.
15. I am grateful that I have such wonderful in-laws.  Roberto and Sueli, my mother and father in-law as well as Breno and Debora, my lovely brother and sister-in-law, are a real blessing to me and I am so grateful for them.
16. I am grateful for all my friends that have made my life full and rich.  It's a wonderful privilege to have such amazing friends in my life and I count myself truly blessed to know such wonderful people.
17. I am grateful for my church, D7 Church.  I just love my church, it is like a home to me, the place where I have laughed and cried, loved and hurted, sung and prayed.  It is the place where I have found my peace and learned who I really am.  It is the place where I have taken bold steps and done things I don't think I would have done anywhere else.  
18. I am grateful for my home.  God gave me a beautiful home where I could be warm, raise a family, play in the garden, eat, drink and be merry.  
19. I am grateful for my business, Women's Business Club.  I love what I do and I love the people I do it with.  Every day is filled with excitement as I watch women and businesses flourish and grow. 
20. I am grateful for my ministry, King's Daughters.  This is where I can encourage women in life, share my experiences, show them the path to my God and just love women into wholeness in the same way that I have been loved by other women along my path in life.
21. I am grateful for the gifts God has given me, the gift of administration that allows me to organise, manage and bring order to just about everything.  I love having this gift!  I also love having the gift of words, to be able to write and express myself freely is wonderful.  I never dreamed I would get to write so many books in this lifetime.  
22. I am grateful for the country of my childhood, South Africa, for raising me and for the privilege of being a part of Mandela's reformation.  I learned a lot about people, respect and many other important things in South Africa.
23. I am grateful for the country of my birth and my present reality, England.  This is an amazing country filled with opportunity and wealth.  After seeing poverty in Africa I have come to truly appreciate all that this government has done to care for it's people. We are a blessed nation and should never take it for granted.
24. I am grateful for my local government who have been very supportive of our church and my business. It is wonderful to have leaders at the level that participate in ordinary people's lives.  Something I will not take for granted either.
25. I am grateful for my health.   After seeing friends suffer with cancer, amputations, diabetes, death of loved ones, depression and so much more, I cannot tell you how grateful I am to be so healthy and well.  
26. I am grateful to be alive.  Apart from everyday miracles where I could have been traumatically removed from this planet, I am grateful that God gave me the choice and urged me to choose life on that cold, dark night when I wanted to die and attempted to do so.     
27. I am grateful for all my mistakes and failures.  At the time they were painful but looking back I can see how I needed them to humble me, shape me and mould me into who I am today.  I know that there are more to come and that's OK, I will continue to learn and grow from my mistakes.
28. I am grateful for this beautiful planet that we live on called Earth!  It is incredible and I am always amazed and the details and complexities of this wondering world we live in.  I hope to explore it more too.
29. I am am grateful for my cats, Muffin and Poppy!  They have brought so much joy to our family.
30. I am grateful for online shopping!  It has made life so much quicker and easier.
31. Daniel suggested that I be grateful for electricity.  What a great idea, imagine life without electricity!
32. I am grateful that I have a future and a hope.  There is so much life left to live and I am excited about it.
33. I am grateful for endorphin producing things such as sunshine, chocolate and special cuddles with my husband ;)
34. My good friend Fay reminded me to be thankful for the NHS, especially since they have taken such good care of us, especially since Daniel has had diabetes. 
35. I am grateful that I can sing and worship freely.  I watched a movie the other day, China Cry, where Christians are persecuted in China and the part that got to me most was when they couldn't sing but mouthed the words to songs.  I realised right then and there that I am truly privileged.  
36. I am grateful for the story of the prodigal son.  It is not fair but if that story didn't exist then there would not be any hope for me.  
37. I am grateful for my past leaders who have invested in me, moulded me and believed in me.  Pastor Peter and Joy Varrie, John Clark, Lesaya Kelly, Lindi Barrett and for the awesome team at Hillsong London.  Many more too!
38. I am grateful that worms turn into beautiful butterflies and that rebellious, stupid teenagers turn into beautiful women :)  Yes, I am unashamed to be talking about me.  I am grateful for flowers too that turn into something beautiful from little seeds.  I love flowers and I also love that I always have flowers in my garden and in my home.  
39. I am grateful for heaven - my true home where I can't wait to go to one day.  A place where there are no tears and where I will know perfect peace for all of eternity.  Most of all I can't wait to meet the man that I have loved for all these years as daddy and God as well as the one who suffered and died for me so I can be free.  I am so grateful that I have all that to look forward to.
40. I am grateful for today, my 40th birthday.  It has been a wonderful day from beginning to end.  I truly am a blessed woman that has so much to be grateful for. 

It's funny how when you get to listing things that it is the people that matter and not the stuff. So why do we spend so much of our life trying to earn money to buy stuff and not spend more time investing in the people in our life?  I intend to spend the rest of my life making sure that I focus on people first!  If you have read this, thank you for sharing my birthday with me.