Thankful....

I have said it a million times before, and I will say it again: I am blessed, blessed BLESSED! It never ceases to amaze me, how my Heavenly Father takes care of me every step of the way. Every time I turn around he is showing me how much he loves me. This weekend was no exception.

I had the most wonderful weekend. And it was very much needed--those of you who had spoken with me this past week know that it was a pretty bad week, as weeks go. So many things went wrong and on top of it all, I was coming to grips with some emotions and problems that I am facing personally, in the wake of my chronic illness. I spent the evenings of Thursday and Friday in tears and prayer.

God answers prayer in so many wonderful ways. In the midst of all the soul-searching and emotional pain I was dealing with, God just reached out with others' hands and wrapped his arms around me through them.

The first thing that happened was that I received a lovely gift from a friend of mine across the country. I read the card and cried--it said the sweetest, kindest most uplifting things about me. That in itself raised my spirits right there.

But God did not stop there...

My parents surprised me by coming up to spend the weekend with us. My Mom said that she knew I had been feeling terrible over the last few weeks and that I've not been able to do much in the housework department. Here lately, if the dishes are done and the kids' toys are picked up, that's a "good" day around here. LOL But bless her, the woman just took over and helped me clean my entire house from top to bottom. She even scrubbed crayon off the walls where the kids had decided to show their artistic talents and re-organized my pantry for me. She was SUCH a HUGE help to me and it made me feel SO much better. I had been feeling pretty badly lately about not being able to do much around the house and all of this "catch-up" work had really been weighing heavily on me. Suddenly, here it was, all done.

On Saturday, my sister-in-law and her family paid us a surprise visit in which they brought us several great big boxes of food. There was just a ton of stuff, and we had to re-arrange the pantry just to fit it all. It came at just the perfect time...Nick's schedules have been somewhat lacking lately and that just all but filled our need for groceries over the next couple of weeks.

I went out to the porch with my Mother and she gave me some gifts the Great-Grandparents had sent for the children--there were some new outfits, books, stickers and some toys. We were talking about the food and the impeccable timing when I heard a noise. It sounded like a lawnmower, but it was REALLY close. I walked around to the side of the house and there was my next door neighbor, riding her lawnmower through my yard, her kids walking along behind her. I literally burst into tears.

Let me back up here for just a minute and explain why I was so touched by this. We have had the WORST luck when it comes to our yard, this year. The weather and Nick's schedule seem to be clashing horridly--if he's off, it's raining and he can't mow; if it's sunny and nice, he's gone on the road at work. I would love to just mow it myself, but I cannot do it. Last summer, in an effort to "help Nick out since he was gone", I mowed the yard--and I ended up in the ER. I had a SEVERE reaction to the grass--trouble breathing, hives from head to toe and my lips swelled up. I also had a strange skin reaction to the sun--this was actually the "event" that started us on the crazy "auto-immune" roller-coaster. So, yeah, mowing for me is OUT. LOL

Well, fast-forward to a few weeks ago and Nick FINALLY has a day off where it's actually sunny. He got about half the yard done and the mower broke. Ha, just what we needed! He had a friend who had a riding mower that needed a new battery, so he offered to help fix it in exchange for borrowing the mower. The VERY AFTERNOON that they got it fixed, we had yet ANOTHER downpour. And once again, he was due back on the road early the next morning. So, the end result to all this--our yard looked BAD. Everything looked overgrown, the grass was close to a foot tall--or higher, maybe, LOL--BAD.

So back to Saturday evening--here comes my neighbor, on her riding mower. I started crying and went over and told her she didn't have to do that--Nick had actually made arrangements to borrow his friend's mower for the following day. She just smiled and said that God had laid me on her heart, and she knew he was gone on the road, and when he came back he would have only one day off and she wanted him to enjoy it with his family. I hugged her and cried and thanked her over and over again.

I sat down later after everyone was in bed and thought about all the different things that had happened--these gifts I had been given--and how very blessed I am. Even in the midst of all this pain and stress right now, I'm so very very blessed. And I am so thankful...SO, SO, SO, thankful for everything in my life.

My heart was (still is) so very full. I feel God's love all around me, coming through in the smallest of places. I don't deserve it, not one little bit, and yet he just continues to wrap me in that wonderful, peaceful, perfect love. And it never fails--he always seems to know just exactly when I need it the most. HE is SO GOOD. And I'll say it again--I am blessed, blessed, BLESSED! :-)


I tend to get inspired and creative whenever something affects me emotionally. So, sure enough, last night I had that "feeling". I sat down with my sewing/crafting stuff and this was the end result:

I gave it to my neighbor as a "Thank-You". I loved it so much though that I want to make one for myself now. LOL Maybe that will be my next tutorial... :-)


Blessings,

~Michelle