Saturday

A Simple Thank You

The other day my youngest son said a genuine, unprompted, heart-felt thank you to me. I don't really remember what it was for. I think I helped him put his seat belt on (He has a broken arm). Anyway, his thank you really stuck out to me. There is so much that I happily do for him day in and day out...cooking, cleaning, endless loads of laundry so he can wear his favorite pair of shorts, praying away bad dreams in the middle of the night, running forgotten homework and lunches to school. I do it all because I love him, not for a thank you. BUT when a thank you comes and it's from his own little heart, it means the WORLD to me. It draws me closer and fills my heart with joy.

His thank you made me think of the Lord and our adoption process. You see, I seem to always be doing battle with the Lord... "God, please help the Congress vote for a grandfather clause. God, please bring Isabella home before the laws change." You know, prayers like that. I think those prayers are good and necessary. However, I was reminded by my little seven year old that a "thank you" once in a while sure is a breath of fresh air. Instead of only "battle prayers" today I changed it to a time of "thank you's". I took time to thank God for many things that I have been neglecting to thank him for because I have been so focused on the fight. I thanked him for helping us through the maze of paperwork putting together a home study and dossier in 2 1/2 weeks, for our 171H before I lost my mind, for Isabella... she is our sunshine, that God saved her life before she came to the hogar, for her birth mom's sacrifice of love, for a daughter that I have been praying for my whole life, Family Court approval and DNA, opportunities to travel to visit her, hope that she WILL come home, the money for her adoption when we didn't know where it was going to come from. I have so much to thank Him for! And you know what? After I prayed those prayers I got the most wonderful, unexpected feeling that a weight was lifted off of my chest. That's the only way I can describe it.

As my son's heart-felt thank you meant so much, I hope that I brought joy to my Father's heart today thanking Him for all that He has done for me.

Esther 9:22, "Their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration."

4 comments:

The gFamily said...

WOW! I loved that! Thank you for reminding me to say thank you! As we leave Gillian today, I need to tell the Lord, "Thank you for our time together!"

jajbs said...

such a great reminder!!!


He is a good God!


amanda

Gail said...

Those are great words of wisdom. Thanks for reminding me too.
Gail

Amanda said...

You couldn't be more right. The prayers from fear of losing our children have been running frequently from my heart recently. Thank you for reminding me of the many, many blessings our Father gives us every day.

God bless!
Amanda