Special Thanksgiving Edition <3
In light of the upcoming holiday/travel/crazy retail work schedule of my life, I am posting this early. I pray it speaks encouragement to you and blesses you as you prepare for your Thanksgiving celebrations.
Five years ago to this day, I received a call in the wee hours of the morning. My mom had suffered massive strokes sometime in the night. After laying on the floor for unknown hours, someone finally heard the tapping she was making on the nightstand by her bed. The emotions of knowing this remain raw and tender in my heart to this day, but God’s grace reminds me He was with her every moment.
As I scurried to pull myself together and head to the hospital, my mind reeled with the state of our home. I had reserved the morning for the final cleaning. Our holiday company would be arriving around noon. Sarah and her dear Daniel were bringing his mother to meet us for the first time. It was already a given that this was our daughter’s future mother-in-law, and she was walking into the biggest mess of a house.
Even as I worried about my mom and what I was going to find at the hospital, I fought back the frustration in my heart that our Thanksgiving had turned into a fiasco. Before you judge me as shallow, remember: it was 5 in the morning, I had no coffee, little sleep and am able to think multiple thoughts with equally intense passion. I spared no concern for my mom, even as I panicked.
I remember crying out to God the only lame thing I could express: “This is NOT a good time for this!!!”
I love God. He is so direct with me. No sooner did I utter those words, than I heard the response in my heart. “THIS is the perfect time, because it is MY time.” While I couldn’t see how it would all work out, His words brought me a sense of peace that carried me through the next few hours and days.
It wasn’t a Thanksgiving that anyone would want to capture on Pinterest,but it was one of the most precious Thanksgiving’s we have ever had. Daniel’s mother is happiest when she is serving and so she was blessed to prepare our Thanksgiving meal, as well as every other meal. She also would accompany me to the hospital and love on my mom and me.
I would never have had the opportunity to get to know this godly woman if I had been busy hosting her and her family. I am blessed to have heard my mom, in her stroke-ridden monotone, name all the people who were praying for her, and in the list – “Ani and her church in Paraguay are praying for me”. God tied my heart to our daughter’s new family through one of the most difficult seasons of my life.
Maybe this Thanksgiving has some curve balls that you weren’t expecting. I urge you to trust God and His timing. Don’t miss His grace in the midst of your switched up plans. I pray for each of you to know His great love and care for you in every detail of your life.
May you be blessed to know His faithfulness throughout this week.