It is hard to imagine but Thanksgiving is now only one day away. I thought I’d take a moment to not only wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving, but also reflect out loud upon some of the many things that I have to be thankful for this season. Of course, this list is not exhaustive and it is not necessarily in any particular order.
I am thankful for my Bible. This is the one I read.
I am thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that I am saved by grace through faith.
I am thankful for God’s keeping power. Not only did He save me but He guards my soul.
I am thankful for sound doctrine and right teaching; I am thankful for the Doctrines of Grace.
I am thankful for all the trials and afflictions that did not destroy me but instead produced Christ in me.
I am thankful that after a bout with cancer, today, as far as the doctors can tell, I am still cancer free.
I am thankful for reconciliation. This year, on the heels of a painful loss, my paternal family was reunited in a special way.
I am especially thankful this year for an uncle named Jonathan.
I am thankful for my marriage. After nine years full of peaks and valleys, we are still in love. Not only that, we still laugh!
I am thankful for my little apartment and my new neighborhood that is conveniently located a block and a half away from church.
I am thankful for church leaders who are passionate about the Word of God and who walk humbly before the Lord.
I am thankful for my church family and the fact that I belong with them.
I am thankful for Alexia and Louis and the little children at our church who light up the place with their very presence.
I am thankful for Liz and the young people who stand for Christ, many times alone, in NYC public schools.
I am thankful for my good friends Sheila and Lisa who don’t fully understand my faith but love me just the same.
I am thankful for the Reformers and the Puritans who have left the body of Christ such a rich heritage.
I am thankful for contemporary preachers like John MacArthur and Paul Washer who preach Christ crucified.
I am thankful that in February 2011 we will go to the True Church Conference and will spend some time with our brother Jon.
I am thankful for a job and a boss who smiles and says, “Good morning” every day.
I am thankful for a mom who loves me and who has persevered unger great trial and hardship.
I am thankful for a mother-in-law who, like the scriptures say, wears kindness like a necklace.
I am thankful for my dogs Sam and Jake. They make me happy.
I am thankful for a Republican sweep in November 2010.
I am thankful for all of my FB friends (there are just too many to name) who make me laugh and make me think.
I am thankful for fellow bloggers — friends from the distance who I have come to know and love like Becky, Diane, Petra, Jon, Jeff, Persis, Patricia, Teresa, Dana, Lisa, Lori, Shane, Shaan, Larry, Trisha, Hollie ( to name just a few ) who encourage and teach me. Please don’t be hurt if I forgot you. There are just so many to name!
I am thankful for mercy upon mercy. Whereas I should have been an object of His wrath, He has made me an object of His mercy.
“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalms 107:1).
And so, from my house to your house, I wish you and your family a very wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving Christina! What a wonderful list you have here! I’m praising God with you for all of these things. I thank God too for our new friendship and everyone we have met through blogging!
Much love!
Love and blessings to you and Robert, Diane.
I love this list, Christina! Oh, how bountifully God has blessed you, sweet friend. I’m so thankful to have “met” you, and I’m thankful for the many ways you bless and inspire me.
Thyroid cancer? Wow! Praise the Lord for the healing. I, too, have been so humbled by God’s mercy to me and His healing from physical illnesses.
I do think more and more that I’m the only Reformed Christian who continues to use the KJV. 🙂 LOL
May you have a blessed Thanksgiving as you give glory to the Giver of all these wonderful gifts.
Much love to you!
Trisha,
I still use KJV much to the chagrin of my other Reformed brethren. But I’m getting better. When I was in Alaska, I couldn’t even spell ESV, but now I are one.
Blessings to you, and Happy Thanksgiving.
Thank you, Christina! Your heart reflects God!
This seems to be the place to be, or not to be, but either way, to be thankful. Thankful for you to, sister.
Love and blessings to you, Petra.
Hey Christina,
Well I am surely am thankful for you too dear sister! … and also all that stuff you listed…..Praise God from whom all blessings flow, and His Son, Jesus the Christ, His indescribable gift! What a privilege it has been to get to know you and worship our God together! You are one of the most encouraging salty and bright shining Christians I know….. so keep it up, you are a great light to us all, as you hold forth the Word of life!
May the Lord richly bless you and Stephen’s Thanksgiving Holiday!
In Christ’s gracious love,
Shaan
Heavenly Springs is the new Facebook.
Lord’s gracious blessings to you and yours, Shaan.
I enjoyed reading your list, Christina. Praise God for His manifold mercies to us.
I’m blessed to have “met” you. My nephew lives in NYC. Perhaps one day my daughter and I can go visit him and then we can meet you in person!
May the Lord bless your Thanksgiving!
