When Being Grateful Is Not Easy and You Need Encouragement

Sometimes being grateful at Thanksgiving is not easy to do. Is that where you are this year or in this season? Or maybe it’s a close friend or family member. Whether the obstacles are large or small, we can all use an encouraging reminder to the power we gain from being grateful.

When Being Grateful Isn’t Easy

I remember when our family was in the middle of our adoption journey. We’d gone through 22 months of tumultuous ups and downs. After falling in love with a little girl and believing she was meant to be ours, we were told she had been given to another family. I grieved for months unwilling to surrender my vision and embrace God’s will. I allowed the grief to hold me in place unable to move forward toward whatever God might have planned for our family.

Until one evening amid 24-hours solo with God. It was Him and me – prayer, tears, and pouring out even the ugly parts of my heart, when I surrendered. I gave the child I loved back to God. I surrendered and accepted whatever story God may have for our family and my broken heart.

And that’s when the miracles began.

Through a series of connections only a miracle could explain, that little girl became ours. Not right away, but eventually it happened. In August of 2010 we traveled to meet her and declare our intentions before the Bulgarian Court. Our trip only confirmed the conviction I’d felt.

This child was meant to be a Schumaker.

But then we had to go home empty-handed. It was a two-visit process and we had to leave our daughter behind and wait for paperwork to complete. They told us 3-5 months. However, by Thanksgiving of that year, we knew our wait would be longer. With every delay our daughter suffered without the love and care of a family.

She was hungry, sick, and longing for love. We’d told her we would come back, but after everyone who had let her down, would she or could she even believe what we said?

On Thanksgiving, as we filled our bellies with food and our time with family and love, our daughter lived in the gray world of a sterile orphanage.

I struggled to be grateful. I wondered where God was and why He would allow her to stay there.

Friend, like I mentioned above, maybe you are in that space that makes being grateful difficult. My guess is that if you aren’t there right now, at some point, you have been there.

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Join me as I share the rest of this story as a part of Lyli Dunbar’s Refined Series. I know being grateful isn’t always easy, so I pray the words you find are the encouragement you need today.

Our Story of Being Grateful Turned Into a Book

November is National Adoption Month and I am thrilled to be able to officially share my new book release with you! It’s Selah’s adoption story, but it’s more. It’s God’s story of showing us He never leaves. And it’s a story that shows exactly how surrendering changed everything for us. It was the breakthrough that helped us move forward and then opened the doors to God’s version of how the story should go.

Want more information? The Surrendered Hearts website is HERE! You’ll find the Book Video Trailer and other goodies like sharable images, tweets, and a set of FREE Bonus Resources for the adoptive parent or for anyone needing a little extra encouragement in life!

Want to go straight to Amazon to get your book asap? Then you can click HERE!

The Surrendered Hearts Bracelet

In conjunction with the book, I have partnered with Theresa of  Tees Cherished Finds to create a Surrendered Hearts Bracelet! The message to Live Surrendered means that you are choosing to lay down your fears and live surrendered to the One who makes the impossible possible.  When you choose to Live Surrendered, you are committing to following Jesus where He calls. You are choosing to let go of your way and take hold of His way.  And when you purchase a bracelet for just $15 (look in the right margin), just as when you purchase the book, a portion of the proceeds will go to Lori’s chosen adoption ministries. Just click on the image below. It will take you to the Surrendered Hearts page where you can find out more and make your purchase (or just make it right now ♥)

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