Taking the Time to Say “Thank You!”

    On Saturday, July 4th, Al and I drove down to Los Angeles where we would be taking a plane the next day to Michigan. Before leaving home, we prayed together, asking God for His protection on the trip.

    The traffic on Highway 65 was fairly heavy in both directions due to the holiday, but was moving along smoothly. Then something very strange happened--there was a loud boom for no apparent reason. “What was that?” I asked Al after ducking and covering my head with my arms.

   “It was a blowout!” He replied. “A car coming towards us had a blowout. I could see bits of rubber flying everywhere. I sure am glad that the driver stayed on his side of the road.”     

    We never did find out what happened in the seconds after the blowout. Hopefully it didn’t cause an accident with the other cars which were following close behind. We sensed God’s protection over us! Al and I arrived safely in LA without any other problems on the road, an answer to our prayer request earlier that morning.

    Another wonderful answer to prayer came a few days ago, when our daughter, Shanda, contacted the surgeon’s office to find out if the report had come in from the pathologist after her recent surgery for breast cancer. A nurse returned her call later that day with the welcome news that no more cancer cells were found in the four lymph nodes which had been removed. It had been a difficult journey for Shanda from the first diagnosis of cancer, through several chemo treatments with powerful drugs designed to aggressively attack her particular kind of cancer, then the six and a half hour surgery. She was so thankful to hear that the chemo had done its job and that the prognosis was very good. The entire family is rejoicing and thanking God for answering our prayers for healing.

    When Shanda’s son Nate, woke up with a fever last Monday morning, we prayed that he would be feeling better and would be able to go to his day camp on Tuesday. It was a blessing to see Nate sitting on his mommy’s lap next to the big picture window in their master bedroom, waving to us as we drove up to their house on Tuesday. He was feeling better and was ready for day camp. No fever!  Three specific answers to prayer in one week’s time! Praise the Lord! 

    There is a story in the New Testament about Jesus’ encounter with ten lepers one day as he was walking with his disciples on the way to Jerusalem. The lepers cried out to him desperately for help. He had compassion upon them and instructed them to go to the priests, those responsible for determining if a person had leprosy or had been healed of the disease. As they were going to find a priest, they were made completely whole again.

     It was an amazing miracle; however, the story goes on to tell how only one man out of the ten came back to thank Jesus. May we take the time daily to follow the example of the man who showed his gratitude! “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord…” (Psalm 92:1a KJV)

      “One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.  Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has made you well.’ ” Luke 17:15-19 NIV