A Heart of Thanksgiving...

Hey everyone! I hope that all of you have been well and that your Thanksgiving week has started off well. God has really started my week off well.

We took Judah to church for the first time today and I took a picture of us as we headed off to church.I am not sure exactly how to put into words the thoughts that have been going around my head since yesterday; I hope that I can explain it clearly. Yesterday morning at church our pastor preached about the raising of Lazearus from the dead and thanksgiving. The main idea of the message was about giving thanks in the good and the bad times, which isn't really a new idea. However, as my DH and I went forward communion while holding Judah, I became overcome with thankfulness to God. We knelt at the alter as we had done so many times before. Following the miscarriage, we had prayed and asked God to heal our hurting hearts. In the two years of infertility that followed, we prayed that God would bless us with a child. From February to October, we prayed that God would keep "the baby" healthy. Yesterday as we knelt down, all we could say were thank yous to the Lord for answering our prayers and giving us the blessing of Judah.

Yesterday, different aspects of the last few years went through my mind. I remembered so many tear filled prayers that were filled with request for peace for my anxious heart whether it was from worrying about whether we would ever have children or if our second pregnancy would end as the first. All along, God has been there. So today, I thank Him for the miscarriage, the anxiousness of trying to get pregnant, and the worry of the nine months I was pregnant, because without them I wouldn't know what it means to cling to God's promise that He will be there with me providing me with His perfect peace and when I look at Judah, I don't know that I would understand exactly how much of a blessing he is to our lives.

Thank you Lord for your abundant blessings!