Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!
Susie Larson here...

I pray this note finds you well.

To those visiting I say welcome! I post every Wednesday and my goal is to bless and nourish your soul along the way.

I love this holiday season. For me, it's a time of reflection and remembrance. For many years our lives were marked by crisis and deep character cleansing.

But God has and is restoring every lost thing.

One day, many years ago, I pushed a heavy cart of groceries through the parking lot. I made sure my three little boys each hand a hand on the cart so I could keep an eye on them.

Once we loaded the groceries in the car and I buckled the boys in their seats, I slid into the driver's seat, put my forehead on the steering wheel, and prayed, "Oh, Lord, how can I ever thank you enough? We have groceries! We have choices about what to eat. We can go to our cupboards and find food there. Oh, God, I thank you for your goodness to us."

I looked over my shoulder to see my three little boys with heads bowed and hands folded in prayer.

The reality was that we had tens of thousands of dollars in medical debt. The reality was that our house was falling apart and we had no money to fix it. The reality was that my husband was working two and three jobs and I was battling a disease while trying to care for three active boys.

But the superior reality was that God was on His throne and totally with us in that place of desperation. And when I bowed my head to thank Him for His provision, our car became a sacred place, and I knew my boys were affected by His presence that day.

A different day we found ourselves at the doctor's office. One of my son's had an ear infection. When we got out to the car, my prayer went something like this, "Father in Heaven, I thank you for providing us with insurance. Thank you for a simple, treatable diagnosis. Thank you for taking such good care of us."

Every time I thanked the Lord in front of my kids, I felt the heaviness of our situation lift. In fact, I now understand that my lessons in gratitude were the very things that made my kids feel that all was well in their world.

I always found it curious that they didn't have a clue that we were in the crises of our lives. Now I know that their lives were full, because my heart was full of thanksgiving.

Not that I always did it right; on the contrary. I had my cynical, frustrated days like everyone else, but whenever I returned to praise and gratitude, the climate around me changed.