Ten Years Later, I’m Still Thanking God.

• By candidasullivan
• October 10, 2026
• No Comments

Today will always be special to me. It’s the day years of prayers, hope, and faith met a blessing I had once believed was impossible. I imagine God went to the place where He keeps unanswered prayers and pulled mine out. Sometimes I wonder what God felt as He held the answer to my prayer in His hands. Did He feel the pain I endured for so long, the gratitude I would feel when I received the miracle, and the pure joy of giving me something I couldn’t give myself, but longed to have? 

I felt Him from the very beginning. Even though my circumstances hadn’t changed yet, my heart praised God for the possibility. That was the first time I had truly felt the blessing before it happened. 

For the weeks leading up to my thumb surgery, I praised the Lord. I would be cooking supper and start crying. I would drive, tears racing down my cheeks. Sometimes I couldn’t sleep, not from fear, but from anticipating an answered prayer. 

God didn’t forget about me. He heard those nightly prayers when I was a child. And the prayers of pain as an adult. 

I guess that’s what truly touched me. God heard my pleas, and He made a way when there wasn’t a way. I wasn’t even thinking about surgery as an option. I didn’t even know it would be possible to release my thumb and for it to work. 

There wasn’t a blueprint. The doctor told me there was a chance it wouldn’t work. I went into the operating room with complete and total faith in my Lord. I went in with no guarantee, but with peace in my soul. I knew that whatever happened would be the best for me. 

If it failed and I couldn’t use my left hand anymore, my life would have been so much harder. I had endured months of not being able to use it after my fall. The odds might have been stacked against me, but I felt wholeheartedly that the Lord was for me. 

Taking that step of faith changed my life. I trusted the Lord through the uncertainty, and He amazed me.

But the process was still hard. Even though it was a blessing from God, it still hurt. Healing took time. After surgery, I couldn’t use my hand the old way or the new way. So many emotions swirled inside of me. 

I felt guilty about the part of my hand that was removed. I felt frustrated that my thumb and hand wouldn’t work as I expected. I felt immense pain. I feared it might never work. I felt embarrassed every time I showed someone my hand because it was new and I couldn’t use it the way I wanted. 

Even with all that, I felt immense gratitude to have a thumb on my left hand. It was an answered prayer. And I learned that answered prayers don’t always mean comfort or ease. Sometimes we have to go through the pain and difficulty to reach the fullness of what we desire. 

Ten years later, I am so incredibly grateful to God for a masterful plan that helped me in ways I never dreamed possible. I live most of my days pain-free. My left hand has taken much of the strain off my right side. For the most part, my ribs stay in place. And I can lift weights with my left hand. 

I also have the beautiful moment of faith, hope, love, and answered prayers written in my journals and etched in my mind and heart. Whenever I doubt or think something is impossible, I look at my left hand. My thumb holds a very beautiful reminder for me. Nothing is impossible with God. 

Luke 18:27 KJV

²⁷ And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

Today and every day, my heart says, thank you, Lord. Thank you for seeing me. Thank you for having compassion on me. Thank you for making a way, when there wasn’t one visible. Thank you for not forgetting about my prayer. Thank you for letting me use my thumb. Thank you for holding me every step of the way. Thank you for the beautiful gift of remembrance this day holds for me. After ten years, my heart still feels immense gratitude for the blessing of my thumb. Thank you! Amen. 

I used to look at my hand and see what I didn’t have. Now I look at it and see what God has done.