Thanksgiving VI ~

21-27 July:  This past week, I have been thankful for the afternoon road trip with D.D. and three canines for a brief visit with a D.S. and his lady; thankful for beautiful scenes of harvest (and fields ALMOST ready for harvesting) across Camas Prairie and the Palouse; thankful for this reminder from Psalm 119:29-30 where it is written: " Remove from me the way of falsehood and unfaithfulness [to You], and graciously impart Your law to me. I have chosen the way of truth and faithfulness; Your ordinances have I set before me." (AMPC); thankful for access to medical care just up the hill and around the corner from where I live;  thankful for my primary medical provider who has great care for her senior patients;  thankful for my heart's agreement with Peter's words as recorded in Matthew 16:13-17 where we read: "Jesus ... asked his disciples, `I am the Son of Man. Whom do people say I am?' They answered, `Some people say you are John the Baptizer. Others say you are Elijah. And others say you are Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' Jesus said to them, `Whom do you say I am?' Simon Peter answered, `You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' Jesus answered, `Simon, Jonah's son, God has blessed you. No person on earth has showed you this. But my Father in heaven has showed you.'" (WE); thankful for already heated water for my shower - I DO remember having to HEAT water for a bath that was (serially) shared with other family members!  I was thankful to live where water for culinary use comes from a faucet inside the kitchen, not from a sand-filled hole, miles away, from which I must CLEAR the sand before filling my bucket; thankful for the invitation our Father gave when He proclaimed, "... If you are thirsty, come here; come, there’s water for all. Whoever is poor and penniless can still come and buy the food I sell. There’s no cost—here, have some food, hearty and delicious, and beverages, pure and good. I don’t understand why you spend your money for things that don’t nourish or work so hard for what leaves you empty. Attend to Me and eat what is good ...." (Isaiah 55:1-2; VOICE); thankful for beautiful brown Jasmine rice, a 25 lb. bag of which D.D. found in a store she often shops - whole food over refined or processed is so important;  thankful for a goal of totally plant-based eating, not that I have reached that point but I am headed in that direction;  thankful to recognize the truth in these words from Psalm 112:5 where we read: "Life is good for the one who is generous and charitable, conducting affairs with honesty and truth." (TPT); thankful to have coverings for my body appropriate for weather that's cool (45F here twhen this was written!) as well as warm; thankful for a weather forecast that says there will be a 10-degree bump-up in the temp tomorrow; thankful to remember this passage from Malachi 3:16-17 where it is written: "Then those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In His presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared Him and always thought about the honor of His name. 'They will be my people,' says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 'On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child.'" (NLT); thankful for laundry whirling 'round in the washer - first of three loads the mechanical washerwoman will do for me; thankful for the words "remember the Sabbath" that I'm learning to apply through the week; and I was thankful for this assurance from Hebrews 1:1 where it is written: "Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]." (AMP); thankful to know that Jesus was speaking not only to His disciples and those who were listening to Him then, but also to US through God's Word when He said, "Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither [wearily] toil nor spin nor weave; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory (his splendor and magnificence) was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today, and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you [people] of little faith? And you, do not seek [by meditating and reasoning to inquire into] what you are to eat and what you are to drink; nor be of anxious (troubled) mind] unsettled, excited, worried, and in suspense]; For all the pagan world is [greedily] seeking these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Only aim at and strive for and seek His kingdom, and all these things shall be supplied to you also." (Luke 12:27-31); thankful for Brother Reid's message to us in the worship service Sabbath morning - "What Makes Me A Christian?"; and I was thankful for these words of encouragement from Hebrews 12:1 where we read: "As for us, we have all of these great witnesses who encircle us like clouds. So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us." (TPT).