Gratitude Week 7

I have so much to be grateful for this week.  God has moved for my family so much.  My sister Connie was diagnosed with colon cancer.  The biopsy showed cancer and she went in for surgery on Friday.  The doctors took out 6 inches of colon, 4 inches intestine, a few other tumors.  When she was in the recovery room the doctor came in and said "There was no cancer in anything we took out."  THANK YOU GOD!!!!  I can't give God enough praise for what He did for her.  My sister Candy has been going through a lot in the past 2 weeks.  She had several asthma attacks and ended up having a heart attack in South Carolina. While on her way home after she was released from the hospital in SC she had to be admitted in NC.  They thought it was her heart again but it ended up being an infection in her foot.  She asked them to release her to go home to her regular physician.  Her doctor sent her to wound care and they sent her emergency to the hospital in Knoxville.  She had emergency surgery and had her foot debried and two of her toes removed.  That night after surgery she was short of breath and was basically drowning she was so filled with fluid.  My sister Chanda was with her and thank God for her training she knew what to do and called the nurses and told them to bring certain things in for her.  My mom called for prayer for her at 1:30 that morning and God moved.  Her heart rate was over 200 and she was on the verge of death.  Thank God I have my two oldest sisters still here with me today.  My heart is heavy for what my sister Candy is going through.  I have cried over the loss of those precious little toes so hard but I know God has her in His big mighty hands and that He can comfort her and keep her safe.  I know He has plans for her.  We don't know why we have to go through what we do but I have learned one thing God rains on the just and the unjust the same.  He sees everything and I am thankful for His safe harbor and His mercy.

1)  I am grateful for God healing Connie of colon cancer.
2)  I am grateful that God spared Candy's life and I am believing that He will move for her and she won't have to have further surgeries.
3) I am so grateful for God's abundant mercy and love, for the many, many times He has moved for my family.  I can't complain for the things He has allowed to happen because there are so many, many more things that He has kept from our lives. I want to give God a million praises for being with me and my family.

Gratitude Week 6

I am going to cut to the chase this week and get right to the gratitude.

1)  I am grateful for my church family-  I know I have put this one before but I am especially thankful to Sis. Charlene this week for getting a copy of the Assembly that my church has annually.  I haven't gotten to attend in a few years and she has been faithful to get a copy for me to enjoy so that I feel like I am part of the church as a whole.

2)  I am thankful for God's mercy and grace-  My sister Candy has been in the hospital twice in the last week and God has her in his hands.  I know whatever happens He is in control.  I am also thanking God in advance for taking care of my sister Connie in her surgery that is going to be on Friday instead of Thursday.

3)  I am thankful for the peace that God gives me when my mind and heart are in turmoil.  I can turn to Him anytime.  He is truly my friend.  I remember realizing this for the first time after my dad died when I was about 10.  I was in my room in the floor crying and I felt the presence of God and the Holy Ghost comforting me.  I am thankful that even though I have left Him, He has never left me.

The gratitude experiment has been difficult but has become a necessary part of my week.  I sometimes sit down to write and think what in the world do I have to say this week but then I think of the way God has moved in my life in the past week and I can't help but express my love for Him and all He does for me.

Survive vs Thrive

I have been thinking a lot lately about survival.  Survival is ingrained in our brains, bodies, I guess you could say our very cells.  It seems for so long now I have merely survived.  I am like the flower in the garden that keeps coming back year after year that is weaker and weaker with each passing season.  I am ready to thrive.  It seems no matter how hard I try I keep getting stuck and never going forward.  It's like an invisible wall is set at a certain point on my journey and no matter how hard I push or what I throw at that wall it never yields.  I've stood before the wall many times over the years.  I have devised many plans to make that wall crumble at my feet.  It is still there and I am still on this side of the wall.  I have tried to go over it, under it, around it, and through it but still it remains.  Strong, unmoveable, keeping me from where I need to be.  I don't want to become complacent and decide to live on this side of the wall.  The other side holds unknown trials and I am sure some rough roads but the other side calls me to overcome the wall, to move forward and in to the destiny God has for me.  It calls me to action time and again.  I am weak now but God can make me strong again. 

I know this all seems to be poetic or unreal but this is a real struggle I have faced for years.  I quit to come back to the wall over and over again.  I have faced this battle so many times in my life and I want to overcome. Please help me pray that this time I won't fall, this time I will prevail against the enemy and move through to the other side. This time I am calling on my friends and family to help me pray and I am praying God moves quickly for me.  

Please also remember my family this week.  We have had several illnesses...Chanda's knee, Candy's asthma attacks, and Connie goes in for surgery for colon cancer on Thursday.  I know my own struggles are minute in comparison to the battle Connie is facing. Please, please pray that God will heal her and move for her and that this time she will move forward and not go back either.