by Pastor Justin Murrell I have learned that expressing thanksgiving and gratitude is the fastest way for me to experience the presence of God in my life. I first learned this lesson at the age of 12 when I got my first blue 6-speed huffy mountain bike for Christmas. It was and is to this day one of my favorite memories that I have from my childhood for a lot of reasons, but the main reason why this is my favorite memory is that it solidified for me the fact that I had a dad who loved me. For the first six to seven years of my life, I had no consistent male presence in my household. My biological father was inactive. We knew each other but there was no real relationship. My mother, being the amazing woman that she was, understood that there was a big gap in my life known as the father wound and she wanted to fix it. Through different events that transpired in my mother’s life, she met and started a relationship with a coworker and she ended up marrying him after the date for some time and just like that, I had new a dad. However, because of damage that was done in my formative years my relationship with my new dad was very contentious. YOU’VE GOT TO READ THE REST! (Cl  ick Here)