Flat on the Floor Grateful

This has been a season of life where we hardly caught our breath before something else happened. It began with a heart stent for Jerry last fall then proceeded to a diagnosis of bladder cancer a couple of months later. Then we both had pneumonia, and I had a tough time recovering. He had surgery for the cancer, which resulted in challenging complications … and then contracted covid. On the heels of that I was involved in an accident that left both wrists fractured, resulting in a long recovery. This fall, Jerry has gone through tests to make sure the cancer is at bay and is also being watched for another health challenge.

And yet, Jerry has hardly missed a beat in all his responsibilities, and I had a new book release this fall. Grace upon grace. We are also celebrating several milestones this year. Jerry is completing his fortieth year in ministry since the Lord called him from his law profession. I am twenty-five years cancer-free this past May and celebrated at a big surprise birthday party this summer with family, friends, and church family. Both of us are grateful to realize it is our forty-fifth year since our full surrender to the Lord (Amazingly, we didn’t even know each other at the time, but we’re within days of each other regarding that event in our lives). This fall, we were asked to share on Heritage Sunday at the church where we met all those years ago, and what a blessing that was.

We are grateful for our precious family who has been such a support to us this year. We are blessed by them all.

I woke up recently with a long list in my brain of what had to be done for Thanksgiving. In years past, I might have felt overwhelmed. Not this year. This year, I am face on the floor grateful that I can do these things, because just months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish a single thing of what lies before me.

It’s incredible how our perspective can shift.

“Amazing Grace” writer, John Newton once wrote in a letter to his friend William Wilberforce (the man whom God used to lead the charge to bring the Atlantic slave trade to an end), “If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer—His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.”

And y’all, that’s where we are. This year especially, we’ve lived that watchful eye, that sheltering arm, that listening ear, that abundant grace, and that powerful promise. And that’s why, this Thanksgiving our hearts overflow with gratitude even more than maybe they have in the past.

Maybe you feel the same, if so, we’ll all be gathering with especially grateful hearts. Or perhaps you’re in the thick of things and wondering if you’re going to make it to the other side. Remember God is with you in every way. Call out and still give thanks, for as a Bible teacher once said, “Thanksgiving often precedes the miracle.” Blessings, and may your Thanksgiving be full of His presence, friends.

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Psalm 34:8).

If you’re in the area, please join me for a book signing for A New Thing this Friday at Bird and Brass in downtown Watkinsville, Georgia from 11 to 4. I’d love to see you.