Thanksgiving IX ~

26 June-2 July:  In the week just past, I have been thankful to anticipate a visit from Ellen, our Pampered Feet lady, after our appointment last week had to be rescheduled; thankful for sunshine and warmer weather; thankful for this counsel from Leviticus 19:17-18 where it is written: "You must not hate your fellow citizen in your heart. If your neighbor does something wrong, tell him about it, or you will be partly to blame. Forget about the wrong things people do to you, and do not try to get even. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am the Lord." (New Century Version); thankful for my Pampered Feet nurse and her ability to change "sore!" to "A-h-h-h-h!"; thankful for the blessing of foot care in our home for all who are "less-abled" - the morning and half the afternoon had passed before the nurse was finished with her bi-monthly visit - no hurried care, just well-groomed toes and softened calluses!  I was thankful as I read these words from Jesus in Matthew 16 - "Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wants to follow in My footsteps he must give up all right to himself, take up his cross and follow Me. For the man who wants to save his life will lose it; but the man who loses his life for my sake will find it. For what good is it for a man to gain the whole world at the price of his own soul? What could a man offer to buy back his soul once he had lost it?' " (Matthew 16:24-26; PHILLIPS); thankful for fb with its connections to family and friends near and far away; thankful for the privilege of instant communication with our heavenly Father as we lift up our praise and our petitions to Him in prayer; thankful for this affirmation from 2 Peter 3:9 where it is written: "Now the Lord is not slow about enacting His promise—slow is how some people want to characterize it—no, He is not slow but patient and merciful to you, not wanting anyone to be destroyed, but wanting everyone to turn away from following his own path and to turn toward God’s." (VOICE); thankful for my morning helper and her interest in God's Word; thankful for the freshened air provided by my ceiling fan; thankful for this promise from Jeremiah 29:11-13: " 'For I know the thoughts that I think toward you', says the Lord, 'thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.' " (NKJV); thankful for the rest and mental defrag' that happens in the night hours - even when sleep doesn't want to come; thankful for the gratitude that fills my heart when I wake to a new day of life; thankful as I consider these words from Zechariah 14:9 where this is written: "... The Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord—His name alone will be worshiped." (New Living Translation) What a day that will be!  I was thankful to have a Preparation Day for Sabbath - one of the two days God's Word designates with a name instead of ordinal numbers (Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54); thankful to have a new composition notebook provided by a D.D. for my journaling; thankful for this counsel given in Romans 12:3 where it is written: "... By the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." (New International Version); So-o-o-o thankful for another of the Creator's special rest days - His weekly Sabbath that provides rest from the bustle of the weekdays; I was thankful for weather prognostications that give warning of messy weather over the holiday - be prepared! And I was thankful for this admonition from Jeremiah 17:9-10 where it is written: "The heart is most devious and incurably sick. Who can understand it? It is I, the Eternal One, who probes the innermost heart and examines the innermost thoughts. I will compensate each person justly...." (VOICE).