O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good.
1 Chronicles 16:34
My friend, Emma, lived for fifty years in her wheelchair and recliner. When her children were young, Emma was afflicted with a disease that nobody quite understood. For many years she was completely unable to care for her own physical needs. When we visited friends in Pennsylvania, we often stopped by to see Emma. Her weakened condition allowed her to speak little and hardly above a whisper. We strained our ears to catch every word she spoke. No matter when we went, Emma repeatedly told us, “God is so good, and I have so much to be thankful for.”
After Emma’s death at seventy five years old, I phoned her daughter, Mary Ann. I asked if her mother had ever complained in all the years she had lived in that disabled state. Mary Ann remembered only two times that there was possibly a hint of selfishness. Those two comments were so slight and so quickly changed to, “I have so much to be thankful for,” that one could hardly call them a complaint.
My heart was so touched by this woman of God who spent her life as a prisoner to her body. Yet she shed abroad a message of joy, peace and thankfulness like no one I’ve ever known before or since.
Prayer: My Father God, may I daily remember how good You are, no matter what You bring to my life and to continually give thanks. Amen.
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