Thanksgiving Blessings

Today was an exceptional day. I had Thanksgiving dinner with my two favorite guys and I was able to remember how blessed I truly am. Rick, Sean & I had a very quiet afternoon at home and they are having a post dinner nap! Dessert will be served soon and they will wake up for that!!

This morning I was at the church's outreach dinner and instead of blessing others as was my intention I was blessed by God. Rick and I went and picked up a very nice lady who needed a ride to the church. We had a wonderful conversation at the table but my seat was needed by others so they could eat.

I went walking around the room just saying hello, looking for a chance to help out and wishing everyone Happy Thanksgiving. As I was walking around I noticed a man sitting at a full table. He was pushing his food around on his plate and he was slightly hunched over and not talking at all. He looked up and as I caught his eye, I was blown away by the depth of the hurt I saw. I walked up to him and asked him if he was enjoying his dinner (even though I already knew the answer). He responded with, I am trying. I commented that he appeared to be troubled about something and could I pray for him. He said that he was worried about his health and that he wasn't doing to well. I knelt by his side and held out my hand asking him if I could pray right then. His eyes started tearing up and he said yes. "Father you are our great provider and healer. Please give my brother peace over his health. If it is your will heal his body and give him peace. Let him know that you are there for him and that you love him....In Jesus name we pray. Amen".

He started to cry and jokingly said that he hadn't come there to cry. I told him that God caught all of our tears in his hand and that one day He would wipe away every tear from our eyes, our bodies would be healed and we would be celebrating in Heaven. He asked if I truly believed that. "Yes, I know Christ as my Savior and he has promised that we will spend eternity in Heaven with him. Our hurts will be gone and our tears will be wiped away". He again started to cry and said that he needed to be assured of that fact. I hugged him as he said that he was ready to eat his dinner now. God is so good! I needed to be reminded of my blessings and what the holidays truly mean. My heart has not been ready for Christmas shopping and decorating and putting up a tree. I had forgotten that we are celebrating the freedom we have here on Earth but even more we will soon be celebrating the birth of the Savior who died for my sins. Amazing Grace....I once was blind but now I see!

May God bless you and your family on this beautiful Thanksgiving. May the Advent season remind you of the gift that God has offered to all of us.

Hugs!

God and the people in my life!

I have been thinking about life today and what God wants from me. My first love is my relationship with God. Nothing else is as important is that relationship. Nothing that happens is without God knowing and being my strength to hang on to. My trust is knowing that He is my rock. My next love is my best friend, my husband and partner, Rick. He is the gift that God brought into my life. We have fought, cried, loved, hurt, made up, had fun and grown closer over the years. We are never done learning more about each other and growing closer to each other as we grow closer to God. He is our center.

I have my wonderful son. I so love getting to know him and watching him grow and change and become a man of God. He is a gift in my life. I have a beautiful daughter waiting to welcome me into heaven. She is my girl who will welcome me home into eternity. I can't wait for that blessed day. In God's time not mine!

Then we have our friends and family.

How do you define family? I have almost 100 kids! I have so many sisters that I can reach out to and love. These are not family only by birth but by adoption. Some are family by being adopted into God's family, by birth and by marriage. But the "family" that I am talking about is also those relationships that have happened when we adopted each other into our hearts and lives. What would I do without these sweet relationships. They sustain me, lift me up and energize me. God has blessed me with a large family of my heart that I have always wanted.

We all need each other. We need to know we are loved, needed and missed. We all need to hear "you matter". We all need to pray for each other. God created a hole in our heart that only he can fill. He also created a need in our soul for relationships.

Thank you for being my family! I Love you!

hugs! (Happiness under God's smile)