2 Truths to be Thankful for this Thanksgiving
Every morning before we start our homeschool day, the kids and I have “worship”. Our worship looks like this: the four of us gather together, often times on the floor. Sometimes my husband Ryan is able to join us, so then there’s five of us. I will read a short devotional thought that’s geared for kids. Then we each take turns sharing our prayer requests and at least one praise (or something we are thankful for). I write the requests and praises down so that nothing is forgotten when we pray. I also write them down so that we can look back days or weeks later and notice how God is at work. It does our hearts a lot of good to reflect on answered prayers. Once all the requests and praises are written down, we pray. I’m usually the one who does the praying, but yesterday I asked each of the kids to take turns praying. I asked the kids to talk to God about one of their requests and share at least one praise, before I took my turn going over our long list.
There’s something really humbling and often inspiring about a child’s pure faith. Listening to my kids pray gives me a small glimpse into their big hearts and growing minds. Yesterday, Jabel’s praise went like this, “Jesus, thank you for the 1400 days that we had with Theo…”
He’s heard me say those words several times since Theodore went to sleep in Jesus on January 30th of this year. Jabel often thanks the Lord for Theo and he prays even more for Jesus’ return so that we can be reunited with Theo. But I’ve never heard him thank God for the number of days that we got to enjoy Theodore. Hearing his sincere words were both heart warming and heart shattering all at the same time. My kids are truly thankful for the time that we had Theodore while simultaneously aching for the time we don’t get with him on this Earth.
Psalm 90:12 (NIV) says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” I hate how wise Jabel and his siblings are at the ages of 6, 9 and 5. They already understand (at varying degrees) that each day is a gift. As much as I hate what they’ve had to grow through to have that knowledge, I am also thankful they have such wisdom.
Every day at least one of my children prays about Jesus’ second coming and being reunited with Theodore. My kids already have a hope beyond the grave and they already intimately know Jesus’ name. What more could I ask for as a mom? Rhetorical question. I can think of a lot of things too, but ultimately their child like faith is what is most important!
Victory over death is ours because of Jesus! I Corinthians 15:57 (NKJV) says, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. The first Thanksgiving without Theo. Lord willing we will be surrounded by family. I will subconsciously look and long for our precious Theodore in the beautiful chaos of lots of people, even though my brain also knows he’s resting in peace. Ultimately my thankfulness will be distilled down to two truths:
I am thankful for the wisdom in numbering our days. I am thankful for the number of days each of my loved ones have been given. I am thankful for another day of life.
I am thankful Jesus conquered death and the hope we have in Him. I am thankful we have hope in a day that is coming when we will no longer count our days.
What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?
God is love,
Vanessa
PS. If this is your first Thanksgiving without a loved one, please know that I feel your pain and you are in my prayers. If that loved one happens to be your child, I am especially sorry for the pain you carry every day, not just on holidays. Please feel free to reach out.