What I am grateful for

I am grateful for God's perfect plan. Though we cannot see or understand it, even when the world seems far from perfect, we can have faith that in all things He works for the good of those who loves him.

I am thankful to God for the brief life of my precious daughter Ruby. I thank the Lord for the three weeks she was on this Earth, longer than any of the other babies I carried. I thank him for the three days of joy we had knowing that she was with us. Though to us, her time was only a moment, is it not so for each of us in the sight of God?

I thank God for using Ruby's life to confirm for me the lives and deaths of my other children. Though I never would have chosen to lose another child, even for the sake of Joseph, Isaiah, Elisha, and Enoch, I am glad that God has given them back to me even though others have tried to take them away.

I thank God for my husband, who is the best husband I could ask for and an excellent father to our children. I thank God for his willingness to drop everything and be with his family when we need him.

I thank God for an extended family that, even though they are not aware yet of exactly what we are going through, are willing to help us when we need it. I thank God for the way He provides, using even those whose hearts are turned against Him to comfort and sustain His people.

I thank God for the large family He has given us, though they do not fill the empty rooms in our earthly home. When I asked him to multiply our family, this is not what I had in mind, but in His perfect wisdom He has given us six children in just over one year.

I thank God for filling me with courage where there once was fear, and I pray He will give me the strength I need to answer truthfully when I am asked about our family.

I thank God that He planned each of my children perfectly for our family, and chose my husband and I as their parents. I thank him that I was able to know and love them, even though they were here so short a time.

And I am grateful for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to the world and humbled himself by becoming a human being. I thank God that though I was a mocker and a scoffer, He chose me and saved me. I thank God that though I was a sinner and unrighteous before Him, He loved me so much that He chose to adopt me as His daughter, dying for my crimes so that I could be righteous before God, though I am fallen so short of His Glory.

God, help me to live by this.