Give Thanks unto the Lord

While we should be thankful every day of our lives, Thanksgiving Day is a special time set aside to remind us to be thankful for our many blessings.  For the last several weeks our church has been splitting up the men and women in our Wednesday night service for the Bible study time.  The ladies spent a few weeks on Love, so this particular topic has been on my mind for a while now.

As I sit here contemplating what I'm thankful for, I keep thinking about our Bible studies.  I am so thankful for all the love in my life.  Not just that which is directed at me, but for all the examples of love that God has allowed me to witness.  There are so many people in the world today that feel blessed to have just one person that shows them love, and I have an abundance of examples.

I have two wonderful parents that have been married for over 30 years that love each other immensely.  Those in my church family love each other.  Now I consider that amazing--you get any number of random people together in a room, and eventually they will begin to clash.  Our church is diverse, and even though we are each different, we still love each other, and we love to fellowship.  My boss has been married to his wife for over 60 years, and every time he mentions his wife to me, he just absolutely gushes with pride and love.  

My whole family loves to be around each other, we love to laugh, and we love each other.  I have some amazing friends that love me, and some that I haven't spoken to nearly often enough over the years that I know would be there for me in an emergency.  My church family loves me.  My animals love me (and nothing you can say will convince me that animals don't love)!!

I really could go on and on about all the examples of love in my life, but I will leave you with this:

Colossians 1:3-4  We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the LOVE which ye have to all the saints.

Thank You, Lord, for showing me LOVE!  You were the ultimate example of love when You died on the cross to pay the price for my sin and offer me the opportunity of redemption.  Thank You for every iota of love You have put in my life.  You truly are an amazing and wonderful God!

I have the bestest, most awesomest, most WONDERFULEST mommy in the whole, biggest, widest world!!

Cute title, but seriously, I do.

Isn't she pretty?  We were MUCH cold that day.  And it was rainy.  But we had so much fun!!!

I come from a great home-Christian parents who love the Lord, love each other, and love their kids.  They've been married (insert number of years here--I can't b/c then people could guess close to my mom's age and then she would kill me.  And that would be sad.  I like living.  Suffice to say, a long time) years.  I have taken it for granted at times, but I have seen many families with broken homes, and I am so very thankful for the family God put me in.  I get along with my siblings (mostly, heehee).  I have a great relationship with both of my parents.  I even bought a house 3 doors down from them.  And contrary to what they say, I did not buy the house solely so I could eat at their house every day.  Although I do.   And I like it.  ;)

Something happened not too long ago that really made me pause and think about how great my mom is.  It was something so little, but it had such an impact on me.  I almost cried at the dinner table.  But I didn't.  Cuz that would be weird.

We were eating dinner.  I don't even remember exactly what it was, but I know it was something Dad had cooked on the grill.  Their grill is kind of touchy, so one side of it cooks a lot faster than the other side.  Apparently, some of the meat got a little. . . "blackened," shall we say?  I didn't even notice it until my mom said, "This meat actually tastes kind of good burned."  As I looked around the table, I noticed that she had dished out the food onto our plates (which she does sometimes, and at other times we just pass the food around), and she had given my two younger brothers and I the meat that was cooked just right, and she had put the burned meat on her plate and dad's plate (dad got the piece that was a little less burned).

Once I sat there and thought about it for a minute, I realized she had done that all my life.  She always puts the comfort of others first.  She takes care of her husband and children before she takes care of herself.  She gives everyone else the best, and she takes what's left.  I gave this testimony in church on mother's day (and of course I blubbered like an idiot), but I wanted to share this here for anyone to read.  I thank God for my mom and the woman she is.  She has been such a great teacher and example.

If I ever do get married and have kids of my own, I have some awfully big shoes to fill.