Happy Thanksgiving!

Last year, I felt like Thanksgiving sneaked up on me and I didn't have time to really think about it and prepare my heart to count its blessings and be thankful. This year, I want to do a better job of doing that. And I want to relish time with my family and really connect with other people. I was reading my e-newsletter from Relevant magazine, and here's a part that I really liked:

"It puts a lot of things in perspective to think of those few, first brave pioneers from Europe. While their motives and methods of colonizing North America are often questionable in the light of history, their courage and fortitude are not. Certainly, they knew hardships few of us could comprehend. Yet, in the midst of it all, they set aside time to honor and thank God for His provision.

It is hard to give thanks to God when we don’t see His goodness. Sometimes the providence of the Almighty seems much more an abstract concept than a reality. Yet, thankfulness should be a part of the very fabric of our beings, in spite of circumstance. The apostle Paul was an absolute model of this attitude. Few people had the laundry list of grievances that Paul did: shipwrecked, stoned, beaten, imprisoned. Yet his attitude throughout his writings is one of constant thanksgiving, even while in chains. He tells the church at Thessalonica:

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Thankfulness in all circumstances is not intended to massage God’s ego. Rather, thankfulness is an attitude that ultimately benefits us. When we give thanks to God in the midst of hardships, we are reminded of certain incontrovertible truths: God is good, God is gracious and God has our best interests at heart. By keeping these truths in mind, our faith becomes stronger. We begin to have the resolve to trust God, and the outgrowth of that is a new sense of peace when trouble arrives. Moreover, it’s a tremendous example to the rest of the world. To give thanks and praise to God when things are going tremendously well in our lives doesn’t prove a lot to people outside the community of faith. But to show that same thankfulness when our world is falling apart, that’s an attitude that speaks multiplied volumes.

Thanksgiving should not be limited to one day a year, but let’s start there. Let’s resolve to spend this holiday in a true condition of thankfulness. Perhaps this year hasn’t lived up to your expectations. Perhaps it’s been your worst year. Maybe Thanksgiving is actually going to be a tremendously lonely time for you. In spite of all this, give thanks. Thank God for the fact that He gave you life, and that He intends to give it to you more abundantly. That may not always resemble what we have in mind, but it will always be what’s best. " -Fred Burrows



Here are some things I am thankful for:

my health
a healthy marriage and wonderful husband
the best parents and little brother in the whole world
my family and friends, friendships that are growing, and family that is growing every year (I love my parents-in-law, brothers and sisters-in-law, cousins-in-law and all my beautiful baby cousins: Meg, Reid, Alex, and Grayson)
a good job and great co-workers
the freedoms of America
A God who is not silent, but active in our world
A God who loves me, died for me, gives me abundant life, never fails his people, and remains faithful to us even when we are not
The Lord's work of sanctification in my life and his patience; his mercies which are new every morning, even when I fail to recognize or lean on them
the spread of His kingdom on earth


Lord, continue your good work in me and in the world until the day of Christ Jesus. Please keep your hand on my life and on Luke's life, and on our families. Bless our time together, and keep us safe. May I have a spirit of gratefulness and thankfulness always.