When I met her she was 47, and angry, so angry. This woman had this 2 year old boy, a child who came as a surprise pregnancy when she was 45 and this notion was not well received by her heart. She as mad, still. She didn’t want him and had plotted out the next years and realized she will be turning 63 when he turned 18, and that felt ancient, like a waste, like a loss of life to her. I was a young pastor, and she my parishioner and we had many conversations about this surprise blessing, this precious rambunctious child. All those terms much more positive than she would be likely to use. How might you respond to a surprising change? The call to raise a grandchild? A surprising illness that changed everything? The loss of a loved one? A fight in a public place that left your gut feeling torn up? How did you respond? This Sunday we are walking with Elizabeth, and we can still choose to be like her as we respond to change. We can choose life, thanksgiving, hope and joy. In her we meet another response to the changes life can toss our direction. What might that look like if it was your life? All of us have stories of the season that have left us stretched. How have these stories encountered thanksgiving from your heart?