Thanksgiving in All Things

Happy Thanksgiving! We greet this day with Mark on call at Lutheran Senior Services for the day and into the late evening and John and I hanging out at home because John's cold, while improving, is still too intense to go hang around with other people. Still there is so much to be thankful for... ...Christ who died and rose again to save us from our sins, who each day provides that which we need and who has promised that we can never be taken from His hand. ...a church where John can see Christ's Word of forgiveness in his own language, where we can learn and grow and where we are surrounded by people who love us and want to help us help John grow into his language and culture. ...family who loves us and supports us, no matter the miles we know that we are close to their hearts and they to ours. ...friends both near and far who bring us joy, a sense of belonging and help us through the journey of this life. ...thorns, yes, I said thorns and yet those things that seemed to be thorns in the beginning are turning out to be blessings and make us realize that God's ways are not our ways, but in all things He works out for our good those things around us. The gluten/wheat sensitivity issues that Mark and I have led us instantly to an introduction to a new friend and open doors to help us help others when they find that they have these type issues too. John's deafness has led us both to a new church where we all feel at home and to a new culture and language that we had an inkling of before but here we find blooming all around us and the beauty of it just amazes us. John's health issues have opened doors for us to tell others of the love of Christ and the care of people who want to actually help. ...we are thankful to be here in St. Louis, to be together, to constantly have our eyes pointed back to Christ and to know that it is our life in Him that gives us true life here amongst our neighbors, our family, our friends.