The last month or so has been both very exciting and busy for me. In the midst of all the excitement, I have found myself to be extremely blessed in many ways. I am blessed daily with the seemingly little things that are actually big things such as my family, the gorgeous area where I live, the kids that I babysit, etc. The following are the blessings that, while they are bigger blessings, took me a while to see how truly fortunate I am to have them.
1. Volunteering on the Mother-Baby Unit
As part of the CCE program at my local hospital, we are able to work on different floors every 3 months provided we complete our 48 hours for each rotation. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to complete my hours for the last rotation and am repeating the rotation for the next 3 months. The Mother-Baby floor is easily the happiest floor that I have been on. Every day that I am on the floor, I get to see and sometimes hold tiny newborn babies, most of whom are less than 24-48 hours old. I also get to discharge the moms and babies. Seeing new life on a weekly basis reminds me of how incredible God is and how much love a mother can have for her child. Last month alone there were 529 babies born at my local hospital.
2. Passing my CNA exam.
As of 3 weeks ago, I am a Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA). For me, the exam was super easy. I passed both the written and the skills exam with flying colors. While I was at the exam, there were others who were taking only the written portion or only the skills portion. Of those who were taking only the written portion, few of them spoke English well. I also didn't really study for the exam that much. I started studying maybe four or five days before the exam. I've realized that I am incredibly lucky to have such ease in taking exams and to be able to speak two languages completely fluently.
3. My new car
A few days after passing my CNA test, I got a new car. Before the new car came around, I was driving an extremely janky car. Many things were wrong with the old car; the biggest one was the transmission was having problems. I drove a car with a bad transmission for 8 months and I stalled twice. I didn't drive the car very far and every time I got in the car I prayed that I could get to my destination without too many problems. I was lucky and had the option of driving my mom's car if necessary. I've realized that a lot of people are also driving around in janky cars for longer than I had to and may or may not have other means of getting around. I think this would be a good time to give a big THANK YOU to my parents for doing everything they could so I get around to all my activities safely.
4. Retreats and bonfires
I frequently talk/write about how great it is that I'm involved in the youth ministry program because of the people I've met and how they have all become a big part of my life. While that is all well and good, what I haven't talked too much about (at least in the blog) is the God part of it. I just came back from another amazing retreat and God did a number on me once again. What I love about retreats is that you get to spend time away from modern life, take a good look inside yourself, and God does something to enrich your life throughout the course of the retreat. For me, this has happened during adoration on the last two retreats. After this past weekend's retreat, I have felt so much lighter and happier than I have been. At adoration, I was finally able to let go of the pain caused by words that were said to me by someone close to me after about a year. When kids get back from retreat, so many parents tell us that they can already see a change in their son or daughter and that we did a wonderful job. That is God's work being manifested before our eyes.
Another thing that I have come to love about youth ministry is the bonfires that we have every week during the summer. I really can't put into words why I love bonfires so much. Everyone is there seemingly carefree and we have a good time by simply being at the beach, playing volleyball, and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. As summer draws to a close the bonfires go later and later. To me, bonfires are another way of building community between the kids and adults regardless of their age (at our bonfires, ages range from 11-24).
I have a challenge for you all this time, dear readers. My challenge to you is to look for at least three blessings that you may have not seen before and continue to look for them even in your toughest moments.
