All Praise, Honor and Thanksgiving be...

...to Jesus Christ, now and forever!!!
Amen.
Have you ever found that pefect Novena? You know, the one that hits you square between the eyes, the one that says ~ no, screams ~ "Here I am! Pray me!!!"
Today was a day unlike most others in my life. I had been losing sleep, crying to myself silently, wringing my hands, not being able to concentrate on anything but getting through til it might be time again to catch a few hours of sleep, seeing that I had not gotten that much the night before.
And then it would come again ~ waking in the wee hours, lying there, staring at the ceiling, listening to my Michael's gentle breathing at my side...
Little did I know (for the most part) that when I did close my eyes in slumber, he was living the night owl existence that I had just escaped a short time before...and so, as the nights wore on, tells the hours of our life here. And this, for nearly a week.
I am not free to go into the details, but suffice it to say that we were so stressed out, we were barely able to get anything done, short of prayer and worry.
Today was a big day ~ the day it all turned around, and the day destined to be red-letter.
As I sat here this morning, I thought to myself, "Today is the day we make a certain do-or-die phone call. Today is the day! It has to be ~ I can't take this anymore..."
And as I took out my favorite prayer book, there it was...that card with the nine-hour Novena of Childlike Confidence to the Divine Infant of Prague.
This holy card practically jumped into my hands...and it was then that it hit me!
"Why not?" right??
Like anything else, Our most Blessed Lord Jesus, keeping a Promise that He made so long ago, and of course, being the merciful God that He is, He does not leave His poor servant out in the cold.
So I began. And then, the most amazing thing happened.
My stress began almost immediately to wear away.
Mike & I went out to lunch...talked things out, trying to whittle away this problem that was hurting us both ~ totally out of our control at this point, hovering over our family like a disease, threatening to take away our peace for many months to come.
And by the time I got to the third hour of my Novena, it was over. Just like that. He made this all-too-fateful phone call and the news was completely the best news we could have ever hoped for or imagined!
My Novena of petition had no more immediacy...it was time for a Novena of thanksgiving, which I plan to make tomorrow. And you can believe that this is one Prayer that I will keep close to my heart for the rest of my life!!!
There is nothing like saying "Thank-You, Lord Jesus! All praise, honor and thanksgiving to You now and forever! Amen."