Thankfulness

Here you go, Matt!  A new blog update!!

How can we not think about being thankful after just celebrating Thanksgiving?  We have so much to be grateful for, and it was encouraging to see so many express their thanks on Facebook.  I quoted I Peter 1:3-4, and I think that pretty well says it all:

"Thanks be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade."

We've got a lot more to be grateful for and so we just wanted to make a list and share it with you:

• Our families -- they have loved, supported, prayed, encouraged, laughed and cried with us.  Our parents have been Godly examples and modeled for us a Christ-filled life.  Our kids have brought us joy from the day they were born and it's exciting to see the women they've become.  Avery and Riley are the two most beautiful granddaughters and we are blessed every day to be their gramma and grampa.  God also gave us an amazing extended family that seems to grow each year!
• Our church -- we pray you are as blessed as we are with our church family.  Incarnate Faith began 3 years ago with a small group of people who wanted to do church differently.  We wanted to share the love of Jesus to the community we live in.  We have been stretched and challenged and have grown and we share a real bond of love.
• Friends!  - there are so many of you out there that have touched our lives in many ways.  Some have been for a season and others have been there for many, many years.  Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." Each friend has had a part in shaping our lives into the people God wants us to be.

We could go on and on with things to be thankful for, but wanted to just list the highlights.  I think it's good to put your list in writing and then share it.  We've each got a few daily devotionals that we read and naturally, most of them have been about gratitude this week.  One especially caught my eye, because it was about those who are going through really tough times and the difficulty in feeling thankful.  So many of us are surrounded by family and friends and look forward with great anticipation to the holiday season, but there are others around us who are struggling with loss, loneliness, disappointment, job loss, financial struggles, and the list goes on.  If you're dealing with any of these issues, I want to encourage you with the list from "Strength for the Journey."  You can be thankful

If you have Jesus and His strong presence in your life . . .

If you have His Word to comfort and assure you that all is not lost and your disappointments are the fertile ground where God often works to bring about good and gain to His glory and your benefit. . .

If you believe that this is not the only world you have and that He has paid the entry price for you to go to a world that is forever far better . . .

If you believe that crying lasts for the night but joy comes in the morning . . 

If you can still pray . . .

If you can give help to someone else in need . . .

If you can’t ever lose the stuff that really counts in your life . . .

Yes, I can be thankful for every one of those things!  Happy Thanksgiving and as we enter into the Christmas season, we pray you will enjoy every moment and be thankful for the gift of Jesus, the greatest gift ever given!