Thy will be done

A blessed Christmas to all.

Sunday morning at church, God impressed upon me a direction I need to go now that I am home from my trip. Not only does Brenna's Hope Foundation need to get established, God instructed me to contact local churches in southern Idaho about my journey and let them know I am available to speak. Hopefully, I can get someone to go along with me to video at least part of my talks.

Last night I attended Christmas Eve services with my friend Sheila. We went to the same church where Brenna attended her last Christmas Eve service. At that service, Paster Joe used Charlie Brown's Christmas (with Linus) as a sermon illustration. After Christmas, Brenna found a Charlie Brown's Christmas animated decoration and wanted to give it to him. She was too shy to take it. After she became ill with her brain injury, I delivered Charlie Brown and Linus to Pastor Joe. As I left the service last night, I reminded him of who I was. He said he has the decoration sitting in his office and has invited me to come visit with him about my amazing journey this fall and he wanted to hear Brenna's story.

As I sat in the service and we repeated the Lord's Prayer, I was reminded again of the importance of "Thy will be done." To me, that is the most important part of the prayer. I have tried to do some things my way and forgotten to ask God his direction. God has impressed upon me that I must let him be in charge to do things his way. As a special friend recently told me, I need to learn patience. God has jerked me up by the back of the neck on this issue. God puts people in our lives for a reason and we need to wait upon him to understand his direction completely. I do know that God wants me to use "Thy will be done" as a message. I covered this in Condemned to Die. When we ask God to take control of anything in our lives, we must back off and take our hands off of it. I am making an effort from now on to do just that. A daily reminder to myself that God is in control of every event and things only get messed up when I jerk things back out of his hands.

Sheila and I came home to pizza and after she hooked up the Blue Ray to Brenna's big TV, I drug the recliner into the bedroom for her, where we had pop corn and chatted as we watched her favorite movie, The Nativity. Her son-in-law's late text reminding her to be at their house by 8:30 this morning had no affect on us. We didn't go to bed until 3:15 this morning. I told her to text him back that they couldn't start without her as she had the bacon.

Sheila has arrived at the kids and I am preparing to take Gibbs to Life-Care Treasure Valley nursing home where Brenna resided so long. The residents watched Gibbs grow up in their midst and I believe they would like to see him again. I had to get him a new sweater yesterday as he chewed his way out of his "Mama's Tough Guy" hoodie. Tippy is rejoicing in being home again and roaming in her yard. She roots in the garden for freeze dried potatoes and doesn't want to come in. She is getting old and I worry about her being outside so long in the cold. But, never fear, Gibbs is her best friend and when I send him to get her, he races across the yard, gives her a bump, then races back to the porch to show her the way.

As 2012 becomes history and a new year begins, I want you all to know that this Mom on a Mission is alright. It does hurt to be without Brenna and I know that each year will be difficult without her. However, I know that Brenna would want her mother to move forward and do what God wants me to do to further the mission of brain injury awareness. "Give up everything else before you give up hope." Those are the wise words of the person I dubbed The Taskmaster along this journey. He has been a strong support as I traveled over 8000 miles in three months. I could not have completed the journey without his concerns and keeping me on track along the way. I am grateful.

Thank you all for your love, encouragement, and prayers.