The Truth About Gifts

So I’m currently listening to Jon Bellion while waiting for my high acuity nursing class (ICU content and such..) to begin, and I thought this would be the perfect time for a blog post, right? Well, my name is Frankie (Sarah Frank — for my really close friends and family members) and, as stated previously, I’m the baby girl. I’ll graduate in May with my BSN in Nursing and then head down to Florida to be trained as a FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) missionary for the summer. After, I will serve for two years somewhere in the United States on a college campus — Close to home, my parents hope! I CAN’T WAIT. During this time of anticipation and some nerves for the years to come, I get to put into practice the virtue of patience. Patience for what God is trying to teach me and where this path will lead. I figure these blog posts will consist a lot of explaining the lessons I’m being taught or have learned. As the youngest girl, and youngest child for a while before sweet Campbell, being taught and learning from my sisters has been my life story. I don’t plan on this changing anytime soon (or ever) so here goes.

This post comes at a time when navigating through this part of my life is all new. I won’t be a student come May. I won’t live with the same roommate I’ve had for the past 22 years (Catbird). I won’t be calling Lexington my home anymore, but a new city with new people and new adventures. However, in the midst of these “won’ts” there are so many more “wills.” I WILL get to begin a brand new journey that is completely unknown to me right now. I WILL meet new friends I’m already praying for and sweet college students I can’t wait to love. And above all else I WILL have the same peaceful Spirit leading me each day. Life is beautiful. Now, it’s the making it through this last semester I still have to do before all of these “wills” take place. However, I did say I would tell you about lessons I’m learning, so back to the present.

Lesson one — Praise and thanksgiving. This “lesson” is one I’m pretty sure was taught to me before I could even pronounce “thanks.” If my parents gave us a snack after nap-time it was a “thank you” that always followed. If Catherine let me borrow a dress to wear to school it was a “thank you.” Now after not failing a nursing exam it’s a very loud, “THANK YOU JESUS.” (No, but really...) Oddly enough, now when bigger things than just a snack or dress are given to me by our Father, I find myself forgetting to say one of the first two syllables I learned, “thank-you.” Yet, it’s when I sincerely thank God for the gifts He’s given me and give them back to Him in return, the blessings are ALWAYS doubled that much more. So I challenge you. Whoever is reading this and wherever you are in life — make sure to give Him praise and thanksgiving. And I don’t mean just a simple “Thanks God” I mean take five minutes and sit and meditate on the gifts in your life. Then, when you have meditated on the said gifts, give them back to the Lord. Give Him back the gift of learning. Give Him back your shelter and warmth. Give back to Him the gift of relationships (friendships, marriages, etc.). Give them back and allow Him to return them to you changed and matured with new ideas of how to use them to better glorify Him. You see, there isn’t anything we can do to grow a relationship or use our knowledge to help others, etc. if we do not draw close to Him. We are limited in this. Yet, as you allow Him to have all of your gifts, there is not a limit to what He can do with them through YOU.

I suppose that sums up the first lesson of many I’m learning and still trying to practice each day. I hope you really try this. Anything and everything in your life can ONLY go up :) But please feel free to message me with further questions or comments! Until next time…