Blessed

Today, our new son turns one month old. Besides being truly blessed with my beautiful wife, this little boy, and his big sister, we have been blessed in many ways this month. Little Euphrony has had no problems so far with having a new baby in the house. She loves him so much; we have more problems trying to get her to give him some space and not smother him than anything else. She wants to hold her little bro, leans over to give him hugs and kisses on the forehead constantly, and wants to help with everything - including changing his diapers. (Hearing her help to sooth Lil'er E during a diaper change by singing "Grace Flows Down" (Christy Nockels) to him absolutely melts my heart.) We worried that she might act out and become jealous of the attention he gets that we once solely lavished on her; this has yet to happen. She may act like a three-year old girl, but that is normal; she loves her brother and seems to understand the needs he has and how mom and dad must respond to him.

Our family has been blessed with food. I mean, a lot of food. We have not had to cook since Lil'er Euphrony was born; not once. We have had people bringing us food every other day for a month now, and we still have people bringing food for the next week or so. It is absolutely amazing how much this has helped us out, freeing up time that might be spent in the kitchen or having to run get something and allowing us to relax and spend more time together as a family. To everyone who has brought food: thank you, from our whole family, for your love and care for us right now. My only complaint about the food is that it is too good. These people brought their "A" game, and we've eaten more good, rich food than we usually do. I won't confess what the scales say, but they are a showing a little higher number than before Lil'er E was born. How's that for a complaint?

I had mentioned that I was pretty sick shortly after Lil'er E was born. I was basically out of the game for four days, conveniently the first four days we were home alone with no family to help us. A few days after I was getting better, my father forwarded this note from a preacher in northern Ghana (my dad has spent a great deal of time there doing mission work):

My Good Elder, this is to brother Jason: may he get better each day, may the Lord put upon him the balm of gilead. More than expected, his recovery shall be amazing. He will get well soon.

This is to Elijah: As it pleases the Lord to protect him up to the day he was born, so shall it please Him to keep him in the shelter of his love now and forever more.

My Good elder, it is really not easy at the time a child is been born your are faced with such challenges. All will be well.

Reading this note, from someone I've never met or talked to, really touched me. That someone half a world away, who knows little to nothing about me or my family, cares this much about us is amazing and a testament to the heart of Christ that is found in His body.

One more thing that I find myself, personally, having been blessed with is God's working on my heart. I posted recently about my struggles in my walk with Jehovah. While I find that I still struggle in the areas I detailed then (and likely will for a while, as I work to grow) God showed me this past weekend that He has continued to work on my heart to mold me into His image. He has just been doing it in ways that I had yet to recognize until now. I've always boasted about Mrs. Euphrony and her soft heart and care for the lives of other people. This is, honestly, something which was never strong in my heart; to me, compassion seemed to be more conceptual than something to be acted out. Mrs. E has always encouraged and taught me in this, with her loving heart, and brought me to righteous actions that I may never have become part of before. But now, after a brief encounter this weekend, I find that Jehovah has worked on my heart - through Mrs. E and others - to soften it to the needs and plight of others. He is making me kinder, more compassionate and generous, and I had not realized it until now. My life may be a struggle to walk in His word and in faith, but while I struggle in one area I find that He is blessing me with faithful growth in another. That encouragement in yet another blessing from God this past month.

It's been an interesting month, full of fun and joy and struggles and work. But we have been truly blessed.

Tags: Thankfulness, Joy, Peace, Friends, New Baby, Big Sister, Gifts, Compassion, Jehovah, Kind Heart