The Continuing Spirit of Thanksgiving

The Lord blessed us with a tremendous Thanksgiving together. After being in OK City for 10 weeks I had a new appreciation for time with family. We all enjoyed Grandpa and Grandma Brannon and Uncle Tim and Aunt Melba joining us for the day. Aunt Melba’s pie and thier bounty of other delicacies contributed to quite the feast!

She had recently accompanied Uncle Tim on a business trip to Israel and had many great photos to show us of the historic sites there. How thankful we are for what transpired there to restore man’s relationship with God.

Over the season our family sang and took note of the 2cd verse of the Thanksgiving hymn “Thanks to God!” by August Ludvig Storm:

Thanks for thorns as well as roses,
Thanks for weakness and for health;
Thanks for clouds as well as sunshine,
Thanks for poverty and wealth!
Thanks for pain as well as pleasure –
All Thou sendest day by day;
And Thy Word, our dearest treasure,
Shedding light upon our way.

What an inspiration to continue in the spirit of Thanksgiving not only for what we perceive as good but for the good purposes God has in difficulties. Rom 8:28 states:  “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purposes.”

4 Comments

  1. Ana Marie Ort December 4, 2007 at 2:38 pm #

    What a treasure of a hymn verse! How difficult yet how important to remember that we should be grateful for all God sends, including adversity.

  2. James December 4, 2007 at 4:21 pm #

    Great overview of another memorable Thanksgiving. I totally forgot to get some pictures but it was lots of fun talking with Tim and Melba about Israel, enjoying delicious dishes and deserts, and listening to a homemade concert. Praise the Lord for His blessings of family and fellowship!

  3. Joshua December 4, 2007 at 5:36 pm #

    May we never cease to give God the glory due unto His name! Don’t we sometimes grow ungrateful when we ask for “flowers or butterfly” but receive a cactus or a caterpillar? May we recognize His purpose and realize that this ‘painful cactus will produce a breathtaking flower’ and the ‘uglier the caterpillar the more brillant the butterfly.’

    You all should find a way to post the audio up to this song. I would love to hear what it sounds like.

  4. Anna Staddon December 20, 2007 at 8:05 pm #

    My name is Anna Staddon, maybe we’re all long lost relatives.

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