Thanksgiving IV ~

12-18 February:  This week I have been thankful that D.D. did not require another early morning departure time (for two in a row!); I'm thankful for clearing skies in the weather forecast; and I've been thankful for this message from Paul's definition of real love: "Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth. Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits" (1 Corinthians 13:6-7, ERV); thankful for our Father's beautiful "Good morning!" greeting - sky  blossoming with rosy-red color as I looked out my window; thankful that a dear friend heeded the angel whisper that took her to the ER after church (instead of the long drive home) and for her successful treatment; and I am thankful for these words from Isaiah 42:16 which read: ". . . I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness into light before them and make uneven places into a plain. These things I have determined to do [for them]; and I will not leave them forsaken" (AMPC) - may we ALL recognize our spiritual blindness and look to the Savior!  I have been thankful for the "others" emphasis on Valentine's Day - especially that of the original St. Valentine who GAVE rather than hoping to receive; I'm thankful for strength given for each day; and I am thankful to read these words from the mouth of Jesus: "I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another" (John 13:34,35; AMP); thankful for the Riggins friend that filled me in re the correct data on the "original" Valentine; thankful to have wakened early enough to be dressed to my shoes when the dear Dandee wrapped his lead through a crack at the bottom of the long stairway from the front porch; and I thankful for the affirmation of faith for each believer found in 1 John 4:9,10: "Herein was that love of God made manifest amongst us, because God sent His only begotten Son into this world, that we might live through Him. Herein is that love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be a reconciliation for our sins" (GNV); thankful for D.D.'s safe and on-time return from a visit with her other mom and dad in Arizona; thankful to have remembered the recipe for a plant-based sandwich spread another nurse provided when I was working at Monument Valley Hospital; and I am thankful to have heard and believed the admonition from 1 John 3:11, which reads: ". . . This is the gospel message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another" (NET); for health and strength enough for my "to do" list - the "turn the mattress" part already accomplished; I'm thankful for the laundry equipment that takes care of the soiled sheets and dirty clothes; and I am thankful for the promise that there is One who has promised to make ME clean as well: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. But if we confess our sins to God, He will keep His promise and do what is right: He will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing" (1 John 1:8,9; GNT); thankful for a new Sabbath morning and plans to join our church family for study and worship and praise; thankful for the physical recuperative capabilities built in by our Creator; and I am thankful for this affirmation Paul wrote in Romans 8:38,39: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (AKJV).