Bits for Sunday, November 29, 2009

I’m working on my scrapbook today…making the Thanksgiving Day page and the Deck the Halls page…and when those two are done, it will be time to make the December calendar page for my book. I vividly remember standing at my kitchen table almost a year ago, creating the January page! My skinny little scrapbook was filled with clean white pages, and now it’s a fat, fat book, with many pages added in. From the look of things, I’ll probably have to squeeze in just a few more pages to complete the year.

I shared in our office devotions last week that I’m thankful for a “fat scrapbook” year. My scrapping is more than an addiction (though I recognize it is that)…it’s a record of what took place. A reminder of the great times I’ve had. A chronicle of varying hair lengths and colors, too. :)

Scrap days, game nights, meals out with friends, coffee and movie nights, new babies to cuddle, retreats, vacations, seasons of TV shows, days at the lake, Bible studies, cookouts, upgrades to the house, concerts, and conferences were among the things that made this such a great year. Such a scrappable year. Such a memorable year.

I’m thankful for these blessings, because I know a lot of people who had a memorable year, but in their case, memorable didn’t mean great. And yet I’ve been so challenged by their decision to hope. Their resolve to move forward. Their choice to proclaim that God is good even when life is not.

You know how I love to read blogs, and two that come to mind right now are great examples of people who have had terrible years filled with incredible faith. I don’t know either of them in real life, but I love to read their words, because I know I’m going to leave their web page encouraged and thankful.

One of the blogs is about the Sullivan family. They were in their late 20’s…a military couple living overseas. Early last year, Sara, the wife, was diagnosed with cancer. Shortly after receiving her diagnosis, she also found out she was pregnant with their first child. They moved back to the States and she began treatment for her cancer.

On September 4th, Brady and Sara celebrated their fifth anniversary, in the hospital. On September 8th, about 6 weeks early, Sara had a c-section and delivered baby Chloe. On September 15th, they all went home together as a family. And on September 18th, when Chloe was just 10 days old, Sara began having seizures in her home and had to be taken back to the hospital. She died four days later just over a week away from her 29th birthday.

I remember reading through their story and trying to comprehend what Brady must be facing as a widower and brand new father. Even now, as I sit here, I think of him and how a year ago, he was overseas with his wife, not knowing she was sick, not knowing they would have a baby, not knowing anything of what was to come in the next year.

And yet if you read his blog posts, you can read about courageous faith and blossoming hope. He doesn’t hide his grief. But even in the middle of the deepest grief, you can see his peace and his hope.

My memorable, scrappable year was very different from Brady’s. But I hope both of us have the same message to share – a message of thankfulness and hope in a faithful God.