Father's Day surprise II

By Lavern and Ronda Nissley
(This post is a follow up to Father's Day surprise from last week about a life-altering experience that almost took Ronda's life. If you aren't familiar with this back story, you'll want to read it first.)

Robert Emmons, a leading researcher on gratitude, had this to say about it in a 2010 Greater Good Magazine post : "Gratitude is a social emotion. I see it as a relationship-strengthening emotion because it requires us to see how we’ve been supported and affirmed by other people." He also provided 4 reasons on why gratitude is good.

We'd like to share those 4 reasons as well as our own 7 points of gratitude surrounding a major challenge in our own marriage journey.

Here are the 4 reasons from Robert Emmons on why gratitude is good:

• Gratitude allows us to celebrate the present. It magnifies positive emotions.
• Gratitude blocks toxic, negative emotions, such as envy, resentment, regret—emotions that can destroy our happiness.
• Grateful people are more stress resistant. There’s a number of studies showing that in the face of serious trauma, adversity, and suffering, if people have a grateful disposition, they’ll recover more quickly. (That's good for Ronda!)
• Grateful people have a higher sense of self-worth. I think that’s because when you’re grateful, you have the sense that someone else is looking out for you—someone else has provided for your well-being, or you notice a network of relationships, past and present, of people who are responsible for helping you get to where you are right now.

Here are the top 7 things we're grateful for:

• That Ronda survived. She paid attention to what her body was telling her about abdominal discomfort and sought medical assessment.
• That the Urgent Care doctor sent her to ER. He could have just given her what she thought she needed - some antibiotics. But his skilled assessment gave him concern for something else going on.
• That the surgeon was a friendly, familiar and skilled expert on what Ronda needed. Dr. Pam Bucklew has a wonderful bedside manner and years of surgical experience.
• That our daughter, Kristen Frank, provided an encouraging presence during and after surgery. It was Father's Day, and Kristen invested love, care and support in a beautiful way for about 6 hours.
• That family, friends and leaders were therapeutically responsive. It's amazing how much potency there is in seeing hundreds of messages via text, Facebook, etc. like "Praying", "So sorry", "How can I help?" We were overwhelmed with love and care. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• That Ronda is progressing and healing well. Every day contains both bouts of pain/fatigue as well as energy/hope. So far the general trend is in a positive, upward direction.
• That our marriage is being strengthened and refreshed. We would never have anticipated a life-threatening, life-altering event bringing us so close to each other. Not something either of us would have chosen, but we yield to the original Architect of our marriage. He knows the beginning and the end, and we trust Him fully to go the distance.
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Hmmm, as we've jotted down these 7 items, something good has happened in our own hearts. We realize how much we need and are blessed by other people. How much we really can't do it all by ourselves. And that is a truly good thing!
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