I hope you've had a wonderful Thanksgiving week! It's easy to be thankful when everything seems to be going smoothly and exactly as you have planned, when life is going your way. But what about the unexpected, the times when nothing goes as planned?
I have a friend who is pregnant with her third child. With all of the expected excitement that comes along with this good news, she also received some unexpected bad news. She has cancer. My friend started her Thanksgiving week in the hospital for the first stage of treatment: surgery. I wish more than anything that she could have been at home with her kids and husband, preparing to host a big Thanksgiving celebration. I wish she never had to go through this, and I will never understand why this had to happen. But as JJ and I prayed with her and her family on Monday morning just prior to surgery, I was thankful for the unexpected opportunity to see God work even through her illness. She has already inspired so many people through her faith and the way she is trusting God to restore her health. We truly believe that she will be healed and that she will have an amazing story of a Thanksgiving miracle to share with that baby someday!
At 2am on Tuesday morning, we heard an unexpected knock on our front door. Startled out of sleep, we jumped out of bed to find one of my college girlfriends, her husband, and their baby on our doorstep. Traveling from their home in Pennsylvania to a Thanksgiving celebration in Alabama, they had gotten caught in a West Virginia snowstorm. They were weary travelers, looking for a welcoming place to stay the night, and they knew just where to go. We hadn't seen them in over a year, and it was our first time to meet their baby. We were so thankful for this unexpected visit!
I worked at the hospital on Thanksgiving Day, which left JJ at home preparing our meal (did I mention that I got the good end of the deal?!) I came home to find a delicious feast that incorporated our favorite traditional family recipes. We were privileged to host a family of 5 for our turkey dinner, since our little family of 2 would have been eating leftovers for DAYS. This sweet family consists of our friend, a single mother, who is raising her 3 boys in addition to her sister. This family has not lived an easy life, and they have faced many unexpected twists and turns along the way. But the ways that they love and take care of each other is awe-inspiring. We were so blessed by their visit, and they definitely showed us just what it means to be thankful.
On Friday, I had the day off and was looking forward to a relaxing pedicure instead of joining the Black Friday shopping madness. I took a stack of envelopes into the nail salon so that I could start addressing Christmas cards while my feet got pampered. I also took along a book, hoping I could slip away into good read. I quickly realized that neither of these would be happening, as the man giving my feet the royal treatment was a TALKER. Despite his broken English, he insisted on carrying on a conversation and preventing me from escaping into my book. I finally gave up on my personal expectations and began asking him about his life. What I learned was far more intriguing than anything I had brought to do - this young man came to the US as a refugee from Vietnam. He and his family had escaped persecution in his home country and traveled through the jungle into Cambodia, where they lived in a refugee camp for a year, barely surviving on little to no food. He prayed daily that if God had a plan for his life, that he would save him from his miserable existence. God answered his prayer and provided a way for him to move to the U.S. He shared stories of how God spared his life, reunited his family, and healed his father's cancer. His joy was contagious, and he was so thankful for life that he couldn't possibly work in silence - he simply had to share these unexpected answers to his prayers!
You know the saying, "Expect the unexpected." Many times this is shared as a warning, a precautionary measure. But from now on, I think I just might hope for the unexpected. It is the unexpected that brings thankfulness in ways that...well, in ways that I never would have expected!
In grateful (un)expectation,
-L
I have a friend who is pregnant with her third child. With all of the expected excitement that comes along with this good news, she also received some unexpected bad news. She has cancer. My friend started her Thanksgiving week in the hospital for the first stage of treatment: surgery. I wish more than anything that she could have been at home with her kids and husband, preparing to host a big Thanksgiving celebration. I wish she never had to go through this, and I will never understand why this had to happen. But as JJ and I prayed with her and her family on Monday morning just prior to surgery, I was thankful for the unexpected opportunity to see God work even through her illness. She has already inspired so many people through her faith and the way she is trusting God to restore her health. We truly believe that she will be healed and that she will have an amazing story of a Thanksgiving miracle to share with that baby someday!
At 2am on Tuesday morning, we heard an unexpected knock on our front door. Startled out of sleep, we jumped out of bed to find one of my college girlfriends, her husband, and their baby on our doorstep. Traveling from their home in Pennsylvania to a Thanksgiving celebration in Alabama, they had gotten caught in a West Virginia snowstorm. They were weary travelers, looking for a welcoming place to stay the night, and they knew just where to go. We hadn't seen them in over a year, and it was our first time to meet their baby. We were so thankful for this unexpected visit!
I worked at the hospital on Thanksgiving Day, which left JJ at home preparing our meal (did I mention that I got the good end of the deal?!) I came home to find a delicious feast that incorporated our favorite traditional family recipes. We were privileged to host a family of 5 for our turkey dinner, since our little family of 2 would have been eating leftovers for DAYS. This sweet family consists of our friend, a single mother, who is raising her 3 boys in addition to her sister. This family has not lived an easy life, and they have faced many unexpected twists and turns along the way. But the ways that they love and take care of each other is awe-inspiring. We were so blessed by their visit, and they definitely showed us just what it means to be thankful.
On Friday, I had the day off and was looking forward to a relaxing pedicure instead of joining the Black Friday shopping madness. I took a stack of envelopes into the nail salon so that I could start addressing Christmas cards while my feet got pampered. I also took along a book, hoping I could slip away into good read. I quickly realized that neither of these would be happening, as the man giving my feet the royal treatment was a TALKER. Despite his broken English, he insisted on carrying on a conversation and preventing me from escaping into my book. I finally gave up on my personal expectations and began asking him about his life. What I learned was far more intriguing than anything I had brought to do - this young man came to the US as a refugee from Vietnam. He and his family had escaped persecution in his home country and traveled through the jungle into Cambodia, where they lived in a refugee camp for a year, barely surviving on little to no food. He prayed daily that if God had a plan for his life, that he would save him from his miserable existence. God answered his prayer and provided a way for him to move to the U.S. He shared stories of how God spared his life, reunited his family, and healed his father's cancer. His joy was contagious, and he was so thankful for life that he couldn't possibly work in silence - he simply had to share these unexpected answers to his prayers!
You know the saying, "Expect the unexpected." Many times this is shared as a warning, a precautionary measure. But from now on, I think I just might hope for the unexpected. It is the unexpected that brings thankfulness in ways that...well, in ways that I never would have expected!
 |
| Is it a sign of a successful Thanksgiving celebration when one of your guests cries because he doesn't want to leave? |
In grateful (un)expectation,
-L
Love this!
ReplyDelete