thirty thankful days-day 19-friday night live

Every day in November I am posting something I'm thankful for, and I would love to have you join me!  Link to your thankful post below, or write about it in the comments.  Let's be thankful together!

Small Group, Life Group, Growth Group, Home Group--I've heard them called a number of things.  A smaller group of people from church to get to know better, to "do life with", to care for, to learn together, to pray with and to serve with.  We call our group "Friday Night Live", and we've been in this group for several years.  In fact, we formed this group several years ago when we were having a rough time and needed accountability and community.  The people have changed some, but the core of the group has stayed the same.  We no longer lead the group, although we do host it at our home a bunch.

some of our group out to eat last winter

Today I am thankful for our group.  I'm thankful we can be honest with each other.  I'm thankful they pray for us.  I'm thankful for the laughs we share.  I'm thankful for the kids in our group--the babies to borrow a snuggle from, the silly toddlers who make me laugh, and the older kids who we get to watch grow and change and learn to love God.  I'm thankful that although by far the oldest, my kids get to be there and watch these littler ones...an important role and a chance to serve.  I'm thankful for the times, like last night, when we split the men and women for prayer requests.  The girl-sharing-time is always special to me.  My love for these girls grows all the time.

Is our group perfect? Nope.  Is it messy sometimes? Yep.  Do I need to talk myself into going on nights I'm tired or cranky?  Yessirree.  Is it worth it?? Absolutely.  We all need community.  We all need to be known.  We all need to give of ourselves to others.  I know I do.

I'm thankful God has allowed me the privilege of "doing life with" others...and that the others are my good friends.

What are you thankful for today?  Link up or comment!  Let's fill up blogland with thankfulness!

A few simple instructions for the link up:

-please link to your specific thankful post--not just your blog

-please link back to theGoodlife in your post so others can join the fun!
-feel free to grab the 30 thankful days graphic--I haven't figured out how to make it a button yet.  I'm such a techy, huh?