Thanksgiving VI ~

11-17 August:  This week, I have been thankful to live on high ground after reading of the flooding along the Salmon River between our former home-place in Riggins and Whitebird (with prayers for those whose homes and businesses were affected!); thankful that MOST of the time when rain falls it is a beneficial situation, bringing water to thirsty land and plants; thankful as I consider this message from Isaiah 1:25 where it is written: "People use lye to clean silver. In the same way, I will clean away all your wrongs. I will remove all the impurities from you." (ERV); thankful to see sunlight coming through my window after a week-end of harsh weather that has raised havoc in the area we used to call home - keeping the Rupp family in our thoughts and prayers; thankful for the community spirit in places like Riggins (and the town where we now reside!) where dollars and labor flow together when disaster strikes; thankful to see the principles of this passage worked out in the lives of so many: "Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who comes from God and dwells inside of you? You do not own yourself. You have been purchased at a great price, so use your body to bring glory to God!" (1Corinthians 6:19-20;VOICE); thankful for the strength and health remaining to me (with many thanks to my Creator! cf Psalm 90:10); thankful for a morning shower that leaves me both clean and warmer (the outside temps seem remarkably unlike what I expect in August!); thankful for this message from Ephesians 2:8-10 where it is written: "... It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (NIV); thankful to have the little devices that fit in my ears and allow me to hear more of what's happening around me; thankful that my vision is good - only need correction when viewing a screen farther away (the big TV on the wall in the living room); thankful to the Creator "... Who put me together inside my mother’s body, and I praise You because of the wonderful way You created me. Everything You do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt." (Psalm 139:13-14; CEV); thankful to have found a fb message from a co-worker in our ShareHim trip to Haiti some ten years past - thanks fb!  I was thankful for my Cozi app that helps me keep track of all that is going on in the family; thankful for this truth from Romans 14:7-9 where it is written: "The truth is that none of us live for ourselves, and none die for ourselves. For if we live, we live for the Lord. If we die, we die for the Lord. So in both life and death, we belong to the Lord. The Anointed One, the Liberating King, died and returned to life to make this a reality: through His death and resurrection, He became Lord of the living and the dead." (VOICE); thankful to have recovered my first attempt at doing "Thanksgiving" pages, a journal from the last half of 2007 giving seven things for which I was thankful that day (many repetitions but no less thankful as I used them again!); thankful for filtered summer sunshine; thankful for the admonition from 1 Corinthians 6:16-7:1 where we read: "... Don’t you see that we house the temple of the living God within us? Remember when He said, 'I will make My home with them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be My people. So then turn away from them, turn away and leave without looking back,' says the Lord. 'Stay away from anything unclean, anything impure, and I will welcome you. And I will be for you as a father, and you will be for Me as sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty!  Because we have these promises, dearly loved ones, out of respect for God we should scour the filth from our flesh and spirit and move toward perfect beauty and holiness." (VOICE); thankful to awake to a new Sabbath morning and for all the opportunities of worship and praise available through my computer on HopeTV and 3ABN when the annual multi-church camp is happening at Wilderness Gateway this week-end; thankful there's no stormy weather in the forecast during the camping event (and no fires!); and thankful as I consider the message of                      2 Corinthians 10:16-17 where it is written " 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.' For it is not those who commend themselves that are approved, but those whom the Lord commends." (VOICE) - and there's a voice whispering to me, "Boasting in the Lord suggests praising HIM, not boasting about ones self in His name!"