Thanksgiving X ~

 12-18 February:  This past week, I was thankful for our Father's promise ". . . before they call, I will answer and while they are still speaking, I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24); thankful for the company of our furry friends - all kinds of them, large and small; thankful for this definition of love that is written in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, where we read: "Love is patient; love is kind. Love isn’t envious, doesn’t boast, brag, or strut about. There’s no arrogance in love; it’s never rude, crude, or indecent—it’s not self-absorbed. Love isn’t easily upset. Love doesn’t tally wrongs or celebrate injustice; but truth—yes, truth—is love’s delight! Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what." (VOICE); thankful that there is a promise of strength sufficient for each day's needs (Deuteronomy 33:25); thankful for the promise found in Isaiah 49:25, that our God will contend with the enemy and save our children (that includes their descendants as well!); thankful to read this well-known passage in the Classic Edition of the Amplified Bible: "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him." (John 3:16-17); thankful for the "others" emphasis on Valentine's Day - especially that of the original St. Valentine who GAVE rather than hoping to receive; thankful for the strength given for each day; thankful to read these words from the mouth of Jesus: "I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another" (John 13:34-35; Amplified Bible); thankful for sound sleep and the restoration sleep brings; thankful for hours of entertainment I've experienced watching the four-leggers as they interact with each other and with the critters they see out the window; thankful for the message of Micah 6:8: "He has told you ... what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (English Standard Version); thankful to be a child of the Most High with His promise of a bright tomorrow (John 1:12; ch. 3:16); thankful for the sunshine showing through the clouds this morning; thankful for all the love found in John's first epistle, reminders to love - like this one: "The central truth—the one you have heard since the beginning of your faith—is that we must love one another." (1 John 3:11; VOICE); thankful to be hosting my middle son- he's being the "Mom-sitter" while D.D. and D.S.I.L. are getting the weekend away; thankful for the laundry equipment that takes care of the soiled sheets and dirty clothes; thankful for the promise that there is One who has promised to make ME clean as well: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. But if we confess our sins to God, He will keep His promise and do what is right: He will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing" (1 John 1:8-9; Good News Translation); thankful for a new Sabbath morning and plans to join our church family for worship and praise and study; thankful for the physical recuperative capabilities built in by our Creator; and I was thankful for this affirmation Paul wrote in Romans 8:38-39: "... I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (New International Version).