Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away.
I’m not sure how to face the next few days…thankful…
And empty.
I will choose to focus on what I DO have instead of what I’ve lost. I will freely admit, just the basics (laundry, dishes, meals, A SHOWER) are hard to manage right now. I have little ones pulling my attention many different ways. I am choosing to be thankful for them. I know there are so many of you out there who have lost a baby and do not have the comfort of another child’s arms. So for that, I have so much to be thankful for! Some days, knowing they need me is the only thing that wills me out of bed. Other days, I bury myself further under the covers and wish I could be left alone to cry! It’s hard not to feel like a terrible mother because with all these emotions, my fuse is super short. I pray God gives them the grace to pardon me and me the grace to respond well.
I hope I do not sound ungrateful because I truly am blessed. We have so much to be thankful for. It’s just so hard to focus on gratefulness when my heart is full of such ache. So this weekend, when I know I will be thinking of nothing but the emptiness, I pray I can somehow rise
above it all and truly in my heart be THANKFUL for a loving husband, my beautiful children, the brief time we had with Andrew, and my own life. I’m thankful for medical advances that have made something that would have taken a mother’s life two generations ago, easily sustained. I will be thankful for the food we are so blessed to have and the friends and family we are able to enjoy.
I will be thankful for the blessing of beautiful friends who have been here for us in amazing ways-lovingly watching our children, bringing meals, being there to cry on and talk to, and truly hurting with us. We are so thankful for the friends who sent amazing flowers, books, emails, and cards that comforted our hearts. Friends who offered to clean, take our kids for a walk, or even bring a coffee!
This morning I heard BLESSED BE YOUR NAME by Matt Redman. His song is based on Job so I looked up these verses: Job 1:21 “…The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” and Job 2:10 “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?”
Job had lost everything and he chose to still praise and not curse God. But I also realize that even in Job it was the enemy who killed, stole, and destroyed-not God. Even though the Lord allowed it. Why He allowed it is the part that is so very difficult…
These are the times in our walk when we are tried and shaken to our very core and all we are left with is a simple choice. It’s a choice because it’s not what we feel, it’s what we know.
Though there is pain in the offering, I will choose to say…
blessed be the Name of the Lord.
Heart of Esther 