So Much to be Thankful For!

We should count our blessings all year round, right? Well, I do that, most often at night during my prayers. I thank God for all the wonderful (and not so wonderful) things and people in my life. But Thanksgiving is the perfect time to let everyone else know what we're thankful for. This year I have a little something extra to appreciate. My mom is not a sickly, older person. She's young and relatively healthy. So when she got sick a few weeks ago, we didn't think much about it. She stayed in bed for two full days, I'd go by a few times a day and check in on her. She seemed to be getting better. But on day three when she went to the doctor, she started having trouble breathing. By day four, she could barely inhale at all. My brother took her to the emergency room. I met them there. She was ok while sitting very still. But to even walk a few steps wiped her out and she'd start coughing uncontrollably. She had gone downhill so fast. I didn't even recognize this woman, she looked so frail and sick. As we expected (although it seemed to take her by surprise) doctors admitted her to the hospital. We thought, "Ok, she'll get better really quickly now." On day two in the hospital, doctors said she had double pneumonia (a rare form) and acute respiratory distress syndrome. They told us her lungs were gettting worse and they were moving her to ICU. One of her doctors pulled me aside that day and told me, "This is very serious, there's a chance she might not pull out of this." "WHAT???" I'm thinking in my head. I knew by listening to the doctors talk about her condition that it wasn't good, but I had no idea that I could lose her. I panicked! Why did he have to tell me all this when I'm all by myself?! I knew there were questions I should be asking and I only managed to get a few out. I immediately had to walk back in to her room and act normal. I didn't know how much I should tell her. I figured she was too weak to deal with all that reality, so I kept it inside, fighting back tears, till I left and could call other family members. I realized very quickly, I was not ready to be without my mom. I expected her to be with me for at least 30 more years. The doctors told us the next two days would be critical. They said, she'd start getting better, or she'd get worse. They said if she got worse, they'd have to put in a breathing tube, she would, at that point, be unconscious. And if things continued to go downhill, she might never regain consciousness. They even said at some point we might have to make a decision whether to continue life support or not. Needless to say, we all did a lot of praying of that weekend. Prayer warriors all over the state and country were asked to remember her in their prayers. Now we can say with thankful hearts that prayer does work! She started getting a little better that weekend. After a week in ICU, she was moved back to a regular room, then after a few more days she was sent home....just two days before Thanksgiving! Wow, what a Thanksgiving we had.

It's true...you can't truly appreciate someone until you think you might lose them. That's why now at night in my prayers, I thank God not only for healing my mother, but also for the trials that make me realize how blessed I am. It's not easy to be thankful for tough times when you're in them, but they make the happy times that much sweeter. Things could've turned out much differently for my mom. And if I'd lost her I'm not so sure I'd be able to say that. But she's ok, and I'm gonna be thankful for that every day!