Thanksgivings

A challenge was issued by a friend of mine for 10 people to make a list of ten blessings or ten thanksgivings; I know of a couple of people who have accepted the challenge and now I am accepting it to.

I'm thankful for (in no particular order...)

1. Music. Psalm 92:1; "It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High..." Psalm 108:1; "My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul." Music is a gift and a powerful tool that God uses to draw us into his presence. What would I do without music...?

2. My spouse. Proverbs 31:23; "Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land." My husband is a man of God - and growing more and more like a man of God every day. While we don't always see eye to eye or appreciate each other the way we should, I am blessed beyond...to be able to share his life.

3. Kids. Psalm 127:3; "Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him." Proverbs 17:6; "Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children." Jeremiah 31:7; "So there is hope for your future," declares the LORD. "Your children will return to their own land." I am proud of my children; even though they don't always do what I think they should. I love and accept them for who they are and what they are but I don't stop praying that my children "will return" and have an authentic relationship with the Savior. I trust God's promise in Jeremiah 29 that when they seek him, they will find him when they seek him with all of their heart.

4. Friends and Family. Luke 15:9; "And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me...'" Hebrews 10:5; "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Ecclesiastes 4:10; "If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" We have been blessed by so many wonderful friends and family; those who rejoice with us but also those who cry with us; we meet, we encourage, we grow together. We have the Ecclesiastes 4:10 friends; friends who love and support; encourage and pray for us.

5. Grace. John 1:16; "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another." Thankful to that I was finally able to accept the grace; one of the best gifts ever!

6. The freedom to choose. Deuteronomy 30:19; "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live." Philippians 1:20; "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." That God, after he sacrificed his own Son, would still allow us to choose to accept the gift of salvation is beyond me. That kind of love and patience is amazing.

7. Past mistakes. Job 23:10; "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." How much shall I write here? If I were to write about the ways that I've taken and the tests that have come from my choices and mistakes, they would need to be bound into a book. I am thankful though, that God allowed me to try things my way; he allowed me to fail. In my failure, I learned and experienced and got to know a compassionate, forgiving, pursuing, abundant and intentional God - my God! I don't know if I would know him the way I do if it hadn't been for the ways that taken...

8. Blood and the Lamb. 1 Peter 1:19; "but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." For the sacrifice that Jesus made for me; that he appeared in front of God "wearing" all my sin and shame as if it was his own. That my chains are gone because of Jesus, the pure spotless Lamb.

9. Justification and Sanctification. Romans 5:1; "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ..." Titus 3:7; "...so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." Romans 10:10; "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." 1 Corinthians 6:11; "...But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." Can I get a witness? My heart believes, my mouth confesses = I am saved!!

10. Eternal Life. John 10:28; "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." 1 Thessalonians 4:16; "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first." Revelation 12:10; "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down." What more is there to say aside from AMEN and HALLELUJAH!!

Thanks Steph, for the challenge; this was good for my soul.
Also, in giving thanks this week and spending time with friends and family, will you keep the Lindsey family in your prayers? Their little girl, Jessica, went to be with Jesus not so long ago and they miss her so much. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jessicalindsey