It's Thanksgiving morning and as I lay in bed and thought about the day, I knew I had two choices.

To be thankful for all that God has done........

Or spend my day thinking of all the things that have changed and how I wish I could go back in time and make life different.

I could choose today to live in the moment and soak up the laughter and love around me....

Or I could dwell on the past and remember the pain of just two years ago when Nick was so weak and so filled with pain.

As I made my way to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, I looked out the kitchen window and for the first time ever I saw these branches (the ones holding the hummingbird feeder I bought in memory of my friend Heidi's daughter Jessica who loved hummingbirds and who had a hummingbird hover over her grave during the entire graveside service)......

I saw these branches asking the question,

WHY?

I saw the "why?"

I stood and stared and thought to myself, "There are some questions that we will ask until eternity and the answer will continue to be,  "I don't know."

Only God knows.

And then, as if the side branch had been invisible for a few minutes, I saw the bottom of the branch-made "y," and my breath was taken away.....

Do you see what I see?

A cross!!

I had to put on the first shoes I could find, Todd's size 11 tennis shoes, and grab my camera and head outside.

God was speaking, and I knew I had to listen.

I came back in and knew it was time to photograph my Nativity sets around the house.

And then, by no accident, I received Max Lucado's email devotion today entitled of all things, "No Accident."

It was all about the reality that from the very beginning God planned for Jesus to die.

Max wrote, this "Jesus was born crucified."

His disciples asked, "why?"  And surely Mary groaned in her grief and pleaded with God for an answer to the question, "Why?"

It's no accident that I am behind in reading my chronological Bible, and I am in the parts where Paul talks about the power of the resurrection.

It's no accident that I was asked to speak next Friday night in Lawrenceburg, KY, and I am working on a message based on the song, "Mary, Did You Know?"

My heart is wrapped up in the reality that God's wisdom goes far beyond our human understanding, and ONE DAY WE WILL KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Until then, I choose to be thankful for today.

I choose to see the beauty and the pain of the Nativity through the eyes of a mom who was chosen to give birth to a son only to one day be forced to watch Him die.

Can you imagine the joy Mary felt when she realized that Jesus had conquered death???????

Oh, that's what I cling to!

That joy!

Oh death where is your victory?

I'm thankful today for the hope of the resurrection, and pray that same thankfulness fills your heart as you trust in Him.

Happy Thanksgiving from my home to yours.

I won't be able to  post for a few days, but I want to leave you with a few  photos from my home to yours.......

Images that show why I am thankful today. 

Why am I thankful?

Because God loves us all this much.........