We are Thankful for You

Like many of you, during this season of Thanksgiving we will sit with our family for a special Thanksgiving meal. Some of us will enjoy time with members of our Church family. Some of us will enjoy a game or two (or five) over the course of the weekend. Some will go shopping on Black Friday. We will play with our children or grandchildren.

Some of us will express our profound gratitude to our Father during the most difficult and the darkest days of our lives. It might be your first Thanksgiving since the loss of our wife, mother, child, or parent. Perhaps you have recently lost your job, or you are concerned that you might lose your job in the near future. Maybe you are going through some especially challenging financial situation, family problem, or health crisis.

What are we to do if we find ourselves in this place? We thank God anyway. We praise Him for what’s left, not for what’s lost. We cry out with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” We hold on to these powerful words from our brother, Paul. “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured our into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

During this season of Thanksgiving, we want you, our preaching brothers to know how thankful we are for you.

We thank you for your faith, for your labor of love, for your loyalty to Kingdom work, for your example to others, for your partnership in the work of the Lord, for your love for people of God, for your strength even when you feel weak, for your commitment to your family, for your heart of compassion, for your preaching, for your ministry, and for your willingness to hang in there through challenging times.

May God bless you and your family with wonderful blessings during this season of Thanksgiving. May He fill your heart with the peace that passes all understanding. May He fill your life with joy. We love you all.