Thanksgiving gains new meaning.

Once again, we near what we call in America, Thanksgiving. We often reflect on what we are thankful for. Last year we looked at the work of Christ, and why our ultimate thanksgiving goes to God and without Him, we can’t really have a proper understanding of thanksgiving. Even our thanksgiving often seems to be self-motivated. But when we start to see how wretched and sinful we are, how our daily choices and decisions are selfish and prideful, and we see that in spite of who we are God chooses, not based on any value we have in and of ourselves, to save us from the destructive path we are on. Then the thanksgiving we express is contrasted against our own wretchedness, and it takes on great value, not because of who we are, but because of how great God is. Thanksgiving gains new meaning in Christ.

God’s sovereignty and grace in our lives.

A lot has transpired in a year, and things are continuously developing. All of this is only possible through God’s grace and His sovereignty in our lives. God has been growing all us, and we are encouraged by the spiritual growth evident in each of our lives.

Thankfulness for God’s work in Shaun and Elisabeth.

Our daughter and her husband have moved back to the United States and are committed to developing the family business in a way that the rest of us struggle with because of the many responsibilities we have. Shaun is dedicated to improving his carving skills and producing quantities that the Lord will hopefully use to provide for their financial needs. Elisabeth has been developing our website and marketing to the point that others can come and purchase things from us online, as well as decorating with pyrography the wonderful works of art Shaun and she are creating.

Thankfulness for God’s work in Michael.

The Lord has provided Michael with a wonderful job as a mechanic working for GMC, and at the same time, he is still able to further develop his skill in making rings. He has been working on new techniques and materials for his rings. It has not always gone as smoothly as desired because of the equipment that we use, but we have learned a lot because of those challenges. Lord willing these rings will soon be able to be made in bigger quantities to help supplement his income, as he refines his skills.

Thankfulness for God’s work in Lydia.

Lydia has been able to hugely improve the time it takes to make our Scrub-bees. And as I’m sure you all know, we just had our official launch of these wonderful helps for around the home, office, shop or garage.

Great are God’s works in us.

This barely touches the surface of how God has been working in our lives this past year. We recognize that all our skills and abilities are gifts from God. We are thankful for every day the Lord gives us to bring glory to Him through using those to give Him honor.

Reflecting on God’s greatness.

As you take time to reflect on the things you are thankful for this Thanksgiving, we pray that your focus will be on the greatness of God’s work in your life and that everything you are and do is meant to bring God glory.

Thanksgiving even in the difficult times.

In closing, I think it is good to also reflect on the challenging times we have throughout the year. Sometimes we experience reduced income, or we have accidents or illnesses that affect us and limit what we can do, or we lose loved ones dear to us, or maybe we must even deal with others that make it difficult on us. These things can push us to frustration and even a tendency to complain. But let us seek to put all these things into perspective, recognizing God’s sovereignty and purpose in all of this, seeing the blessings that flow out of these growing experiences that lead us to thanksgiving even for the difficult things.

“The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases; His compassions never come to an end, they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23