Thanksgiving IX ~

 17-23 April:  This week, I was thankful to know of the empty tomb where our Lord Jesus was once resting, but now He is risen, He is risen indeed!   I was thankful for a day of sunshine forecast on the web; thankful for this affirmation found in 1 Corinthians 1:18 where it is written: "... The message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God." (The Amplified Bible); thankful for the privilege of prayer - instant, wireless communication from earth to heaven for praise and worship, words from a grateful heart, and our cries for help; thankful for another day of life with love of family and friends; thankful for the promise found in Romans 10:9-10 where this is written: "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." (New International Version); thankful to have the privilege of "sleeping in" of a morning - no time-clock awaits in retirement years!  I was thankful for those who DO need to be on time in the many essential services that provide for us; thankful as I peruse this message from Psalm 128:1-2 where it is written: "Those who stand in awe of the Eternal—who follow wherever He leads, committed in their hearts--experience His blessings! God will use your hard work to provide you food. You will prosper in your labor, and it will go well for you." (VOICE); thankful for the mental de-fragmentation the Creator built into human minds, a process that goes on in sleep; thankful for other processes that make every day life possible; thankful as I read this promise from Jeremiah 33:6 where it is written: "Behold, I will bring it health ... and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth." (Blue Red and Gold Letter Edition); thankful to a Father who's "not willing that ANY should perish, but that all will come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9); thankful for gradually warming weather, with the crystalline water melting almost as it falls - go AWAY winter!  I was thankful as I considered this assurance from Jesus as recorded in John 10:28-29 where we read: "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from Me, for My Father has given them to Me, and He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand." (New Living Translation); thankful for the clear, crisp sound coming out from the new hearing amplifiers that have arrived; thankful for a new Preparation Day in which to complete my "to do" list for the Sabbath; thankful as I read this from Romans 1:19-20 where it is written: "... What can be known about God is plain to them—for God has shown it to them. His invisible attributes—His eternal power and His divine nature—have been clearly seen ever since the creation of the world, being understood through the things that have been made. So people are without excuse—" (Tree of Life Translation); thankful for another day of life and the measure of "well being" that is mine; thankful to qualify for more help for all the seniors in this domicile; and I was thankful for this promise from Isaiah 56:2 where it is written: " God’s favor rests on those who attend to justice, who devote themselves to doing what is right, who keep the Sabbath and don’t disregard or belittle it, who keep from doing what is wrong: destructive, deceitful, or violent." (VOICE).