Giving thanks even in the worst of times.

Someone suggested I should put this text on my blog. It is based on an email that I sent out to a handful of friends and family, in anticipation of this first Thanksgiving without my whole family in attendance. My oldest son, Nate, passed away on March 11th, 2009.

So after some deep thought, I decided to post my remarks. I hope it encourages you to give thanks, no matter what. I also included a video link of New Hope in the text. I have had the actual eulogies embedded on the right side panel of this blog for quite some time. 

If you have time, please watch and give thanks for your own family. We are.

If you are a first time reader, such writing may not appeal to you. I understand.  If you have visited the blog often, you'll see that this is a natural part of  how my family and I have grown to give thanks, at all times - and even in the worst of times.

Thanksgiving....or better put, giving thanks, is vital to good mental and spiritual health, isn't it?

So, what can you give thanks for, hard as it may seem, on the verge of Thanksgiving?

Den

Here's a few pics and the text:

   

"Thank you for your kindness to my family and me earlier this year, when our precious son, Nate, passed away at the tender age of 27.
 
It’s taken me almost 9 months to formally thank you via personal emails to a handful...and via this blog, to even more. 

As you may be aware, our family is healing – and God’s using  the concept of “time” to help in that process, though I miss Nate terribly – each day.


We buried him on the 1st day of Spring. The days since then have been both too long and, at the same time, too fast - the days seem to be passing us like breezes of wind.
 
It’s an odd reality to have an adult child freeze-framed at some arbitrary young age…in Nate’s case: 27. He’ll always be that age in our minds’ eyes, though we will grow old as his parents, siblings and friends.
 
How strange. And yet that is life, isn’t it?
 
Nater (my name for him) visited the New Hope ministry offices only twice – on trips from his adopted state of Missouri. The last visit was in January 2008
 
I remember him pensively chuckling on that trip…and then he addressed me:
“Dad, you would never have gotten into this ex-addict work, if I had not put you through Hell, would you have?”  Nate always bottom-lined things. He was indeed correct.  
 
Now that Nate’s in Heaven, we remain at New Hope helping the “adult kids” of other parents. And it’s working. (Our transitional houses number almost a dozen. Hundreds of ex-addicts have gone through our housing and treatment programs this year. Many more in the last 3+ years.)
 
If you’d like to see how things now work at New Hope, please click onto this link for a brief overview of our work there. 

(You have my permission to forward this blog link to anyone who may have known Nater.)

Especially at this time of Thanksgiving, thank you for caring for Nate, for my family and for the work of those less fortunate than ourselves through New Hope. 

“When did we visit you in prison, Lord” will not be a question we’ll ask of the Lord when we stand next to Nate Mansfield on golden shores yet revealed, will it?"

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends.

Den
 

Comments

[JIm Dalos Jr]

Dennis as you now this is the first year without my grandma. & I kind of know what your going through . Happy thanks giving JIm

[Dennis Mansfield]

Rachel, You are so kind to remember us. How precious are the memories that I've had with you and your family.

Colin's comments that :"Nate now knows Jesus better than we EVER will here on Earth"...is profound.

Hold your children tightly. Hold the Lord even tighter.

Dennis
PS: Say "hi" to your folks for me.

[Rachel Walton Brannberg]

Dear Dennis, I'm so sorry to hear about Nate. Your family has always held a special place in my heart. Take care. Love, Rachel Walton Brannberg