Thankful

We had our Thanksgiving meal at church this past Wednesday.  I love this time of coming together.  We gather as a church family and enjoy a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving meal followed by music and the Lord's Supper.  Since Grey has recently asked Jesus into his heart he was able to take the Lord's Supper for the first time.

My eyes welled up with tears as I watched him read along and sing the words to the song "Forever God is Faithful." As I looked around the crowd gathered I saw a room full of people that I dearly love and that dearly love us.  They have been on this journey with us too...coming alongside supporting, doing, loving and praying.

Our pastor spoke of how intentional Thanksgiving becomes when you are in difficult circumstances....that's so very true.  It's easy to give thanks in times of plenty, but a different thing entirely in times of trial.  For many this will be the first Thanksgiving without their loved one, for others jobless and wondering how they will make ends meet and still for others facing a difficult diagnosis and wondering what there is to truly be thankful for.  I've been there.  We spent Thanksgiving five years ago going back and forth to the NICU, with news that our baby girl would be little more than a vegetable and there was no end in sight to our nightmare.  

Five years later we sit together at the Thanksgiving table, all six of us.  The answer to our prayer is "no" at this point but we are still thankful and blessed.  I watched my youngest son take the Lord's Supper...beaming from the assurance in his heart and life that he serves a risen Savior. Just ask him, he will tell you that Jesus died for his sins and rose again and he wants Jesus to be the boss of his life. If God did nothing else for us, he provided a way, through His Son Jesus, for us to be forgiven of our sin and spend eternity with Him in heaven...if He did nothing else for us isn't that enough??  But he didn't stop there, the blessings just keep coming and coming even though we are undeserving...He loves us that much!

I'm not talking about things and stuff, but of family and togetherness and love and friendship and doing for others. And as I looked around that room and back at my daughter, sons and husband I couldn't help but be overcome with thankfulness.  Be intentional in your thankfulness this season, it's not about what the world has to offer but what God wants to offer you. 

Hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving, rich in relationships, love and of course food.