Thanksgiving is a time of year that we pause on purpose to reflect on our lives. This year my reflections have taken me back to look over the last decade of my life and WOW! I am really overwhelmed with gratitude when I think of how gracious God has been through this season. I am so thankful for God’s goodness unto me, personally. As I pondered my thoughts, most of my blessings were in these three areas…my mind, my marriage and my provisions.
#1 God has sustained my mental health. Ten years ago, a normal day included being a wife, a homeschool mom to 8 of our (ten) children and assisting my husband with his computer repair business. Unto today, my daily life and my daily responsibilities as a woman, wife, homeschool mom, MawMaw and entrepreneur have not been without incident. Along this journey there have been days when I was in despair, frustrated and overwhelmed. Quite frankly, it is a lot. Yet, by His grace I proceed through my days hopeful and faithful as I serve Him and others. I hold on to Him, his Word and his promises because know that I am incapable of managing my life without Him. He is my rock and my firm foundation. He alone is keeping me in my right mind and for that I am thankful.
#2 God has blessed our marriage! As we celebrated our twenty eighth anniversary this year, I was overwhelmed with thanksgiving because I realized I broke a generational curse of severed marriages in my family. Walter and I have remained committed to each other and committed to the covenant we made with God. We continue to pursue a respectful, relational marriage as well as identify and overcome obstacles (which unfortunately have been ourselves at times). To draw us nearer to one another, we have established time alone for at least thirty minutes each week day to talk, to touch and to embrace one another intimately. We have also consistently had a weekly date night (at home), for the past twenty-three years. These habits have been key to not only sustaining our relationship, but they have been key to us learning and growing individually and as “one flesh” by God’s grace and mercy.
#3 God has provided for us abundantly! Wow, there have been so many ways that God has provided for us as a family of twelve as we proceeded through this last decade. There were times when we did not know HOW or WHEN, through WHO or with WHAT, that our need would be met, but He did. This year was the tenth anniversary of our house fire. From such a tragic incident the Lord blessed our family in ways that we never imagined. He exceeded our greatest expectations then and He has continued to provide for us abundantly allowing us to care well for ourselves and to share and provide for others.
God’s blessings have been so abundant unto me over this last decade! I am humbled and so grateful because His love for me is not at all merited, but granted by His grace.
Fruit of Her Hand 