2010 May 26 | Beneath My Heart

Hello, ladies.

I apologize for being late with my Wednesday with Wanda post today, but both my computer and laptop were not working last night or this morning.

I called my internet provider, and we finally got things figured out! :) Whew!

Today I wanted to share with you a post I wrote about my mom on another blog in January. I was trying to win a ticket to the Blissdom conference and many of you stopped by that blog to vote for me. Thank you!

It was a HUGE blessing in my life.

But I feel there are many of you who didn’t have the chance to read it, so I wanted to share it with you too. :)

Here it is…

Count Your Blessings

Sometimes we think that our greatest influence on others will come in the way we live our lives. But for me, the greatest influence I have ever had on my life was in the way that someone died.

That someone was my mom.

In August of 2009, my mom was diagnosed with Stage IV gastric cancer. It was the most difficult situation I had ever faced in my life. I wanted to be angry with God. How could He do this to my mom and my family?

Mom told me that she didn’t understand why God was allowing this cancer into her life, but she trusted Him. She said that despite our circumstances, we needed to be looking for the blessings God had in store for us.

So that’s what we did.

For the seven short weeks that Mom lived after her diagnosis, we counted our blessings every day.

I remember a time when Mom was lying in her bed. Her legs were swollen 3 times their normal size. She was unable to sit up or stand on her own. She had lost over 20 pounds and could barely eat. The cancer was winning the battle. She looked at me and said, “I feel so blessed.” I said, “Mom, you are lying there with cancer throughout your whole body, how can you say that?” Her response? “Well, I could be writhing in pain, and I’m not. Some people with cancer are in a lot more pain. So I am thankful that I’m not.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. She felt blessed? Mom continually found blessings through the most difficult days of her life.

(Dad’s birthday, Sept. 4th, 18 days before Mom passed away.)

If the sun was shining on the way to a doctor’s appointment, Mom would look at us with a smile and say, “Blessings!”

If someone brought us food to eat that evening, Mom would smile and say, “Blessings!”

When money was given to help with medical bills, Mom would say, “Blessings!”

If she could taste her food better that day or maybe eat more than usual, she would say, “Blessings!”

There wasn’t an hour of the day that went by that I didn’t hear my mom say, “Blessings!”

Do you know what it feels like to be covered in God’s blessings all day long? I do.

The fact is…we are all covered in God’s blessings everyday of our lives. Oftentimes, we simply do not take the time to recognize them.

It took Mom’s illness for me to realize it.

She told me one day in the kitchen that she had lived her whole life trying to teach us kids how to live for Christ, and now it was her time to teach us how to die for Christ.

Mom’s example in dying changed my life forever!

Now I try to live each day to the fullest by counting the simple blessings that God has given me.

When I am standing in a long line at the grocery store….

I thank God for the legs on which I have to stand.

When I am overwhelmed by loads of laundry….

I thank God for a house full of loved ones who wear those clothes.

When I am frustrated when I don’t get what I want…

I thank God that I have all that I need.

And when the overwhelming pain of missing my mother wells up inside of me…

I thank God for the promise that I will see her again.

What a blessing!