1. I am thankful for chemotherapy. God is using it to sustain my sister's life right now. He also used it to save my little nephew, Carter Boy.
2. I am thankful we still have Heather Lee George with us. It was only a few short weeks ago there was a moment we weren't sure she would be with us today.
3. I am thankful for the love I have seen displayed in her marriage from her husband, Taylor. It does a big sister's heart good to see her little sister loved as much as he loves her. What a display of the Gospel!
4. I am thankful for the ways God is using my Mom and Dad, who, in retirement years, are still caring for and serving their children with joy. I don't know if trips and leisure were ever on their minds as something they desired to do or talked about together. But that wasn't God's plan for them. Instead, they have cared for and buried their own parents these past few years, have helped in the care of their young grandson who has battled cancer, and now their daughter and her children need them as the battle of cancer continues for our family.
God has placed my parents in the lives of many other brokenhearted and hurting people. It's amazing to me how this last part of their lives they are walking towards the arms of King Jesus, ready to lay at His feet the crowns of righteousness He so deserves.
5. I am thankful for lost job opportunities. It has taught me better to wait upon the Lord with gladness, and made me better see what I need to be focusing my time and attention on.
6. I am thankful for disobedient children. Well, maybe it would be more adequate to say, I am thankful for how God is working in my own heart through their disobedience.
I am seeing more and more, that I am my toddler, fighting to get my way, wanting things done on my own, just like she does. How I don't want to be under the safe loving hands of my Father who knows what is best for me. Yet, He brings me back to Him again and again...with patience, discipline, faithfulness and perfect love.
7. I am thankful for a heavy heart. A lot of this year has been a struggle of fears and grief for me. But recently, I was reminded, that God saves the afflicted through their affliction.(Job 36:15) So I am thankful for the ways He has given me a sensitivity to the suffering in the world around me...far away, and up close as well. It has caused me to focus more on who He is and not my circumstances. Which is our only true place of rest. I have realized that I can grieve with hope
(1 Thessalonians 4:13) And that has made me cherish Christ more.
And Lastly...
I am so very thankful to see the Holy Spirit mightily at work in my family. He has used these trials to soften hearts and save souls! He is on the move. It gives me so much joy to see God at work...changing people. And to see it right within the family I grew up with, and the family He has given me now with my husband, is beyond incredible.
I end this Thanksgiving 2011 post with a song written by our music Pastor, David Ward. We sang it last Sunday, and it gives me much comfort as I reflect upon all of the things I am so thankful for from this past year....
O soul, are you weary from wave upon wave
Of grief and affliction whom no man can save?
Has sickness surrounded, or unending night?
Uncertainty stolen your joy and your might?
O doubting, o fearful– remember His care,
The helpless and hopeless need never despair
For from your afflictions His glory shall spring–
The deeper your sorrow, the louder you’ll sing!
Remember your Father– His promise, His love:
Remember your Savior– His grief and His pain,
The lonely affliction, unmerited shame.
Though you had betrayed Him, He died in your place;
The joy set before Him He offers by grace.
Remember your Father– His promise, His love:
Chorus:
“I’ll never forsake you, this pain will not break you,
For I will remake you for unending joy;
My promise is faithful though now it is painful;
No power can trample my covenant love.”
Of grief and affliction whom no man can save?
Has sickness surrounded, or unending night?
Uncertainty stolen your joy and your might?
O doubting, o fearful– remember His care,
The helpless and hopeless need never despair
For from your afflictions His glory shall spring–
The deeper your sorrow, the louder you’ll sing!
Remember your Father– His promise, His love:
Remember your Savior– His grief and His pain,
The lonely affliction, unmerited shame.
Though you had betrayed Him, He died in your place;
The joy set before Him He offers by grace.
Remember your Father– His promise, His love:
Chorus:
“I’ll never forsake you, this pain will not break you,
For I will remake you for unending joy;
My promise is faithful though now it is painful;
No power can trample my covenant love.”
Happy Thanksgiving, Family, I love you!~~~~~~~~~~
I am so glad we are running this race, together.
I am so glad we are running this race, together.
"Therefore,since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus,
the founder and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:1-2
~~~~~~~~~~~