Thanksgiving is this Thursday! During the next few days my family will be busy preparing for company, and cooking lots of food! 😉

Around this time everyone starts thinking of what they’re thankful for so they’ll be prepared to answer the infamous thanksgiving-day question: “What are you thankful for this year?”

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it reminds me of all the ways God has blessed me, not only in the past year, but also in my whole life.

Here’s a short list of some of the blessings God has given me:
– I live in America.
– I have a wonderful house to live in.
– I have enough food to eat and clean water to drink.
– I have three siblings.
– I have a mom and a dad who love each other.
– I have parents who love me enough to bring me up in the discipline of the Lord.
– I have the gift of life, even though I’m a sinner and I deserve death.
– I have the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ my Lord!
– I have God in my life – a God who is Love, a God who is patient with me, a God who leads me, and a God who has no reason to love me, yet He does anyway.

Sisters, we are so blessed! Now, your list of blessings probably won’t look exactly like mine, but my prayer is that the last three blessings are the same in your list too. If we were stripped of every other blessing except the blessing of a loving God who gave us the gift of salvation, then that would be more than we could ever hope for. Why? Because we don’t deserve the mercy and grace of God, not one bit. Yet He gives it to us for free, because He paid the price for our salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. What greater blessing could there be?

My challenge to you this Thanksgiving is to write your list of blessings, then spend time thanking God for them. Most importantly, thank Him for the gift of His love to us.

Do you know what the best way to thank Him is? My mom likes to say, “If you want to show me you love me, you should [insert a chore or job that I lazily chose to avoid].” (Please tell me you relate! Isn’t it funny how we try to show love to people, but we try to do so in a convenient way? Yet in reality, showing someone you love them isn’t really convenient, but rather, self-sacrificial.)

Well, the best way to show God we love Him is found in 1 John 5:3 – “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” Offer yourself to God anew. Live your life for Him. There is no better way to thank God for all He has done, than to live for Him!

Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂

With love,

Kelsey