Being Thankful

I just read a blog on Contentment, and how the key to that is being thankful.
I totally agree with that.

It's easy to be thankful when wonderful things happen in your life, like having a new grand baby, and that your family lives close and you get to see them all the time.

But what about when you have lost someone? Can you be thankful?

My husband's Mom, and my Mom for 40 years, went to be with the Lord earlier this month.
This is a very sad and hard time for us, and, mixed with the joy of a new grand daughter, very confusing too. We are happy one minute, and sad the next. Under the joy is always the feeling of sorrow, and the loss sometimes lessened a bit with the joy of new life.

So, what can we be thankful for?

We can thank the Lord she lived to be 91, and for most of those years was in good health.
We are thankful for Scott's brother and his wife who have had Mom live in their home for 15 years, and have cared for her so lovingly the past couple of years since she began to decline.
We are grateful she was able to have her last days in her own room, her own surroundings, with family near, even though it did not seem she knew who they were or where she was at times.
We are thankful that she did not suffer long with the fear, anxiety, and paranoia that the dementia caused in her, and that her passing was peaceful and in her sleep.

I'm glad my husband saw her at Thanksgiving. He walked with her, sat with her, fed her, and was able to give Ron and Kathy a break they really needed.

I am grateful that I have grown to understand Scott enough to know how to support him through this period of grieving. To give him space to process, but be available when he needs me.
That he needs time to be alone, and time to be together. That sometimes he needs to fill his mind with busyness to get through that moment. And that those moments may come and go for a long time.
I'm grateful that he is including me in his grief, and not shutting me out, which he might have done a few years ago, and that he holds me and lets me cry when i feel overwhelmed by it all.

Most of all I'm grateful for a God who knows us and understands us, better than we know ourselves. A God who hears us when we cry out to Him, and even hears us when we don't.
A God who sustains us through our grief, and promises to turn our sadness into dancing again.
And a God who has welcomed Mom into His loving arms, and has given her peace.

Thank you for letting me share with you, my friends and family, and for all your prayers and support through this time.

We leave Christmas Day for the drive to San Diego for the Memorial planned for Mom.
Please pray for safety, and that the Lord will use us to share His love and message with others.

Blessings on your day.