Thanksgiving VIII ~

 11-17 April: This past week, I was thankful for the gifts our Father pours out for me day after day - life, health, the measure of strength that remains, and SO much more; thankful for the gift of the Spirit and His work in my life; thankful for the greatest gift God gave us, His Son, who " ... carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we would be dead to sin and live for righteousness. Our instant healing flowed from His wounding." (1 Peter 2:24; TPT); thankful for the example of a neighbor who is now sleeping in Jesus - she did not let advancing age nor illness take control of her living; thankful for sunlight to warm me as I walk this morning; thankful for the promises of Jesus returning to wake His sleeping people in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 where we read: "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." and "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (KJV); thankful to learn of additions to the family - an ex-D.I.L. was evidently expecting when she left and told her son, when he was old enough to ask, that his daddy was dead After all these years the truth is out and I now know I have another grandson, two more great-G.S.s, and a couple of great-great-G.S.s; I was thankful for a family  that welcomes such news; thankful that God's family is like that - the Good Book tells us: "Even though He came to His own people, they refused to listen and receive Him. But for all who did receive and trust in Him, He gave them the right to be reborn as children of God; He bestowed this birthright not by human power or initiative but by God’s will." (John1:11-13; VOICE); thankful for all the beauty our Creator has saved through the winter to give reason to rejoice when buds and blooms appear in the springtime; thankful for Jesus, our Day-star, Son of Righteousness - Light of the world; thankful to read these words from Romans 3:23-24: "You see, all have sinned, and all their futile attempts to reach God in His glory fail. Yet they are now saved and set right by His free gift of grace through the redemption available only in Jesus the Anointed." (VOICE); thankful for Dr. M.'s expertise with a scalpel, cutting into and relieving a cyst that was impacted and painful; thankful that the clinic is only a short walk from our house; thankful for our Great Physician, who says: "Behold, I will ... heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security." (Jeremiah 33:6; RSV); thankful for our Father's mercy - not giving us what we deserve (Romans 3:23); thankful for His grace - providing us with blessings we do NOT deserve (verse 24); thankful for this counsel from Romans 13:8 where it is written: "Don’t owe anyone anything, with the exception of love to one another—that is a debt which never ends—because the person who loves others has fulfilled the law." (VOICE); thankful for the Creator who gave the
the seventh day as a gift to the world - a rest none knew was needed the FIRST time, for He had done ALL the work (Genesis 2:1-3); thankful for the Word and its message that the Sabbath is really the LORD'S day and will be kept throughout eternity (Exodus 20:8-11; Mark 2:28; Isaiah 66:22-23); and I was thankful for the affirmation of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 1:18 where this is written: "For people who are stumbling toward ruin, the message of the cross is nothing but a tall tale for fools by a fool. But for those of us who are already experiencing the reality of being rescued and made right, it is nothing short of God’s power." (VOICE). 

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