Happy Thanksgiving!

     Hello, and Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Wow, we've had an interesting year, haven't we? There's been a lot of confusion and a lot of dissension over various things. But I pray and hope you all haven't lost sight of all the blessings we've been given. I'm so thankful, and He's continually reminding me of how good He is. 

I'm thankful for family.

I'm thankful for friends. 

I'm thankful for all you people who take time time to read my little blog. 

I'm thankful for warmth.

I'm thankful for cozy blankets, hot cocoa, spiced apple cider, soft jackets, my crazy cats, and that God has saved me from eternal separation from Him.

And . . . I'm thankful for affliction.

   Yes, you read that correctly. It's a hard decision to choose to be thankful amidst COVID, quarantine, spiders, seaweed, and all the other things that our plans get most frustrated from. This is something I've been learning myself. It's a lot easier to forget all the good things God's given us because everything seems so complicated. But the Bible says:

Psalm 119:71-72

It is good for me that I was afflicted, so that I may learn your statutes. The Law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Psalm 106:1

Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy is everlasting.

And this one is literally entitled as a psalm for thanksgiving:

Psalm 100

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with jubilation;

Come before Him with rejoicing.

Know that the Lord Himself is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, 

And His courtyards with praise.

Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting

And His faithfulness is to all generations.

   This is not to say that things won't be hard. Things are hard. But remember this: Jesus suffered the hardest affliction imaginable. He was perfect, the Son of God, and His Father crushed Him for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). In fact, when Jesus died on the cross, not only was He taking the weight and punishment for every person's sin, but in Matthew 27:46, it also says that God, Jesus's Father had forsaken Jesus. Because that's what we all rightfully deserve for our sins. To be eternally separated from God. 

   But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses [sins], made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

So let's give thanks with a grateful heart and remember all the things God had done for us. Because no matter what happens . . .