During Thanksgiving break, we made a prayer advent chain. On one of my links, I wrote, “Connor to feel well”. He’s been struggling with his health and just doesn’t wake up feeling healthy. That’s really hard when you are taking a full college load, working and maintaining an A GPA. He started complaining of stomach pain Saturday night and by Sunday night, we were in the ER with Appendicitis. He went into surgery at 6:00 a.m. on Monday. The Doctor came out after and hour and half with a big smile. She was so pleased because we had caught the appendicitis so early. It was a simple surgery and very little chance of side effects. She said she wished everyone would come in when the problem was this manageable.
As I watched him sleep in recovery, my prayer link that we had prayed on Sunday, came to mind. I guess I could have asked God why He allowed the appendicitis, but instead it occurred to me that God had answered my prayer by getting rid of the diseased member that had been festering in Connor’s body. That was answering my prayer. God isn’t interested in glossing over the problem but in solving the problem and sometimes, that’s painful.
It’s funny to me that just a little advent paper chain had this much meaning. But then, the little activities and all the little homeschool lessons that we have done came to mind. The leaf and plant science experiment in 2nd grade that showed that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches showed my kids that staying in Jesus is the answer. Or the five finger prayer story by Patricia St. John showed my kids how to pray. Those little lessons and activities can have life long meaning. They are worth the time and effort we put into them. They don’t need to be long or complicated. Look at the meaning in a simple 10 minute Advent activity, it changed my attitude to gratitude.
