Answered Prayers

Daily Gratitude Year Six-Day 327: Today, I am grateful for answered prayers. 

This little bit of sweetness on my lap is now much bigger. She is officially our niece. Her last name is the same as her Daddy and Mommy's. She is our Smith family's constant reminder that God grows us in the waiting places and that he answers big, bold prayers. My reflections on this years blessings find this little one at the top of my list of reasons to pause and say "Thank You" to the God who is with us through all of our days.

Our nephew and niece longed to be parents, because they had love to give. Their path was by no means easy or ordinary. They experienced so many different losses along the way, it is hard to put it all into words. The day this little girl was placed in their arms, they were grieving the loss of an Uncle who was near and dear. In the midst of sorrow... God moved and they had to chose to say "yes" or "no" to this little one who needed a safe, loving place to grow.  

You can't always take a picture of an answered prayer. She is the exception. She is a constant reminder that "God's best" is not directed by our hands. It is when we sincerely pray, "Thy will be done" that he moves in mighty and mysterious ways.  

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. -Isaiah 55:8-9

Today, I am grateful for answered prayers.