A Thankful Heart

My Thanksgiving was overwhelming this year, in the best way possible, in an Only God kind of way. I got a call first thing in the morning from the assisted Living Center my Mom resides in. Something was terribly wrong with Mom, she was having seizures and had been taken by ambulance to the ER.

Just a little background on Mom...she's had two strokes that left her paralyzed on her right side and impaired her speech. She was also diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago. Most of this happened when she was in her 60's, pretty young I think. Her electric wheelchair has become her new set of legs and she has learned to manage beautifully with just the use of her left arm...she is amazing. Even though her speech is slurred and her body is disabled her mind is good, her faith strong and her spirit sweet. She still has a great sense of humor and a funny laugh we affectionately call her "machine gun laugh". When she gets tickled it has this kind of rapid fire sound to it...you get the picture.

So here we are Thanksgiving morning with some very scary news, my brother is in from Austin and we are heading to the hospital to face the unknown. We live with a sense of uncertainty whenever something like this happens, wondering if this is the time God will call her home. Thankfully and surprisingly our ER visit was brief and she was released in time to be with all her children and grandchildren for Thanksgiving dinner. My sister-n-law's father was there as well, he just had a liver transplant a couple of weeks ago.

Before dinner we all joined hands to make a VERY large family circle and give thanks in prayer to the one who gives us life thru His Son and praised Him for His great love for us and for protecting and healing our parents. Having Mom there after our frightening morning added a dimension of gratitude that was overwhelming. That good kind of overwhelming where you want to drop to your knees and just be at His feet simply because you love Him.

Psalm 28:6-7 Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.