Thanksgiving IX ~

23-29 January:  During this past week, I was thankful for the "exceedingly great and precious promises" that are found in God's Word (2 Peter 1:4);thankful for the truth that I am really a child of my heavenly Father's family (John 1:12); thankful for this precious promise found in Isaiah 46:4 where it is written: " And when you are old, I will still be there, carrying you. When your limbs grow tired, your eyes are weak, and your hair a silvery gray, I will carry you as I always have. I will carry you and save you." (VOICE); I was thankful for good sleep thru' the night, and waking to a new day of life; thankful for the way my aging body is still able to do simple activities of daily living (and for help of others when something is beyond my strength!); thankful to consider this admonition from Galatians 6:1-2 where it is written: "My beloved friends, if you see a believer who is overtaken with a fault, the one who is in the Spirit should seek to restore him in the Spirit of gentleness. But keep watch over your own heart so that you won’t be tempted to exalt yourself over him. Love empowers us to fulfill the law of the Anointed One as we carry each other’s troubles." (TPT - The Passion Translation); thankful to be a recipient of God's amazing grace day after day; thankful to know I can go to Him when I blunder and He will forgive and wipe the slate clean, giving me a new start; thankful for the counsel given in Philippians 4:8 where this is written: "Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always." (TPT); thankful for the worldwide internet that allows connection with family and friends both near and far away; thankful for the Bible Gateway site that provides access to many translations and paraphrases from the Bible; thankful to join the prophet Isaiah with these words of praise: "O Lord, you are my God! I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame. For you have done extraordinary things, and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed." (Isaiah 25:1; New English Translation); thankful that a D.G.D. is visiting for a couple of days as part of the celebration of her twenty-fifth birthday this month; thankful to be blessed with a family that cares for each other (and for me!); thankful for the counsel from Ephesians 6:12-13 where this is written: " For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies—the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world. So use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and when it is all over, you will still be standing up." (The Living Bible); thankful to find this message from years go on my fb page: "When sin struggles for the mastery in the human heart, when guilt seems to oppress the soul and burden the conscience, when unbelief clouds the mind, who lets in the beams of light? Whose grace is sufficient to subdue sin, and who gives the precious forgiveness and pardons all our sins, expelling the darkness, and making us hopeful and joyful in God?—Jesus, the sin-pardoning Saviour." (Citation unknown, but suspect it is an E.G.White quote); I was thankful for another new day; thankful for the message of John 4:24 where it is written: " God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship Him according to the truth." (Contemporary English Version); thankful for God's Word, the Holy Bible, that tells me of His Sabbath rest, a memorial of His work in the beginning when He formed the earth and filled it, and the sign that He is the One who sanctifies us, makes us His own holy people (Ezekiel 20:12); thankful for winter days of sunshine; and I was thankful as I read the counsel of Jesus from Mark 9:34-35 where we read: "... The followers did not answer, because their argument on the road was about which one of them was the greatest. Jesus sat down and called the twelve apostles to him. He said, 'Whoever wants to be the most important must make others more important than themselves. They must serve everyone else.'” (Easy-to-Read Version).