Thanksgiving IX ~

25 September-1 October:  In the past week, I was thankful for the blessings to be found as I read the Bible - surely the apostle was right when he wrote that the Scriptures are "profitable" to all of us; I was thankful for God's promise to work in us - to give us new hearts (Jeremiah 24:7; Ezekiel 36:26); thankful for His promise that is recorded in Jeremiah 29:11-12 where we read: "...'I know the plans I have for you'—this is the Lord’s declaration—'plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.'" (Christian Standard Bible); thankful that I have been chosen to be a daughter of the King; thankful to recognize a "hug" from Him; thankful for this affirmation from Hebrews 13:5 where we read: "... Be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]" (AMPC). In the Greek, the three "I will not"s are like italics for us today - given to provide emphasis!  I was thankful as I anticipated the arrival of my dear li'l sis who drove down from B.C. for a visit; thankful  for this counsel given us in Matthew 6:31-33 where it is written: "... Do not consume yourselves with questions: What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?  Outsiders make themselves frantic over such questions; they don’t realize that your heavenly Father knows exactly what you need.  Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you too." (VOICE); thankful for my sister's safe arrival; thankful to have the re-bound copies of Heart Throbs - a couple of volumes of poetry and prose from the early twentieth century I loved to peruse from my mother's bookcase; thankful to read this passage from 1 Corinthians 2:14 where it is written: "People who do not have God’s Spirit do not accept the things that come from His Spirit. They think these things are foolish. They cannot understand them, because they can only be understood with the Spirit’s help." (Easy-to-Read Version); thankful for the good news that the Savior will come again; thankful to have a choice as to which side to follow in "the Great Controversy" - the conflict for souls that is occurring in a very real but unseen realm; thankful for this message from John 3:20-21: "Some of humankind [have] hated the light. They scampered hurriedly back into the darkness where vices thrive and wickedness flourishes. Those who abandon deceit and embrace what is true, they will enter into the light where it will be clear that all their deeds come from God.” (VOICE); thankful for all the beauty of this season - the russets, yellows, and reds of autumn bring joy to this heart; thankful that our Father foresaw the sin problem and provided a perfect Savior who was ". . . made to be sin for us, [the One who] knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21; KJV); thankful for this counsel from the apostle Paul, found in Philippians 1:9-10: "And this I pray, that your love may abound more and more [displaying itself in greater depth] in real knowledge and in practical insight, so that you may learn to recognize and treasure what is excellent [identifying the best, and distinguishing moral differences], and that you may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ [actually living lives that lead others away from sin]" (Amplified Bible); thankful to be celebrating a High Sabbath with my sister visiting, a D.S. and his precious wife joining us from Montana, along with the four from this residence all coming together for worship and praise with the church family in Grangeville; thankful for a bright sunshiny day to begin the new month; and I was thankful that God is unchanging, that His Word stands forever, and this commandment still applies: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (New International Version).