Lucky

Okay, I really don't like that word and I certainly don't believe in luck. But it seems fitting.  I could have said blessed, but to me that word seems almost more unreal than lucky ... it's just so overused in my book.

Yes, I am blessed.  But if I say that would those reading this really get that I mean that?  I don't know.  I just feel like lucky jumps out and grabs attention more than blessed.  So I titled this post lucky because I wanted to get your attention and now that I have it, I'll say that I am blessed.  Why?  Because year after year for almost a decade, I've sent my husband, a soldier, off to 8 countries (at least quickly that is what I come up with) on various missions and year after year for almost a decade, he's come home to me with not so much as a scratch on his body.  Also, I am blessed because God has preserved his mind and his spirit from so much time spent in difficult environments.

Today I woke up feeling blessed because despite what we were originally told, we were granted R&R and Richard will be home for Christmas.  While we did get to see him several times between the time he moved away from us in April until the time he deployed in September, it has still been 8 months since we shared a life together as a family.  It will be so nice to have a little bit of refreshment in our life as we face the remaining 8 months without him.  So yes, I woke up today feeling very blessed to have this gift.  But by early morning, the depth to which I felt blessed deepened.

This morning I received a note from a dear friend of mine with whom I worked in college.  After I graduated and married and moved away we kept in touch, but soon lost touch with each other for about 5 or 6 years.  Then one day I get an email from her.  I was thrilled.  Her brother was visiting her as he was getting ready to deploy to Iraq.  Since he was in the military, she asked him if there was any way he could find out Richard's email address so that she could link back up with me.  Low and behold, he was able to find out Richard's email and we were connected.  I'll never forget just a months after that I get an email with the subject line, "Please pray."  Oh how I did not want to open that email.  I knew.  I just knew what it contained.

Today she sent me a note and asked for prayer for her family as the ending of the war in Iraq just caught them off guard in opening the wounds of her brother's death almost 8 years ago.

So, the word lucky ... yeah, that was the word that jumped out in my mind.  To me it just meant that the depth of my blessings was so much greater than I remember it to be sometimes and always greater than I could ever deserve.

May we ... may I never forget the gift of life.  And may we all remember those who sacrificed theirs so that we could have ours.

And again, if you see a Veteran, tell them thank you.  Please make it a point in your life to acknowledge those who serve.  It means so much.

Praying for April and her family and for her brother's widow and four children tonight.

I am so thankful she sent me a note today.  I am thankful that she can open up to me.  I am thankful that I can reassure her that they are not forgotten.  It is an honor to pray for them all, and it's what God calls us to do.

So thankful for Jesus tonight, too.  Thinking of his birth and how he came to redeem the world.  We have hope in his birth, encouragement in his life and comfort in his words.

Looking forward to tomorrow.  What a priceless gift to be able to see my most favorite person face to face and to be scooped up into his arms.  Our girls have missed him so very much, too.  I am so thankful that their hurt will momentarily stop for the next 14 days.

As I've said before, our cup over-floweth.
I pray not a second goes by during his visit that I don't remember that.

To God be the Glory.