This is the time of year when we stop and take stock of the blessings God has given us. While many just give lip service to the concept of giving thanks, gratitude is vital to our emotional and spiritual health.
I am thankful for many things. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife who puts up with my foibles and all the changes in thinking I have been going through. Jan's love is a major blessing. The Father has allowed me to be Dad to two fantastic children, Josh and Jennie, who have grown into adults who love Jesus and who will be used by God for his kingdom. My sister Debbie, and her family are a blessing and I am thankful for their love. Jan's mom and dad have always treated me as a son and their love and support is huge, and her sisters and their families are a blessing as well.
I am thankful to have grown up in a family where there was unconditional love, and where an example of simple, true faith was evident. My mom and dad are the major factor behind who I am today.
I am grateful to the Father for adopting me as his child and showing me that his love and grace are bigger than anything I have done or will do. God has worked in me the past four years and has brought me out of a performance based mindset into a relationship of love, a relationship that sees God as Abba, not as someone who is always looking for how many times I screw up, and waiting for me to "get right with him" before he blesses me.
I am thankful for the (thousands?), (hundreds?), (tens?), ones of readers who are a little bit interested in my babblings.
There are so many things that I am thankful for. To list them all would take too long and tax your patience beyond reason.
What are you thankful for?
2 comments:
Likewise, my list of what I'm thankful for would take many, many pages to write out. So I'll just mention two...first, my church family. While it was exciting when my wife and I got married and moved 1300 miles away from home, it was also a little lonely. But we've been embraced by them and have felt so loved by them, it's incredible. We get to share thanksgiving with one family tomorrow which is great.
Second, my school. Even though I'm bogged down in work right now, I am so thankful that I get to be studying something I love, and that I am being taught and mentored by a bunch of guys who love the Lord so much, and who are so passionate about the Gospel and about the truth of Scripture and want to impart that love to us.
Have a great thanksgiving, Fred!
Thanks, Jake. I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving as well
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