As the holidays approach my emotions seem to get mixed like the potatoes I will devour on Thursday along with millions of others in this fine nation. I am incredibly grateful and eternally thankful for the wonderful life I have been given. It seems hard to convey it at times, yet I hope my life reflects it more than my words “say” it. From seeing poverty (real poverty, not a house with a big screen TV, a car, and a big belly) in third world countries, to the depravity of our inner cities, to the debacles that some relationships end up in, I feel like I’ve seen a lot of things that have driven me to true thankfulness.
It was three years ago on the day after Thanksgiving that our family experienced true, endearing thankfulness. We were hanging out at my good friends’ Jason and Leah West‘s house with my sister and her husband, good friend Sam Hassas and his wife and of course Ollie the yorkie for a Thanksgiving after-party. The food was awesome, the fellowship better and it was simply an enjoyable night with friends.
Eden was barely a year old at the time. She had been running a slight fever and not been feeling too well. While a few of us were in the kitchen, she was in the living room playing by a coffee table when all I heard was my wife’s cry of panic and I looked over to see my daughter laying on the floor. Cheryl picked her up and she was convulsing mildly then went still, so my sister took her and gave her limp body to me. I held her and prayed with all that was in me. She was not breathing, she had completely lost color and I could only faintly feel a pulse. My prayers became more fervent. She wouldn’t respond and I couldn’t feel her breathing. I took her outside to get some cold air on her to stimulate her. I continued to pray.
When we stepped outside I felt her move, her eyes began to open slowly and life began to return to her body. She took her first ambulance ride and got some much needed oxygen. We spent a few hours at the hospital and spent the night at my grandparents’ house. The doctors told us that the she had a mild seizure and it was caused by a high fever (something my dad dealt with when he was young).
What an experience we had as a family that night. My friend Sam later told me this, “dude, she was gone, no color, no breath, no pulse…gone.” I believe in a merciful God that hears prayers and I’m thankful that He heard my cry that night. I’m thankful for a little four year old who is full of life (a little too much at times), is brighter than anyone at her age, more beautiful than any other little girl to ever grace the planet, can play twinkle-twinkle on the piano and can sing all 50 states in alphabetical order. I am ever-so thankful
With that, what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Take a moment to leave a comment below. God Bless.