I am thankful for technology. without it I could not be listening to Laura Story sharing part of her story and singing...
I am thankful for the fact that I have friends I love enough to miss them, they are on that cruise..
I am thankful that I have met them all on a cruise just like that..
I am thankful that during the last 6 years I have been on 3 cruises like this..
time spent with like minded Christ Followers, each time spending a week of praising our Father in Heaven, learning about Him
I am thankful that in all the trials and tribulations God teaches us so much more than just learning to trust Him
He teaches us how much He loves us..
He shows us how much He cares,
that He alone is in control and that what He has for us is the best..
even if we might not be able to see it so clearly at times..
a few months ago, when the time came to pay the balance for this trip I needed to make a decision.
my mother was slowly but very surely dying from cancer and the fact that she lived in Switzerland and I lived 6,000km ( 3,728.227 miles ) away on a different continent just made it so inexcusable to spend this kind of money on a trip so frivolous.. I needed to spend my money on going to see my mother and, I needed to be available at any given time to rush to her...
not even a month later the unimaginable, unbearable happened.. my mother passed away, expected yet horribly sudden, too late to get a few days with her while on this earth, we still had to rush over there to be with family and to honor her...
we had been praying for God to have mercy on her and God was merciful... He took her and spared her more suffering ... I am holding on to that when the waves of grief still overwhelm...
not being on that cruise this week still is a hard thing to do...
but again, I am thankful
thankful that I could instead have been tending to family for the last 10 days
thankful to be home with my husband who is such a pillar of strength for me
thankful that, as with my mother passing, there is now new opportunity to be transformed..
to be content in all circumstances.
to not be jealous but to rejoice with those that are rejoicing.
to take feelings and thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ and to allow Him to change me
I wish I was there, but God had a different plan
His plans are not only to not harm me but to prosper me, to give me hope and a future, they are the very best, it's actually a no brainer.
we did not know the timing of it all.
He did.
time spent with my daughters who I am missing so and who miss me..
time spent with my father, who having lost his wife, bowed his knees before Christ just 4 weeks ago
time spent with other family members trying to help navigate new territory
reconnecting with friends who needed encouragement and who encouraged me.
so, long story short.
God never wastes one second of our lives.
He always is faithful to mold us and shape us,
to make us more like Himself..
often through taking away,
always through blessing us.
there is strength within the sorrow
there is beauty in our tears
and You meet us in our mourning
with a love that casts out fear
You are working in our waiting
You are sanctifying us
when beyond our understanding
You're teaching us to trust
Your plans are still to prosper
You have not forgotten us
You're with us in the fire and the flood
You're faithful forever
perfect in love
You are SOVEREIGN over us...
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