NOTE: Male readers, you’ve been warned…I talk about my bras here. If you aren’t comfortable with that, you might want to skip today’s post and visit again tomorrow…

I don’t love my bras.

Maybe this is Too Much Information (TMI) but I think most women can relate to the quest to find the “perfect” one. The one that really does make us look ten times thinner (as lingerie experts claim if we’re fitted correctly). The one that holds everything in place just so without looking like you’re an extra in Madonna’s latest video. The one that doesn’t show through t-shirts or peek-out of unsuspecting v-necks.

Good bras are look a good pair of jeans – worth the extra expense and extremely difficult to find.

Luckily, I knew the style and kind I was seeking. Not excited to fork-out the cash, I still accepted the fact that it’s usually worth-it.

So while I was considering what to do with this dilemma, this very First World Problem (FWP), I decided to peruse my bra drawer to find the ones that stand-in as second shift – those that aren’t in the daily rotation but quietly wait in the wings,  ready to take-over should something happen to those in the front-line.

And that’s when I saw them: two bras, exactly the kind I was planning to purchase.

I already had what I wanted.

Immediately, I was humbled. Immediately, I understood what He was teaching me through a bra. Immediately, I marveled at how He’ll use anything, anything to open our eyes.

I often think about how Jesus healed ten men with leprosy in Luke 17 and strive to live my life like the sole leper who returned to thank Jesus for his healing.

In short, Jesus healed ten men of leprosy and told them to seek the high priest (customary for healed lepers during Biblical times) for clearance. Yet their healing didn’t become evident to the lepers until they were on their way to obtain this blessing.

One Samaritan man turned back to thank Jesus – and it should be noted that Samaritans were considered foreigners and thus inferior to locals.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?  Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” – Luke 17:17-19

Though I strive to be the Samaritan leper, I know I’m usually more like the other nine. I’m not always as grateful as I should be.

I often want what’s clearly right in front of me.

I often can’t see what I already have.

And I often fail to thank Him for answered prayers that went my way.

I actually have more in-common with the other nine than I do the Samaritan leper.

So this week, I’m thanking Him for everything. Every. Little. Thing.

I want to be more like the one and less like the nine.

Gratitude for the (very loud) laughter of my children. For the extremely lived-in house that is never, ever a portrait of visual peace. For the messy floors and the ridiculous amount of laundry, selfishly demanding attention.

I often pray my children will be filled with joy, my home will be warm and welcoming without being perfect, and my children will have enough to meet their needs.

Proof of what I already have can be found in those loud giggles, the just tidy-enough home, and the beckoning baskets of clothing.

Joy. Warmth. Enough.

I already have what I so desperately want. So I strive to move from the nine to the one.

And I pray it sticks for good this time.

What are you grateful for today?

Also, it’s not too late to join our Rhinestone Jesus book study! We officially start next Monday (October 13). Click here for more details!