Thanksgiving III ~

14-20 August:  This week I have been thankful for D.D.'s safe arrival at Denver's airport - it's another curriculum conference but the youngest D.D. is picking her up and they have the day to get caught up; thankful for the thoughtful message given by a Lewiston brother at our church service yesterday - a challenge to "endure"; and for this message from our Savior found in Revelation 3:19-20: "I correct and discipline those whom I love. So be earnest and change your hearts and lives. Look! I’m standing at the door and knocking. If any hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to be with them, and will have dinner with them, and they will have dinner with Me" (CEB); thankful always for assurance of the Father's love for His people and to know that He delights in our prayers (Proverbs 15:8,9): I'm thankful for another sunshine-y morning - and for sunlight in my heart; and thankful for the truth I find in Romans 14:8: "The truth is that we neither live nor die as self-contained units. At every turn life links us to God, and [one day] we [will] come face to face with Him. In life or death we are in the hands of God. Christ lived and died that He might be the Lord in both life and death" (PHILLIPS); thankful to see the persons my children have grown to be; I'm thankful, too, for all the ways the Father finds to work out in our lives all the things He has started; and thankful for the sister who wrote a little song that has fixed this promise from Philippians 1:6 in my mind: "Be ye confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it 'til the day of Jesus Christ"; I'm thankful that the D.S.I.L. has survived his unusual rotation of SIX twelve-hour shifts in a row - I used to work three and be exhausted! I am thankful to have news that the D.S. who is in the area has a comfortable place to stay while awaiting repairs on his vehicle - clutch failed, but he was able to find assistance in the next couple of days instead of two or three weeks; and so thankful for this promise from Isaiah 65:24: ". . . It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear" (KJV); thankful for the measure of health and strength that remains - the credit is not mine, but belongs to our Creator! I am thankful for the prompt arrival of a teachers' quarterly, ordered by the other Carolyn, for me to use when I'm a substitute teacher for our Sabbath School class; and thankful for this promise from Ezekiel 11:19,20: "I will give you one heart and a new spirit; I will take from you your hearts of stone and give you tender hearts of love for [Me], so that you can obey My laws and be My people, and I will be your God" (TLB); I am thankful for the hope, the consolation provided in the psalms - the poetry of a life trusting God; thankful for the knowledge that a D.S. will be returning from another adventure today, and a D.D. from HER week-long absence; and thankful for these words from 1 John 5:11,12: "[Those] who will not believe God [are] making Him out to be a liar, because [they are] deliberately refusing to accept the testimony that God has given concerning His own Son. This is, that God has given [us] eternal life and this real life is to be found only in His Son. It follows naturally that any [one] who has genuine contact with Christ has this life; and if . . . not, then . . . does not possess this life at all" (PHILLIPS - adapted); thankful to be enjoying another Sabbath, with anticipation of spending time with sisters and brother in one of God's houses studying, praising,and worshiping together; thankful to have lists completed; and thankful for these words from Psalm 16:8,9: " I will always look to You, as You stand beside me and protect me from fear. With all my heart, I will celebrate, and I can safely rest" (CEV).