Thanks Be to God

The next holiday is approaching fast. It is the day when everyone comes home to celebrate Thanksgiving and enjoy the family getting together. Yes, the turkey meal is also at the top of the list. The true meaning? What is the purpose? We all know the story of the first Thanksgiving and pilgrims and Plymouth Rock.

I have my personal thanks this year and usually every year, but a loud praise to the Lord: Yes, Lord, you have done it again. I thank you.

I have been caring for my husband at home when he is not In the hospital or transitional home. In the past 13 months he has been hospitalized three times. The first time lasted from September 2022 until February 2023. Each time these episodes happen he says, “Here we go again.” He is exhausted and I am exhausted.

How do I keep going, trying to care for him, pray for him, and just be there for him?

Remember the sweet poem called “Footprints”?

One night a man had a dream the Lord was walking beside him in the sand, leaving two sets of footprints as scenes from his life flashed before him. He noticed that whenever he was at his lowest there was only one set of footprints. He questioned the Lord about it. “Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But at the most troublesome times in my life there was only one set of footprints”.

The Lord replied, “My precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you saw only one set of prints, it was then that I carried you”.

Hebrews 13:5b “I will never leave you or forsake you”.

These are both my mainstay. This is how I survive, and this is my thanks to God on Thanksgiving Day.

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Karen Fleming

Karen Fleming is a longtime companion and friend of St. Paul’s Monastery and is a frequent contributor to St. Paul’s Monastery communications.