This Journey is a series of surprising events. Do you ever just sit and think, "What are you DOING God?!" Of course you do, we all do. Two and a half months ago we heard that a file was being started. It could be a six month wait. We had already been waiting 7 months to receive a file...what's six more? A LOT! That very first week, through a series of strange facebook connections, I started following and participating in the journey of a little girl brought home from China this summer. She had a similar condition to the little girl whose file we were waiting for and I felt a huge connection to her. As I led a Bible study and read books on focusing on God's character in prayer, my faith muscles were stretched and built up. It was a long two months, but the little sweetie came home on November 17!
A few days before she came home, we got word that another sweet little girl, home from China just two weeks, whom we had met one week prior in Wisconsin, was clinging for dear life. She literally flatlined and coded at the hospital. I was shocked, but knew God was giving me another little one to focus my prayers on.
Thankfully, today, she is out of the ICU, but she is not out of the hospital. We are praying for complete recovery in her brain, which was affected by all the trauma she experienced in her brief illness.
The same day we heard about the little girl in Wisconsin, we got word that a sweet friend Larry and I had worked camp together (the summer that we met) was asking for prayers for his young wife and mother to his four children. She was just diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma. Today her white blood count was too low for chemo.
In each of these three difficult situations, my friends have offered up a sacrifice of praise! Something I have been blessed to do during this difficult waiting season, but some days, a thing I do not do so well. The Scriptures tell us that God INHABITS the praises of his people. That's where he lives. So if that is where he wants to dwell, I better starting making a home for him.
As you prepare your homes for a Thanksgiving feast, take some time to prepare your hearts as well. Beyond our families, homes, food, and first world luxuries, what can you praise God for this Thanksgiving?
