Thankful For Family

During this month of thankfulness I cannot help but make note of family. I am blessed with a wonderful family: my husband; my three sisters, their husbands and their children and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren; two sons and their wives; six grandchildren ages 4 to 19; a sister-in-law and brother-in-law; two aunts; and many cousins. How can I want for family?

Well, at this season of holidays, especially, I mourn the absence of our parents. I'm so thankful for the years we had with them but I still long to sit with them again. I long to hear those often repeated stories once more, and I wish I could ask the long list of questions I've thought of since their passing. I want to tell them the latest antics and successes of our grandchildren. I want to hear their words of encouragement. And bow down to embrace them and never let go.

I didn't intend to go that direction today, but perhaps God is reminding me to focus on the value and blessing of the family members I have. And I am so thankful for each person who has joined our family, through birth or marriage, because each person has brought a unique blessing to our family. I cherish memories we share and look forward to making more.

But most of all, I pray for each member of our family to establish their own relationship with Jesus Christ our Savior. Because I want to be with them eternally. I want us all to be together in the presence of Jesus, sharing His joy, unlike anything we can imagine. What a day that will be!

Paul's prayer written to the Ephesians, is my prayer for members of my family and for my extended family of God, of which I include you:

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God," (Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV).

Amen.