I just got home from a beach getaway with three of my good friends (without kids!!!!) The four of us stayed up late talking and laughing… we slept in, walked on the beach, read by the pool, snoozed in our beach chairs, floated in the ocean, sat in the sand – and not once did we have to change a diaper, wipe a nose or provide a snack. It was glorious! The whole weekend I tried to rest in this gift of friendship. Finding someone you can just be with… is rare. As we were all sitting on the beach, reading our books, I was struck with such a deep sense of gratitude for the life God has given me… Anne’s brain injury and all.

I’ve been wrestling all summer with contentment, and slowly God has been chipping away at my heart to make it content. Content with my role as mother to a disabled child. Content with God’s plan to heal Anne – or not to heal Anne. Content knowing that God is sovereign, loving and good. Contentment. I breathe it in… Deep. The sounds of the ocean, the picture of my friends reading in peace, my feet buried in the sand, the knowledge that my children are safe with Eric, the seagull in the distance… all point to my Creator God. And I stay still, and breathe slow, and whisper a simple prayer, “Thank you Jesus.”