Thanksgiving VI ~

14-20 April:  Last week, I was thankful to start my day with a prayer copied from a favorite book and used, morning by morning: "Take my heart, I cannot give it, it is Your property ...."; thankful to know the message God has given in His Word (and to be learning more, day by day); thankful as I experience the truth of these words from Lamentations 3:21-24 where we read: "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul,'therefore I will hope in Him.'” (RSV); thankful to see shards of blue sky in the early morning light; thankful that there are more routes to Kamiah where a D.D. teaches than the path she usually travels - flooding has caused problems on more than one path into that little city; thankful for this admonition found in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 where it is written: "It all comes from God. He reconciled us to Himself through the Messiah, and He gave us the ministry of reconciliation. This is how it came about: God was reconciling the world to Himself in the Messiah, not counting their transgressions against them, and entrusting us with the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors, speaking on behalf of the Messiah, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore people on the Messiah’s behalf to be reconciled to God." (NTE); thankful not to need to tote water (and heat it!) for culinary and cleaning purposes - and BLESS those who support well-drilling projects in dry places on the other side of the globe! I have been thankful to have found access to the water of life, free to all who ask for it; thankful for the words of Jesus that explain this concept: "Jesus answered her, “If you knew [about] God’s gift [of eternal life], and who it is who says, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him [instead], and He would have given you living water (eternal life).” (John 4:10; AMP); thankful every morning for God's wonderful, marvelous, matchless grace;  thankful that grace is FREELY given to ALL who believe in our Savior (and soon coming King!); thankful, too, for this message from God's Word, a message that is so apt for the days in which WE live: "The Lord said, 'These people show respect to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Their worship of Me is worth nothing. They teach rules that men have made. So see, I will once again do great things with these people, great and wonderful things. And the wisdom of their wise men will be gone. The understanding of their wise men will be hidden.'” (Isaiah 29:13-14; NLB); thankful for the sunlight that is streaming through the big window in my bedroom, unimpeded by any foliage on the just now budding Horse-chestnut; thankful to have my little AM chores already completed, to be ready for the remainder of this day; thankful for this admonition to share, to "witness" found in Romans 10:9-10 where it is written: "If you say with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved from the punishment of sin. When we believe in our hearts, we are made right with God. We tell with our mouth how we were saved from the punishment of sin." (NLV); thankful for a bit of an early start for the Sabbath prep activities; thankful for more sunshine through my window (and heavenly sunshine in my heart!); thankful for the good news of a RISEN Savior, as given in 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 where we read: "But it is true! Christ has been raised from the dead! He was the first One to be raised from the dead and all those who are in graves will follow. Death came because of a man, Adam. Being raised from the dead also came because of a Man, Christ. All ... will die as Adam died. But all those who belong to Christ will be raised to new life." (NLV); thankful for the weekly remembrance of our Creator and His completed work - a day to learn of Him, to enjoy all He has done; thankful for the anticipation of our Easter Communion service to be observed today; and thankful to read these words from 1 Corinthians 15:55-57: " O death, where is your power? O death, where are your pains? The pain in death is sin. Sin has power over those under the Law. But God is the One Who gives us power over sin through Jesus Christ our Lord. We give thanks to Him for this." (NLV).