Happy Thanksgiving friends! Some things are easy to thank God for and some are hard, but no matter what season we’re in there are always things we can thank God for.
“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
I haven’t published a blog in a year and a half so I just want to give a little update and some things that I am thankful this year.
My kids are all of a sudden 11, 8, 6, and 4. I have a little bit more time to write when Jasper’s at preschool two days a week, and have also been enjoying an appointment or two by myself or going for a quick run outside without any kids.
Mostly though, I am treasuring having Jasper with me before he goes to Kindergarten. With the older three kids in school I can focus just on him. I know how fast this year will go. As I’ve heard so many times, the days are long but the years are short. That has described the last eleven years so well.
Walking into the grocery store holding hands with Jasper and having him sit on my lap to read a book makes my heart full to the brim. I am at the same time grateful to watch each of our kids growing into their own personalities.
I have also been going through a hardship with my health the last year and a half, but God has been so good to me through it.
I have had some ongoing minor health issues for the last 15 years. Each year it seemed to get a little worse until this past year I was so sick and I wasn’t absorbing nutrients or functioning well. My blood labs were showing that something just wasn’t right.
I had already gone to specialists in the past and done endoscopies, ultrasounds etc, but I decided I needed to really advocate for myself and figure out what was going on.
I am thankful for some great doctors, both medical doctors and naturopaths, who separately were able to confirm that I have had an infection in my small intestine for quite some time. I have been treating for six months and am doing a lot better, but I still have a ways to go.
If you had told me a year ago that I would be working so hard to get healthy and praying for healing almost daily but still dealing with bad lab test results I would have been so discouraged looking ahead. I am not because of how faithful God’s been to show that He is with me even when His way doesn’t make sense to me.
Maybe that’s why God doesn’t tell us what the future holds. He gives us the grace for today and He will give us tomorrow’s grace for tomorrow.
I am a different person than I was a year ago and my faith is stronger in a way that was only established by going through weekends of waiting, thinking I had cancer, getting to know His love and faithfulness through the pain and unknowns. I had to continue to have hope in God’s goodness and not give up, throwing a pity party for myself.
There have been a multitude of blessings that have come out of this. When I was so discouraged, God used His Word to speak just the right thing into my life, and I have been able to get to know Jesus in a more intimate way.
I have become more grateful for the little blessings in life, like things that I was not able to do or eat when I was at my worst. I am most grateful that Jesus promises to never leave or forsake me because no matter what trials come, He is the One thing that can never be taken away from me.
I pray that you are able to experience the joy that comes when we thank God for who He is and the many things He has given us.
Thank you God for the good things that You give us and even for the hard things that You are able to redeem. My cup is full.
“When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.” Deuteronomy 8:10