Special Thanksgiving Memory

We just finished celebrating Thanksgiving 2015. It was a wonderful time with our three children, their two spouses, and one boyfriend, as well as the five grandchildren. How blessed we are with such a beautiful family! And how wonderfully blessed I am to have had them all here enjoying the meal and each other's company! This year God has been speaking to me to focus on the many, many blessings I have in my life. The holidays are so hard because there is always an empty chair and empty spot in our hearts. That will never change, but what we choose to do with it can. This year I choose to be thankful and not depressed. I am thankful that God brought us together, and we loved each other with His kind of love; I am thankful for the years we had together; I am thankful for our years in ministry together; I am thankful for the children we had and raised together; I am thankful that God led them to find the special loves in their lives; I am thankful for the grandchildren we are now blessed with; I am thankful for my mom and for my dad who raised me and loved me and ultimately pointed me to my Best Friend, Jesus; I am thankful for my little brother and his wife who love and so faithfully serve our Lord, and thankful for their children as well; I am thankful for my in-laws whom I love and they love me as their own - your mom and sister, her husband and the girls; I am thankful for the man God sent to our family to be not just a "step", but a father and grandfather that we all love. I am most thankful for my Savior and Lord who shed His blood on the cross that I could be saved from my sin and promised an eternal life in heaven where He lives and where you live and where we will live together with Him forever! I am so very thankful that He has been my Strength, my Helper, my Counselor, my Comforter and helped me make it through the past nearly 5 years without you. This Thanksgiving I was reminded of and thought so much about our first Thanksgiving together, a very special day in our lives. Ken and I had met in June the summer before this special Thanksgiving. I dont know if it was "love" at first sight, but it was pretty close I would say. He was in town for the weekend visiting my pastor, who was his former pastor. Pastor thought the two of us would make a great couple so arranged for us to meet and spend time together. He knew he had to make every moment count, so arranged for me to spend that Saturday evening at a youth party and the next day (after church, of course) with him and his family and Ken. Then he helped Ken change his flight from catching it in Tucson to catching it in Phoenix, since I was "going that way anyway" to get back to my apartment and job. The time we had spent together and talking the two hours on the way to the airport was enough to know that we wanted to get to know each other better, so we exchanged addresses and phone numbers before he boarded his plane. I was on Cloud 9. To make this long story shorter, we began writing to each other, then calling each other. The letters and phone calls became more often until we were writing and calling almost every day. He had some vacation time the end of August so planned to drive out and stay with Pastor, but for some reason spent more time with me. He also decided to start looking for a job in the area since he had not been happy where he was even before he met me. And since he was going to change jobs, it wouldn't hurt to change where he lived as well. So our thinking went, anyway. (ha) So that week we spent every moment we could together while he put his application in at several places. At the end of the week it was time for him to leave, and it was so hard for both of us to say goodbye. Even though we had not known each other for very long, we knew we were in love and wanted to be together. But it was not yet to be. We waited to hear back from the places to which he had applied, but no calls came. By October I couldn't stand not being able to be with him so booked a flight over a long weekend to go see him and meet his family. We were so excited to see each other, but the time was too short. Letters and phone calls were just not enough anymore. We just wanted to be together. Then the holidays arrived. He decided to fly to spend Thanksgiving with me and my family. He arrived the evening before, and we spent well into the night talking about what our options were without coming to any solution. We spent a lovely Thanksgiving day with my family. That evening we went for a drive, so we could talk some more. I was sad thinking we might not get to be together again for quite a while. Plus, all the trips back and forth from Texas to Arizona and all the phone calls were getting very expensive. I was afraid since there didn't seem to be a solution, that he might want to break up - something I couldn't bear to think about. As I was crying and pouring out my feelings to him, he said maybe I could come where he lived. But, where would I work? How would I support myself? Where would I live? I wasn't about to mooch off him or his parents. He then tried to calm me down and told me I would't have to if I was his wife. What? Did I hear him right? So I asked, are you asking me to marry you? "Yes," he said. Immediately I fell into his arms and told him, "yes, I would." What a wonderful day! A day I am forever thankful for! We were married the next February. Every Thanksgiving I remember that special day and am so thankful that we have a God who can send the right person at the right time. Even when it looks like it will never happen or never work, when it is in God's plan, He knows how to work out the details. 25 years later, on our anniversary, Ken asked me if I would spend the next 25 years with him. I told him, "yes I would." Only we didn't have twenty-five more. He went to be with our Lord less than 10 years later. So right now, I am biding my time, longing to hear his voice, longing to be with him, just as I did those 40 years ago. But this time I am thankful there will be a solution when it is in God's time and plan for me to be with him again. When I believe he may say to me, "would you spend forever with me?" And I will answer with a resounding "YES, I WILL!! Thank you, Jesus!!!