Rejoicing though far apart on Thanksgiving!
November 23, 2016
Thankfulness in separation, Thanksgiving - Long Distance, Uncategorized across the miles, fiery dart, missionary families, pumpkin pie, thanksgiving, video chat Leave a comment
This is the day the Lord has made;
Finding thankfulness in separation
November 30, 2015
Thankfulness in separation, Uncategorized celebrate, family, fiery darts, focus, Matthew 14:22-33, sacrificially obedient, thankful for blessings, thanksgiving Leave a comment
The Thanksgiving holidays typically presents a challenge for me and my family! While this year we celebrated in full by traveling to the Smokey Mountains with our 3 daughters and their families to our favorite resort that boast of an indoor (which our grandchildren stormed) waterpark, it was never far from our minds that 4 of our members were missing–our son, his wife and their two sons.
However, my son, by the grace of God, was able to connect with all of us via a phone call, catching up with us at the restaurant where we met for breakfast after checking out of our hotel. Yet I found myself feeling guilty as I began describing what a wonderful time we were having, as if we had no right to be enjoying ourselves so much when he and his family couldn’t be there to join in. It’s kind of a tricky emotional balance to celebrate Thanksgiving enjoying the presence of my daughters and their families while grieving the absence of their brother and his family.
While sitting out on the balcony of our room one morning, I contemplated the blessing of celebrating Thanksgiving with my 3 daughters, 3 sons in law, and 8 grandchildren as close as an arm’s reach from me! But how could I be thankful that thousands of miles separated me from my son, daughter in law, and 2 of my grandsons.
Then God brought this to my mind.
“Consider the love your son has for Me. It is deep and consuming. It is the kind of love that motivates and empowers him to make the sacrifices and live the life to which I have called him. Likewise, it is the kind of love for Me shared by all of you, that enables you to release him to his calling and make the sacrifices required during this particular time of the year.”
For sure, I wrestled on and off with the temptation (I call them fiery darts) to focus more on the reasons I had to be downcast than on the reasons I had to be thankful. Remember the account in the Bible where Peter, one of the 12 disciples, almost drowned during a storm at sea when he took his eyes off Jesus and began focusing on the storm (Matthew 14:22-33)?
So for me it was a matter of where I placed my focus. My family’s love for God and their willingness to be sacrificially obedient to Him was the focus I needed if I was to celebrate Thanksgiving with a ‘thankful’ heart. It wasn’t a focus that ignored the sadness that I felt in being separated from my son but one that comforted and strengthened me in that sadness without diminishing the joy I felt as I celebrated Thanksgiving with those around me.
Thanking God for Our Brand New Grandson!
November 23, 2012
Thanksgiving - Long Distance, Uncategorized sharing, thanksgiving, video chatting Leave a comment
The long awaited moment has finally arrived and not without a few surprises. I suppose the most dramatic one is that due to my son’s attendance at a language coach training 13 hours from his wife and baby, he sadly missed my grandson’s grand entrance by 2 hours. THIS WAS NOT THE PLAN! For he was a first baby for my daughter-in-law and everybody knows they are always late (at least most of them are) but someone forgot to tell my grandson! For as my son set out for home, his son decided he couldn’t wait and labor began in earnest for my daughter-in-law! She sent out an urgent prayer request and thousands of people were praying, “God please slow this birth down so his daddy can get there in time!” But alas, as we all know, God works according to His timetable and my grandson would not be slowed down. Two hours after he was born, my son rushed into the hospital where his wife and newborn son awaited him!
Sometimes God does things that I’m sure if we could see the bigger picture we would understand but with our limited viewpoint on such things, it was quite disappointing when the news trickled in that my son was shy 2 hours in arriving at the hospital. There was nothing to do but accept the situation–after all, it is what it is! And move on!
Today was Thanksgiving and our 3 daughters (one came from 15 hours away) were here to celebrate it with us (my cup runneth over) and thanks to technology, our son joined us. At one time, my husband held the computer and walked all through the house showing our son how things looked and then proceeded to the front porch and back deck to show him how the farm looked. Kinda silly, I know, but for us it was a magical moment–sharing home with each other. I missed it when our son showed his dad ,his place, but that’s okay. I had seen my son holding our brand spanking new grandson, and I was pleased with that. You gotta realize that baby was an ocean away and were it not for this technology I would not have been able to imagine (no matter how hard I tried) what he sounded like! Oh yeah, I heard him crying and for this grandma that was music to my ears.
When my son moves his little family back to their home in the village where they live, then video chats will be sparse for they don’t have good internet access there. That’s going to be hard but depending on God to help us with that. (Praying God will see fit to provide high speed internet somehow and someway so I can watch my little one as he grows!)
I told someone a few days ago, that when God calls you to do hard things then He builds in special comforts of blessing for you. Ours today was video chatting with our son and daughter-in-law and sharing this Thanksgiving Day with our 3 daughters and their families. We were all together and even if we weren’t all together under the same roof, we made some sweet memories nevertheless.