Happy Thanksgiving

On this Thanksgiving I thought it would be great to encourage you with a true Thanksgiving story. A little more than a month ago I received an email from a man in our church who I didn't know asking me to pray. That is not uncommon. The prayer request itself though was the first one of its kind for me. The man was asking me to pray for his wife who was anonymously donating a kidney to a man she had read about in our local paper. It was an astounding act of compassion. I immediately started praying. As the story unfolded I realized the connections and the movement of God went deeper and deeper. I received this email earlier today.

Joe,

I wanted to take a minute and let you know how much Lynn and I have appreciated your support throughout the past month. I also wanted to let you know that you have truly made an impact on so many lives in this world and wanted to share with you how you impacted several people by one sermon. The following is an excerpt from a blog that apparently families of patients undergoing surgery can set up to keep others informed (caringbridge.org). The family of the recipient of Lynn's kidney posted this earlier this week.

We have some exciting news, yesterday we received a letter from Roy's donor. I know so many of you have been so curious about this. We both cried as we read her letter. Her name is Lynn and she is a 46 year old married mother of 3 daughters. She worked for ten years at Clev Clinic in heart surgery. It was there that she was exposed to patients undergoing heart, liver and lung transplants. She said it made her aware of how important donors were.

In church one Sunday, our pastor was speaking about how he wanted church members to really look at new ways they could serve each other and the community. She prayed along with the church that day asking God to "use me as You see fit". She said she left the church that day feeling God had big plans for her.

Several months later she returned from a vacation to a stack of mail and newspapers. She put the Hudson Hub Times aside in a pile, and several times thought about tossing them out - that she would never get a chance to read them. A few weeks later she picked up one of the papers and being a dog lover was drawn to a picture of a man, a woman, and a dog. She says as soon as she began reading the letter she knew it was written to her. Knowing she was O positive blood type it was no suprise thats what he needed.

She thought about the article and prayed about it. Then shared the article with her family and asked if they would be okay with her starting the process to see if she was a match. Her family gave their blessings.

Later in the summer, she happened to see a wedding announcment in the Hub. It was our daughter Heather. After she read this she found out that we not only have the gift of beautiful daughters in common, but that we also attend the same church.

She says that without God, she would not be at this point, and since the day she decided to do this had no doubts about her decision. She tells Roy ( I have only felt joy in my decision and look forward to being able to help you enjoy a better quality of life. My prayer for you is that this allows you to be able to enjoy your family more fully, with more energy and joy than ever. I pray that you are able to travel more freely, without being burdened with dialysis. I thank you for the opportunity to give and for changing my life. I look forward to meeting you.

We will never be able to thank our "Angel Lynn" enough, but we do know that it was not a coincidence, that God has brought us together. She has touched our lives and hearts in a way we do not fully understand. There are no words to express our gratitude for what she has given us. We cannot wait to meet her and her family.

Thank you for all you do.

That is the end of the email. The movement of giving and receiving is the movement of grace. This Thanksgiving both Roy and Lynn will experience the afterglow of grace. An amazing gift both given and received. Find a way to participate in the movement and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.