Thanksgiving IX ~

6-12 February:  During the past week, I have been thankful for every night that passes thru' hours of good sleep and rest - thankful for each new day of life; thankful for the gathering of families in our home here, and the willing hearts that provide a place for us who are now far past middle-age; thankful for this promise from Isaiah 46:4 where it is written: "Even to your old age I am He, and even to your advanced old age I will carry you! I have made you, and I will carry you; be assured I will carry you and I will save you." (AMP); thankful to feel rested, tho' sleepless thru' the last half of the night; thankful for the safe arrival of D.S.I.L.'s brother who came for a visit; thankful to read this admonition from Psalm 97:10-11 where it is written: "People who love the Lord hate evil. The Lord watches over those who follow Him and frees them from the power of the wicked. Light shines on those who do right; joy belongs to those who are honest." (New Century Version); thankful for hearts in which God's blessing of forgiveness is active; thankful for the many times I've been forgiven for blunders, for misdeeds in MY life; thankful for this charge once given to the apostle Paul, but truly to all believers, as found in Acts 26:16-18, where we read: "... Get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and will see of Me. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." (Christian Standard Bible); thankful to our heavenly Father for His so-great love for this planet in rebellion against His government, for sending His one and only Son to rescue all who will believe in Him as Savior and make Him Lord of their lives; I was thankful that I have chosen that way to live (after all, if I'm wrong, what have I really missed out on? But if choosing His way is the way to a forever life with Him, how would one feel to find that the choice made was the wrong choice?); thankful for the assurance provided in this passage from John 3:16-17 where it is written: "For God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life. Here’s the point. God didn’t send His Son into the world to judge it; instead, He is here to rescue a world headed toward certain destruction." (VOICE); thankful for the sunlight streaming thru' the window curtains in my room - sunshine ALWAYS makes me happy! I was thankful for health care nearby, for EMS available when needed; thankful as I consider this thought from 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 where we read: "What if I speak in the most elegant languages of people or in the exotic languages of the heavenly messengers, but I live without love? Well then, anything I say is like the clanging of brass or a crashing cymbal. What if I have the gift of prophecy, am blessed with knowledge and insight to all the mysteries, or what if my faith is strong enough to scoop a mountain from its bedrock, yet I live without love? If so, I am nothing. I could give all that I have to feed the poor, I could surrender my body to be burned as a martyr, but if I do not live in love, I gain nothing by my selfless acts." (VOICE); thankful as I anticipate meeting with my church family this day; thankful for the sleep and rest in the night just past and for the mental de-frag that the Creator has hard-wired into this system; and I was thankful as I read these words from Psalm 139:14 where they are written: "I will offer You my grateful heart, for I am Your unique creation, filled with wonder and awe. You have approached even the smallest details with excellence; Your works are wonderful; I carry this knowledge deep within my soul." (VOICE).