I love the spiritual dimension of Thanksgiving: taking time to reflect on God's Goodness to us in the form of His blessings and thanking Him for them. I wondered how best to approach the task of listing all that we've been blessed with this past year and I came up with a little acrostic after reflecting on this verse from Matthew 7:11 and Luke 11:13 (NKJV):
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
So here are my blessings that came in the form of a GIFT:
Grace and Growth. When God allows difficult circumstances we are given the opportunity to grow in grace and maturity. I've had to learn to show grace during difficult circumstances at work. It's not been easy (and I'm beginning to suspect that I'm a slow learner because one set of difficult circumstances gets exchanged for another!) but I don't know if there is any other way I could have learnt such a lesson. And just as I've had to learn to show grace to others, I've also discovered that His grace is sufficient for me. I might not choose some circumstances (or want to live with something like chronic pain) but if I take one day at a time I find He does indeed give me the grace to live each day.
Instances of God's protection and provision. And they've been many! I'm thankful for employment - not just for my husband and I - but for our three eldest sons as well. Son#2 starts his first full-time job next week and Son#3 is currently working night shift as part of a summer job which will not only give him much needed income but will also enable him to meet one of the requirements of his degree programme. I'm thankful that God supplies all our needs and blesses us abundantly. I'm thankful too for incidential blessings such as zucchini being on special last night which meant we got to eat them as a part of our Thanksgiving dinner!
Family, Friends and Freedom. How blessed we are to live in a country where we can freely worship and express religious and political views without fear of punishment. How very thankful I am for family and to have had them all gathered around our table this evening. How blessed we are to know that a new life will grace our Thanksgiving table next year. How thankful I am for friendships that enrich our lives - for those that have been long-lasting and for those that are new. Some friends I see regularly, others I will likely never meet this side of eternity, but they all offer so much of themselves and bring joy to my life. How thankful I am too that as Christians we belong to the family of God. Tonight around our table several accents could be heard: New Zealand, Australian, American and German - not all related by blood but all a part of God's family. As Christians, we're never orphans.
Times and Seasons. God controls the seasons; the times; the laws of the universe; in fact, everything. How comforting it is to know that He is in control. In our own lives there are seasons too. When we first began celebrating Thanksgiving we were a family of teenagers and almost-teenagers. Now we're a family of adult and teenage children. And we have a beautiful granddaughter. This is a new season in our life - and it's changing again as an adult son returns to live at home. No matter what the future holds, I know that God is in control.
Service. For many many years my husband and I were involved in church ministry. But a year ago we took a sabbatical. While my husband has loved it, I've found it extremely difficult but I know that I've been given this time for a reason. I've learnt that God can and will use the gifts He's given me if I'm faithful. Sometimes those gifts are used in unexpected ways (as when I opened a magazine the other day and was surprised to see an article I'd written and submitted last Christmas!) It's humbling to realise that God doesn't need me - but He uses me.
The list could go on and on. There are so many things I could thank God for - and I hope I do take the time to regularly thank Him. But I'll stop here now and let you write your own Thanksgiving lists. Please be sure to share them with me!
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
So here are my blessings that came in the form of a GIFT:
Grace and Growth. When God allows difficult circumstances we are given the opportunity to grow in grace and maturity. I've had to learn to show grace during difficult circumstances at work. It's not been easy (and I'm beginning to suspect that I'm a slow learner because one set of difficult circumstances gets exchanged for another!) but I don't know if there is any other way I could have learnt such a lesson. And just as I've had to learn to show grace to others, I've also discovered that His grace is sufficient for me. I might not choose some circumstances (or want to live with something like chronic pain) but if I take one day at a time I find He does indeed give me the grace to live each day.
Instances of God's protection and provision. And they've been many! I'm thankful for employment - not just for my husband and I - but for our three eldest sons as well. Son#2 starts his first full-time job next week and Son#3 is currently working night shift as part of a summer job which will not only give him much needed income but will also enable him to meet one of the requirements of his degree programme. I'm thankful that God supplies all our needs and blesses us abundantly. I'm thankful too for incidential blessings such as zucchini being on special last night which meant we got to eat them as a part of our Thanksgiving dinner!
Family, Friends and Freedom. How blessed we are to live in a country where we can freely worship and express religious and political views without fear of punishment. How very thankful I am for family and to have had them all gathered around our table this evening. How blessed we are to know that a new life will grace our Thanksgiving table next year. How thankful I am for friendships that enrich our lives - for those that have been long-lasting and for those that are new. Some friends I see regularly, others I will likely never meet this side of eternity, but they all offer so much of themselves and bring joy to my life. How thankful I am too that as Christians we belong to the family of God. Tonight around our table several accents could be heard: New Zealand, Australian, American and German - not all related by blood but all a part of God's family. As Christians, we're never orphans.
Times and Seasons. God controls the seasons; the times; the laws of the universe; in fact, everything. How comforting it is to know that He is in control. In our own lives there are seasons too. When we first began celebrating Thanksgiving we were a family of teenagers and almost-teenagers. Now we're a family of adult and teenage children. And we have a beautiful granddaughter. This is a new season in our life - and it's changing again as an adult son returns to live at home. No matter what the future holds, I know that God is in control.
Service. For many many years my husband and I were involved in church ministry. But a year ago we took a sabbatical. While my husband has loved it, I've found it extremely difficult but I know that I've been given this time for a reason. I've learnt that God can and will use the gifts He's given me if I'm faithful. Sometimes those gifts are used in unexpected ways (as when I opened a magazine the other day and was surprised to see an article I'd written and submitted last Christmas!) It's humbling to realise that God doesn't need me - but He uses me.
The list could go on and on. There are so many things I could thank God for - and I hope I do take the time to regularly thank Him. But I'll stop here now and let you write your own Thanksgiving lists. Please be sure to share them with me!
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