:
Celebrating Christ in every place He leads us thru’
#11.
Today's Prayer: 'Gratitude when its hard" :
... for surprise touches of angel-wing,
I give You Gratitude for these & million things.
For thorny soil where lilies bloom, I give You thanks my God, I give You thanks-
🥀
It was December and our parent’s wedding anniversary; Doc was not happy with Dad’s congestion and shifted him to ICU. Today was my turn, so armed with Merlin Carother’s, “Power in Praise”, I settled down in the empty waiting room(miracle 1) praying no one would arrive here.
No one did. Dad’s breath was ragged. This was our seriously fun dad, who strangely even made hospital visits a treat. Today was different. Heart sinking I tried to do what Carothers asked:
“Father teach me how to say Thank You on a bad day.”
~
A Stillness moved in, as I went to page 2, then 3, 4, 5 – there no visitors, not even an Orderly walked in. Faith, tiny as a mustard seed, seemed to stagger into a sapling (more miracles).
“Giving God gratitude in every situation, is giving Him room to take control….”
The room began to buzz with unusual Energy. Questions slithered away. There can be reversals of health issues, but you cannot fake peace in despair. God was in that room. My usual impulse is to test Him, but not today.
Needing a hot coffee, I prayed generally, “Please let someone get me a coffee?”A tiny woman (broom in hand, and blue jacket, hospital staff?) she didn’t know me! – she peeked in, “You want coffee?” Then the dear person brought me coffee in a flask! Two cups. And vanished! Couldn’t find her to return that flask, or pay her for that coffee: (Lost count of miracles).
COINCIDENCES HAPPEN WHEN WE PRAY, WHEN WE DONT, THEY DONT.
Dad recovered. He was walking across the floor by 6pm. Doc shook head, “Your father just coughed out his pneumonia?!! Temperature, vital stats, all good. He can have a Happy Anniversary and Christmas.”
Everyone had been praying. Me, I’m your local Doubting Thomas, because I need evidence. I got it didnt I. It lasts me to this day, every time I falter. Later my dear Dad had cancer, surviving another 10 years blissfully unaware of it, before gently passing on. That Advent outside ICU, I saw first hand, what Giving Thanks can do.
It has led me on a route where prayers aren’t necessarily answered like we wish, but here my focus/ demands shift from visceral needs, to that Thing every human is secretly reaching for : a Security that doesn’t stem from needs satisfied. This is the Secret Place – in the Hiding of His Presence. Here Miracles are born, cradled in mystery, even a little danger maybe, who knows.
Here, watch us bloom into Persons we could never be, without that power that raised Jesus from the dead.
May these December days find us where Lilies Bloom. May there be Miracles via Gratitude, for the Presence of the Giver, more than the gift. And then, may we too blossom into the purpose for which we were born.
🥀
Wbere Lilies Bloom : Finding Miracles through Gratitude.
This month we’ve been doing 31 days of Prayer & illustration. My gratitude Lord, for every Word You speak, for everyone reading here, and for everyday of 2025, what a route its been! 😊
Blessed Advent 2025
✨🌲✨
Thank you @Gracefilledmoments
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