"Isn't God Good"- Eucharisteo Part 14

Laying in a hospital bed battling cancer, congestive heart failure, pneumonia, blood transfusion as well as a host of other things- my Grandfather greets his pastor with “Isnt God Good?” It takes my breath away. I look at him and smile. He has always been an example. He is practicing Eucharisteo and probably doesn’t even know it.

An hour later, his weak heart can not keep up with the amount of blood that is being poured into his frail body and blood clots affected his lungs- just like that- he is on life support and intubated.

And through this- the truth remains that God is still good. God is good when jobs are lost. God is good when houses don’t sale. God is good where there is pain. God is good when babies die. GOD IS GOOD.

I trust in this truth… A good God plans everything! Isaiah 14:24 (NASB)- “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned it so it will stand.” A good God can only give good gifts that accomplish his ultimate glory. These gifts He gives are examples of His grace. I can be so ungrateful for “my” gifts… my pieces of grace that I find myself asking him for more and more. In reality, even one gift/ grace is more than I deserve.

While I am still counting to 1000 gifts, I am reminded of a section in the book, “One Thousand Gifts”, where the author talks about grace.
“Suffering nourishes grace, and pain and joy are arteries in the same heart…
What in the world , in all the world is grace?
I can say it certain now: All is grace.”

So if all is grace, then everything is eucharisteo (or everything should prompt thanksgiving). Page 99 of “One Thousand Gifts” talks about the ugly-beautiful . This is what giving thanks does… it takes the ugly and transforms into beauty. “The dark can give birth to life; suffering can deliver grace.“ But how do I give thanks when it is hard? How to I give thanks when it is ugly?

The author gives Jesus as an example of how to practice eucharisteo (thanksgiving). At the Last Supper Jesus knew His time to die on the cross was near. Did He freak out? No… Luke 22:19a “He took the bread, and gave thanks.” He took the pain and He gave thanks.

I have to train myself to look at the hard, to look at the ugly and to give thanks. Because All is grace. It is more than when God blesses me is grace. It is more than when I get more money is grace. It is more than when I barely miss having a car accident is grace. But when the times are hard is grace. When the checking account is bare is grace. When I run a red light and have a car accident is grace. All is grace. Therefore, everything is a time for thanksgiving. Because recognizing His grace, giving Him thanks, brings us joy.

405- Ocean breeze

406- Sand in my toes

407- Boulders preventing erosion

408- Power of the waves crashing on me

409- Little boys running away from little waves

410- Walking right onto the beach from the house

411- A good book

412- Serious card games with m&ms

413- Visiting with great friends

414- Cousins together

415- Comfortable beds when away from home

416- Walk on the beach when all is quiet

417- Sounds of the ocean

418- Lightening flashes over the water

419- Dolphins through the ocean

420- Making good time home

421- Lots of rain while we were gone

422- Wave petunias running over

423- Willingness of parents to watch my kids

424- Safety while white water rafting

425- A good guide

426- Speed of the channel and getting to swim it

427- Exhilation of hitting a good sized rapid

428- Beauty of God and his creation

429- Life Jackets

430- More specifically- Chad's life jacket

431- A good game of volleyball

432- Cookies n Creme milkshake

433- 8 years

434- $20

435- so many blueberries

436-Ashton's willingness to work

437-Shepherd shoveling blueberries into his mouth

438- Vegetables coming in full force

439- Toddler wearing shoes as glass breaks

440- GrandmaDean's smile

441- A 50 year old picture of my grandparents that brings tears

442- Good spirited GrandpaGordie

443- Joy in a brush

444- A hug good bye

445- A good nurse tech

446- IV's that do their job

447- The heart

448- Late nights and early mornings

449- A good God

One more---- Beach Post 4

To conclude, here are some of the fun pictures from our trip. You are probably thinking - "enough already, we dont need to see all your pictures"--- believe it not, I have more but this is the best I could do at narrowing them down! :-)

Grandma and her grandbabies

Shep and Grandma

Trouble 1 and Trouble 2

Charlee and her daddy

A pretty shot of Miss Charlee

Uncle Tom Tom, Charlee, and Hunter

PapaHub keeping an eye of Shepherd

Shep getting some luvin' from Papa

Grandma and Hunter busy building

Shep takes a break with Grandma

Papa and Grandma's dog--- Gretta :-)

Buddies- Charlee and Ashton

Daddy with the boys

Thank you sooo much PapaHub and Grandma for a wonderful vacation. We really had an amazing time!!!!

My Beach Boys --- Beach Post 3

This post is for my boys...

Here are some of their individual pictures.

Shepherd---

Those blue eyes...

So sweet

Sandy butt :)

Ashton---

There is a SmAshy face

Can't decide if he wants to laugh or cry

Hunter----

This picture prompted me to cut their hair the day after we got back

<3 This is soo Hunter!

Group Shots



on the way home... they are pretending to be asleep

Race --Beach Post 2

Racing down the beach turned out to be a favorite activity.
Here are some pictures.

Lining Up

Ready
Set
GO!!!

Back from the Beach! --- Beach Post 1

We seriously had a great time at the beach! We went to Garden City Beach with Chad's parents and his sister and her family.

Here are our group shots taken right before we left. As luck would have it, the best one is blurry. :( But at least we captured that we were all there!

the blurry one - where everyone is, of course, looking at the camera smiling

We stayed in the perfect size house with a good layout for the 10 of us :)


Some things to remember....
1- Papa and Grandma decided that instead of eating out the whole time, we would cook 3 nights. We loved that idea. I doubt it saved a whole lot of money because PapaHub bought soooo much stuff. He really loves to go "pick things up at the store."

2- Charlee and Ashton were hysterical together. They definitely have a love/hate relationship. They act like siblings.

3- Chad is horrible at the card game "Bull S---" I had not played cards in so long. It was good to get all the kids in bed by 8 (even Charlee was in bed early-she is a night owl) so we could play "adult games."

4- I dont know how Grandma does not strangle PapaHub sometime. I love you Hub, but Patsy is sooo patient with you!

5- Hub really loves the color red.

6- Girl toys are cooler than boy toys... period.

7- The rocks right outside "our house" were perfect for pictures.... too bad taking pictures of 4 little ones is quite a challenge. See below.







*** More pictures to come... the beach posts will have to come in installments.