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.

Gratitude Week 5

A lot is going on in my life right now.  I am finishing the semester up at school today.  I am going to be looking for a new caregiver soon.  JoAnn just really doesn't have the time anymore to help me, take care of her family, and work a full-time job.  When she started working for me she was at another store and could work her schedule out better but with the move to the bigger store and everything it's just really been a struggle for her to be here when I need her to be.  My sister Connie goes in for surgery for her colon cancer May 6th or 7th.  Please pray for her and for the surgeons hands that God will guide them to take out exactly what needs to be removed.  Chanda found out that her knee was not a torn ligament or tendon like the doctors suspected but was actually the same thing that is wrong with mine only she found out in an earlier stage.  Please pray that God can heal her knees and she can do what she needs to do to gain better health.  She is in the last legs of her nurses training and she just keeps saying "I just want to be able to finish", she is scheduled to graduate in August I believe. 
On to the weight loss journey.  I have gained back some weight.  I now have only lost 60 lbs.  I have to get determined.  I have been in a deep depression lately and I can't seem to get out of it.  That hasn't helped the weight loss because I eat when I get upset.  If I don't lose the weight I am signing my own death warrant.  In related issues, I have determined I am a foody.  I had the best ice cream in the world the other day.  It reminded me of when I was a child and my mom used to take us to Kay's Ice Cream Parlor for a special treat.  We never had ice cream in the house growing up, for that matter we didn't have chips, cokes, cookies, or cakes.  If it didn't come from the garden we didn't eat it basically, except for hamburger, bread, and maccaroni and cheese(the powder kind, and the staples, (you know= flour, meal, shortening, tea, coffee, sugar).  We always had plenty to eat we just didn't eat like other people did.  Anyway the ice cream was Kay's Strawberry Shortcake.  OH MY GOSH!!!  Jo Ann and I got some and as I was eating it I was trying to figure out the flavors.  I kept saying if I didn't know better I would think it had buttermilk in it.  Well, it did, it was awesome, buttermilk, whole milk, cream, eggs, cream cheese, strawberries.  What's not to love.

So that brings us to the gratitude list:

1)  I am thankful for God's healing power.  I know He can touch my sister's bodies like he has so many times in the past.  He has healed my family of cancer, CHF, other heart issues, I watched my mother have a stroke when I was about 10 and I called for prayer and I watched her face return to normal right before my eyes.  I know God's power to heal is not gone.  I know if it is His will He will heal them both. 
2)  I am thankful for the opportunity God has blessed me with to attend college.  It was a life-long dream of mine to be a teacher.  Through God's grace He has taken the mistakes I made right out of high school and turned them around so that I will be able to obtain a degree in Elementary Education.  I can never thank God enough for this opportunity.  I had a full tuituion scholarship to Lincoln Memorial University when I finished High School and I decided that it was more important to enter the work force and support myself than to go away to school.  I was broken hearted over it for a long time because I did what I felt I had to.  God really can mend your broken heart and restore to you the things you thought you had lost forever. 
3)  I am thankful for the food I have to eat.  God has always blessed us to have enough even in times when we wouldn't have anymore food in the house.  God has never left my family hungry and He has blessed me to be able to have an appetite. This can be a two-edged sword for me but I have seen people who wanted to eat not be able to and I am thankful that God has blessed me to not have to go through that to this present time.  Pray that I can gain control, through God's help, of my addiction to eating too much. 

Gratitude Week 4

Sometimes you just have to decide to have a better attitude.  I have been in and am still in a funk.  I have decided I am going to try to be in a better mood.  Sunday night I got to attend church service and I really needed it.  Circumstances have worked out that I had not gotten to go to church very often in the past 5 weeks.  My care givers or their families have been sick or I have been sick and I think I went to church twice in 5 weeks.  I hate missing church.  I try to attend at least two services a week and I think this has contributed to my being down.  It is such an uplift to go to church and hear a sermon. Sometimes, like Sunday night, they are especially for you and other times you can see them touching others lives or preparing us for what's to come. Bro. Curtis came to my house last week and fixed my wheelchair. I had worried about it for a while because if I take it in to be serviced they usually want to keep it and I don't have any way of doing my normal everyday activities like cooking or washing clothes or dishes. I was without it for a while last year and it was horrible.  Devin's aunt passed away Sunday and it really made me realize how short life is.  She was only in her late 50's or early 60's but had had numerous illnesses.  So please remember her family when you pray.  I am grateful for the following this week:

1.  Brothers who will help you when you are in need and who follow the leading they get from God, Thank you to Bro. Curtis

2.  Getting to attend church, I really needed it and Bro. Jason really touched my heart and helped me on my journey Sunday night.

3.  For my life, sometimes I take for granted actually being alive.  I have often heard ministers talk about how God let's us have life.  They ask everyone to move their pinky finger and say God let us do that.  It's easy to forget how precious life is.

I hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful week and please remember me and my family when you pray.