Happy Thanksgiving!

In the US, today is Thanksgiving! It’s one of my favorite days. I love that it’s a day to focus on what the Lord has done for us, celebrated with family and friends, and delicious food. And each year, as we prep for a big meal this afternoon, I get to think back over the last few years and remember what the Lord has done. This wild journey we’ve all been on together. So many lives are being changed forever because of your prayers and generosity!

I’m so grateful for each of you! Thank you for being here! Thank you for your prayers and support, and encouragement. Every single day I thank the Lord for the amazing group He brought to us here. I’m overcome with gratitude as I look back over the last seven years and see all Lord has done. Seven years ago, on this day, I didn’t know what would happen. I couldn’t see how the ministry could continue without Jack. I was a month into the long road of grief and couldn’t see past the next moment, let alone the next steps. But the Lord had sent us a group to rally around us and He keeps sending new people to join us and new people for us to show His love to together. Thank you.

Gratitude is transformational. It’s a habit and a discipline and a perspective. Giving thanks requires that we look at the good and train ourselves to seek it out. Even (especially) when it’s hard. When Jack went Home, I realized that the broken hallelujah in the Leonard Cohen song is something we can only give the Lord this side of glory. It’s a special and holy thing to praise from a broken place. We live in the tension of a now-and-not-yet Kingdom. We look toward God’s will being fully fulfilled. We long for what will be while we pray and work to bring His will into the here and now. But we can look around and see the world is not as it should be. There are broken hearts and souls and bodies. I know many of you are living in seasons where giving thanks can hard. And that’s exactly when it’s most vital. I’m praying special prayers for you today.

We were given a hard blow with Jaqui this week. I hate to include this in my thanksgiving post, but the timing isn’t my choice. She was called into the clinic much later than she expected. And when she got there, nervous but excited to get through the next two weeks, they told her all she had been told before was wrong. She was told she’d have three rounds of radiation over a week and then be done. They said her cancer is far too aggressive for that, and she’d need 25, just to begin. They said she’d need to spend a month in Mexicali and be ready to be rushed to the emergency room if she couldn’t handle the aggressive treatment for the aggressive cancer. Instead of being there for a week of prep, she’s now back home, devastated, and praying for God’s will for the next steps.

Please pray with us. Pray for healing, and for wisdom and guidance. Pray for their hearts. We don’t know where the miscommunication was in her treatment. Whether it was a misunderstanding or whether things changed or whether one side of the clinic disagreed with the other. But it’s now become something much different. Her mom was here in preparation for the two weeks, but they delayed two weeks and she had to go back. I’m praying that the delays and changes are the Lord guiding Jaqui’s steps, and that she can hear and follow His leading.

Thank you all for being here. I’m sending prayers of thanks for you all!

Every year since Jack went Home, I’ve written a Thanksgiving message to you. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all the Lord has done, for all of you He’s brought into my life and to this ministry. Thank you for being here and allowing us to all honor Jack’s legacy and continue to share God’s love and provision to all He bring us. To those of you in the US, and all over the world, I pray that gratitude overflows from your heart when you see all we’ve done together! ♥ You can look back at other years, here’s 2017, 2018, 2019,  2020, and 2021.