O, Pilgrim Mommy,
I’m thankful for you, and I pray that the Lord’s horn of plenty upon you will soon be met with the horn of shofar blasting that should finally arrive in the next week or so. Sorry for the delay.
Loving blessings to you, dear sister.
Brother Jon,
Please don’t apologize about the delay. This will be the most unique thing I have ever received in the mail.
Christina,
I love you! I wish we could see each other soon! There is so much to share, to talk, to laugh and cry about.
I am grateful for you, and for your beautiful life!
Today I pray that God will grant us the opportunity to hold hands soon!
Senora Becky,
I’m grateful for you daily journey and that eternity is stamped to your eyelids.
May Christ continue to bless you on your way to Him, our heavenly Joy.
Thank you, Señor Jon!
I am grateful for your beautiful family; what a joy it is to follow your journey!
May His grace abound!
Preesheyatit, Thoinks, Quyana, Mahalo, Salamat, Arogato, XieXie, Spasibo, Todah, Danke, Merci, Gracias, Fugedaboudit.
From Alabama traveling west around the world to New York, in all the places I’ve been, and even some of the languages I’ve learned, and many I’ve forgotten…
“Thanks.”
By the way, for those who can correctly identify the latitudes of gratitudes in the languages listed above, may get a cookie from Jeff Peterson, and will certainly get a blank check from Eddie Eddings for $38,017.29 (and as you know, every check from Eddie is not only from Kuwait, but it is also absolutely blank– no ink on it whatsoever– and the paper from each stack of checks is made from a single polished grain of Filipino rice, harvested from the famous Banaue Rice Terraces of Ifugao… or as we Pilipinos often refer to it, “De Eight Wunter ub de Worlt.”)
And from me, you’ll get my personal Thank you… but not just any thank you. It will be a personally autographed MP3 voice activated voice recording from the Department of Redundancy Department of the new language I have developed for super secret counter-insurgency operations at the Department of Defense of these United Snakes. This language is a hyper-hybrid of Hebrew, Spanish, and Tagalog, which is inflected with the clicks, snaps, and pops of the African bush tribes and enunciated through congested tonations and dipthongs of rising and falling phlegm. So “Thank you very, very much” would almost look like this if it had to be written:
Maraming-maraming-cachuhUaH e mucas todAH’CH garcias po.
Brother Jon,
You leave me speechless….for once.
You and Lisa have a blessed Thanksgiving dear brother!
@ Brother Jon – I am so glad that you connected with all of your friends today! LOL! What a joy to read your comments — some more ridiculous than others, but ALL a blessing to read. Thank you for your visit ! It brightened my day! : )
@ Diane, Trisha, Shaan, Petra, Persis, Becky – thank you for your kind words and allowing me to share with you how much we have to be grateful for.
Diane – I love you; you are simply wonderful.
Trisha – I told Diane how special I thought you were last night. Thank you for being my friend & sister in the Lord.
Petra – Thank you for your steadfastness in the things of God and for your encouragement.
Shaan – What can I say? You are wonderful and I thank God for you.
Persis – please do let me know if you ever come to visit NYC. I would love to spend some time with you!
Becky – your visits always warm my heart. you are beautiful.
May you all have a beautiful and blessed Thanksgiving! Thank you all for being my friends!
I love you Christina Langella! You are such a blessing to me, and I love you blog, your dogs, and reading about your life. If i could reach my arms up to NYC to give you and Steve a big hug I would. I hope you had a wonderful relaxing day. And guess what? I am not the only one still using the NKJV, I feel so much better now. I would like and ESV though…nice link! Blessings to you Christina, your blog is a sweet gem….
I love you right back Ms. Teresa!
I’m so glad that those King James version readers are finding out that they are not alone! : )
LOL I really would like a new Bible, I might have to buy myself one for Christmas.
Happy Thanksgiving to you! I am so thankful to have become friends with you! I enjoy your blog and you are such a dear sweet precious person that truly displays the love of Jesus! So thankful that you are cancer free!
I use the NKJV and the NASB, I would like to have an ESV though. I am becoming a bible version collector, LOL!
Ditto to all the above comments about my wonderful daughter-in-law.She is all that you all have said and more, and the most godly woman I have ever met. You are a blessing to so many people, Christina , and I love you very much.
Oh, Christina, how blessed you are! Love these sweet words from your mother-in-law!
I’m late here, but I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We all have so much to sing God’s praises for 🙂 Your list is wonderful! I am so very thankful to know you too! You, along with some other reformed women bloggers, were truly an answered prayer for me. I was so longing for fellowship with like-minded ladies! Much love to you Christina. Oh, and I have the same Bible! I love it. My boyfriend gave it to me as a Christmas gift last year 🙂
Hey, I know that guy!