A Grateful Woman

I am sitting here on the couch in my jammies, Beanie snuggling right beside me, feeling a flood of gratitude for so many things. On the top of my list...

A community of Siestas who prayed like maniacs for me this weekend for the Life Today taping and God heard them. He restrained my cough and cold and did not let me feel achy and fluish like I had the previous few days. He gave me a terrific studio audience (including three of our darling Siestas!) made up of people who didn't just come to be part of a show. They came to be part of a move of God. Your prayers were practically palpable. I cannot thank you enough. The loved one in such bondage that AJ asked you to intercede for has not resurfaced yet but, considering the power of such prayer, I can't imagine that she is easily resisting an encounter with Christ.

A staff of some of the most exceptional women of God I have ever known in my life at Living Proof Ministries. They work hard without complaining. They are as different as night and day but as thick as blood. They are free to go anywhere and with anyone they want for workday lunch but most of the time, they choose to go together en mass. They are lavish in their love and support for one another, for me, and for the women they serve. They can talk a hundred miles an hour without a single word of gossip. Amazing. They are a rare breed. And all because they dig the Lord Jesus. Every single one of them is living proof that God's Word totally transforms lives and resets paths.

Two incredible daughters who inspire me and spill my life with unspeakable joy and each as much as the other. I became a mom 28 years ago this evening. I had only been married 9 months and 3 weeks and it was not going well. I was terrified and deeply troubled and trying to act like I had it all together. Then something not even as big as a good bass, as Keith used to say, interrupted everything. I have never been as disarmed in my life as I was when the labor and delivery nurse placed that seven pound three ounce newborn daughter on my chest. When we had our first minutes alone a few hours later, I carefully unwrapped her, studied her tiny little arms and legs, hands and feet, then baptized her in tears. I could not imagine how something so pure could have come from someone like me. My life changed dramatically 28 years ago. It would be a number of years before I'd trust Christ enough to break out of that prison cell of bondage I was in but, that day 28 years ago, a ray of sunlight came through the window that made me know a different life was out there...and worth fighting for.

A life worth you fighting for, too. And you don't have to have a baby to convince you. You could just take God at His Word. It can be considerably less painful.