I follow the heartbreaking blog of a beautiful, sweet young mother who was in a small plane crash last year.

Both she and her husband survived.

But she was terribly burned, including on her face. Before the accident, she looked in the mirror and saw the beauty she was blessed with. Now, she is terribly scarred. She’ll have more plastic surgery and facial reconstruction. But she will never see in the mirror what she saw before.

Her posts are riveting.

Some might say she is lucky to be alive, and that’s true. She is certainly lucky to have a loving husband who supports her in touching ways. And a family and church who have reached out. The Mormon Church is well known for its ward outreach and I believe this family has been its beneficiary many times.

Her emotional struggle as she recovers infuses every post. To top it off, while she tries to come to terms with her burns and disfigurement, she must choose what she wants to look like after her reconstruction. All she knows is that she won’t look like the person she was before the crash. Or the person she now sees in the mirror.

When she finally got out of the hospital, after months, one of her young children didn’t recognize her. Her post about how her child looked beyond her, crying for his “Mommy,” was intensely, poignantly, tearfully moving.

I want to enfold this young mother in my arms and soothe her. I want it to be all right for her. Even though I know perfectly well it won’t be. Not for a very long time. If ever.

So for today, another Gratitude Friday, I’d like for us to just stop a moment, give thanks for our good fortune and our lives.

And pray for this young mother, who has traveled far on a very tough road, with many miles more to go.

May God bless her and her family.

Be sure to drop by www.creativestructures.blogspot.com for more Gratitude Friday.