Give thanks...

"In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians 5:18

The other morning, I was having breakfast at the SCL Motherhouse in Kansas and an elderly sister approached me and asked if I was Heidi Gainan. She explained that she was the chaplain at the hospital when my dad died, twenty-eight years ago. She also had ministered to my mom when she'd had a heart attack, earlier that year. She talked so dearly of both my parents...it brought me to tears. I realized that, for almost ninety years, the lives of my family have been intertwined with the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. You see, they taught my dad in elementary school in the early 1920's, my mom in nurses' training in the 1930's, me in high school in the seventies, and, as this sister reminds me; they ministered to my parents as their lives edged toward Easter. The sisters have been teachers, mentors, and dear, dear friends to me. I strolled through their cemetery on the campus of the Motherhouse and walked among the simple tombstones, thanking the sisters. There were sisters I knew, most I did not know personally. But I know that they served the people of God and so many have helped the Gainans over the years. We all have people in our lives who have ministered to us. Take some time today and thank them...they will hear you. Love, heidi