Today I am thankful for God’s guiding hand in and plan for my life, even through the times I have wanted to stray and go my own way. Within the past year, I have recognized God’s sovereignty in my own life through a book project I began after spending time in prayer. As I began working on it, I realized that all of my academic training—the courses in writing, including that history writing course that I loved but that didn’t really seem to “fit” within the rest of my education; the courses in research, ethnography, and ethics; the practice of gathering data, doing data analysis, and “writing it up” that I had to go through for my dissertation—everything is giving me the tools I need to research and write this book.

Book project aside, God’s sovereignty in all areas of my life is what I am most thankful for. It is truly a blessing, because it teaches and enables me to put more and more of my trust in God, and truly rest in him. God has surprised me these last few years and made my two word story—Trust? Trust.—more meaningful and true than I ever thought possible in my life. As my husband’s mother’s life wanes, as I see my husband in pain, I can still say “it is well”—simply because I know that it’s in God’s hands.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.