Life Well Inspired

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you enjoy your day today, as we take time to feast and fellowship with family and friends.  This year will be more hectic than usual, as we will be eating dinner with my parents and then dessert at Hubby’s grandma’s.    Usually Thanksgiving is just with my parents and then Christmas is with Hubby’s side, but family who usually comes in for Christmas is coming for Thanksgiving this year.  So it will be all sorts of fun!

Growing up, there was no big family get-togethers on holidays.  The only one spent with family was Thanksgiving and that was just with my grandparents, who usually came to our house.  Holidays took on a whole new meaning once I got married and so I don’t mind the hustle and bustle of holidays at all!

The downside to holidays now is the food issue and trying to maintain the gluten/grain free diet restrictions so that we can survive with the least amount of turbulence possible with Big Bro.    Last year I was learning to navigate the waters and had to find replacement recipes for everything, but this year I have some experience under my belt.  Hopefully, this year will be more enjoyable and less food-focused.

Anyhow, I hope you have safe travels, enjoy yummy food and make wonderful memories with your loved ones today!

So how do you feel about the question that inevitably gets asked at some point during this thanksgiving season- What are you thankful for?

I don’t ever remember being prepared for that question but simply answering with something fairly generic.  Its not that I was ungrateful, its just that nothing had really hit home and changed my perspective that I could be sincerely thankful for.

But this year is different.  For the first time ever I  have something to be sincerely thankful for and its this:  I am thankful that God didn’t give up on me and has brought healing.

This past week I spent about 3-4 days cleaning our basement.  It is unfinished and rough with un-even concrete walls and floor.  It’s wet and damp in the summer and dusty in the winter because the wood furnace is down there.  Up until the shop was finished this spring, Hubby’s workbench was down there and it was in general a storage area.  But all the mechanical/woodworking stuff of Hubby’s went down to the shop in late summer and it just needed to be cleaned.  So I did it.  Basically the entire floor is  now clear.  And as I finished yesterday, I realized that for the first time in my life I had tackled a major cleaning task and  I had not one sniffle.   Normally, tackling a job like that would have been catastrophic for me.  All the dust and cobwebs plus the damp air would have sent me into a full fledged allergy attack.

As I thought about that, I reflected on the journey I have been on since I was about 3.  That’s when my allergies started.  And I realized the part they have played in my spiritual journey, how God has used that actually for good.   I realized how hard-headed I am and the extent to which God needed to go to break through.  I realized He never gave up on me. It took allergies, a more-or-less friendless and somewhat abusive childhood, helicopter parents, failed business attempts, the 10-year struggle to learn housekeeping, a falling-down-around-me house,  a hard-to-handle-high-maintenance child and food allergies with both me and said child, among other things to bring me to a place of complete surrender to Him.

Looking back, my trials started at 3 but God’s guiding hand had a plan.  And I am so very thankful he never gave up on me.  Each piece gave me head knowledge and a little more faith until he gave me heart knowledge just after Big Bro was born.  And then each piece brought more dependance on him until I came to complete surrender.  One day in particular 2 weeks ago I surrendered and my restlessness left me.  I read the story of Joseph’s life and He enabled forgiveness.  He filled me with His peace and I have not been the same since.

A couple years ago, I experienced a feeling like I had walked through a door at the end of a long corridor much like a college dorm hallway representing my life and the door had locked behind me as I walked through with my Bible, into the arms of Hubby and my boys.  I was keenly aware that only Jesus could go back through that door and bring to me the things I needed for my future from my past.  I had left it all behind.

Now I feel as if I have walked into a new life, warm and bright.  The hurts and cares and burdens of the world pale in comparison to the healing and hope I have found in my surrender to the Lord.  I am overwhelmed by His goodness and grace.  I am amazed at the peace and lack of restlessness in my mind and body.

Yes, this year I am not afraid of that question.  This year I am sincerely thankful- thankful for God’s persistence, His peace and His healing hand.

What are you sincerely thankful for today?

I'd love to know your thoughts!

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