As thanksgiving is here and we are waiting to go to Rick and Ginger's and be with family for our feast, I wanted to share my thoughts. Of course I am so thankful for Gary---we have put in 38 plus years together and it is great growing old with your best friend. We have an amazing family that I am so thankful for. My parents are still with us, which I feel so blessed , 3 of the best kids that you could ever want---and their spouses we could not have done better if we had hand picked them ourselves! We love them so much. The grand kids....what can I say about 10
of the most brilliant grand kids around. They are just growing up way too quickly for us! With that there is change...such a busyness to their lives. I am thankful for God's provision in our lives. The car business has still been a pretty been a tough business to be in, but God is always faithful. Our church and church family is a real blessing in our lives. God is doing a real work in Columbia, and I think there is going to be big things this year! We had a lady saved this Sunday...praise the Lord. Columbia is a real mission field.
It is so easy to be thankful for the blessing God pours out, but what about when it is tough? We all have those hard times. Those thorns of life. I started a tradition several years ago in our family when we go around the table to give a thankful praise, we have to be thankful for a thorn. That one is not so easy.The Bible tells us to give thanks is EVERY thing.We usually forget about this one. We don't want to give thanks for the hurts, the pain, or whatever else that thorn is in your life. But we must...and it feels so much better to give it to the Lord and thank Him for it. It is through these thorns of life that He is working a good work in us. We are being purified and shall come forth as gold!! Sometimes I think I will be a solid huge 24K nugget!!
Our daughter claimed Jeremiah 29:11 as her life verse as a very young teenager going through a devastating trial in her life. I love that verse, and if we all claim it it can help get us through the roughest of thorns of life.
"For I know the plan I have for you" says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."
As you celebrate this Thanksgiving, remember to be thankful for the thorns. We all have them, some a lot more than others, but every one has them. Mine has been my asthma. It has been another rough year with it, put we will continue on, thanking God for the breath I have and for sparing my life once again.
