Seek and You Will Find - Luke 11

Happy Boxing Day Team 242! I hope everybody's been having a relaxing and blessed holiday break. My holiday break has basically consisted of three things: eating, catching up with friends, and family time. It's always a challenging time for me to come back home because it requires a lot of patience and compassion for me to support and be there for my widowed dad. Ever since my mom's passing three years ago, I've seen my dad become more and more anxious/depressed with his time and life.

Despite this though, praise God for a more fruitful Christmas lunch yesterday. My brothers and I went to eat at a made-to-order sushi buffet for lunch and I was encouraged by the conversation and enthusiasm from my dad. Normally he does not like to leave the house and also does not eat too much when we go out to eat. This time though, he was more talkative and also ate a lot more than he usually does.

As I come home to visit more and more, my burden to pray for my family increases more and more. I do see God's love and faithfulness in redeeming some of our family wounds but it is still far from being fully healed. Reading today's passage in Luke reminded me of God's amazing love to those who cry out to Him in prayer. I oftentimes find myself feeling self-sufficient and not willing to ask for help (even from God). However, more and more, I find myself in situations or circumstances where I have no control over anything. I cannot control whether my dad is able to get back on his feet and live more purposefully and passionately. The only thing I can do is do my part as a son to visit home and make time for him. The rest is up to God to provide healing and support for my dad.

Another thing that I realized during this time was that I'm not sure when I will be visiting my home next. I do not anticipate any vacations coming up to New Jersey so it's definitely something I want to pray about to discern how I can still support and love my family from Michigan.