James 1:17  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

It's easy to become so engulfed in seasons of pain that we overlook little blessings....as cliche as that sounds I know it to be true. But seasons of pain also provide an amazing opportunity to find great hope in the small stuff...as the joy that it brings is usually in SUCH contrast to the struggles and mental strife of most hours of the day.

It seems God has been pouring out small blessings all over us just in the past couple of weeks. From friends who are lending us a really sweet car for no reason at all (just in time for our other car to go into needing-serving mode!) and finding surprise dates from friends and then tonight--

I went to the gym to work my booty but ALSO to keep my mind from losing it (my main motivation for gym going lately--although workin' it is an added bonus) and I decided to go to spinning..my usual fave. It was a new class and a teacher I had never seen before, and it just so happened to be a combination class of about twenty minutes of ab work and then 40 of spinning. If you're a prego or have ever been prego you know that some ab work is sketchy during pregnancy and you have to do some research to find out what kind is allowed. So before the class started I told the teacher, "Hey! I'm pregnant! If you see me doing ab work that I shouldn't be doing just tell me." So she gave me some modifications and then throughout the workout kept an eye on me, showing me different exercises to do apart from what the class was doing.

We finished, did our spinning stuff, and then at the end of class she followed up with me to talk to me about birthing and other exercising that she found was a good preparation for birth. This was one of those times where I got choked up and ran out of words, but when asked a direct question about my plans for birthing--I knew I could either run away, lie, or tell the truth. Lying obviously wasn't an option, and I didn't see an easy escape route..so I told her.

She didn't freak out. She wasn't scared. She knew exactly what to say. She gave me her information and told me to call or text her anytime and to come find her in the gym if I was having a freak out moment. She didn't say anything absurd (y'all. praise.) and she basically made my night. I didn't feel depressed when I walked away, but empowered and understood.

I know you're probably like. Sweet. You met a nice lady at the gym. Which is true, yes. But it was just so good and so so so rare. Not that meeting nice strangers is rare. But meeting nice strangers who find out what's going on and handle themselves so gracefully.

I just feel blessed.

Little gifts, people. Don't forget where they come from.