I don’t know if you have noticed, but there is a fad going around Facebook and Twitter this month where you mention something different each day that you are thankful for. I’ve really enjoyed reading the things that people have shared that they are thankful for. It’s a great practice to pause for times of reflection and thanksgiving. Regularly giving thanks causes us to fix our eyes on all that God has given us, and it leads us to live with grateful hearts. As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, I would encourage you to make a list of things that you are thankful for, and to praise God for all that he has blessed you with. Let me tell you about some of the things that I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my wife. Everyone who knows my wife knows that I married way over my head. God was especially good to me. He gave me a wife whose purest desires are to love the Lord and to love our family. I cannot say enough about what an incredible woman Raylee is or about how I am blessed beyond measure to be her husband.

I am thankful for my children. Again, God has given me more than I could ever have asked for. I consider myself a rich man because my children are a treasure. They bring joy to our lives as parents. With four kids under the age of 8 things can get a bit crazy at our house sometimes, but I know that Raylee and I both would tell you that we wouldn’t trade a minute of it.

I am thankful for our First family. God knew what he was doing when he led us to First Baptist Church, and to be honest, I thought I knew what he was doing. But you have been a blessing far beyond what we could have ever asked for. Since we have been in Chickasha, we have continually been blown away by your kindness and your love toward our family. We moved here with our minds set on falling in love with First Baptist Chickasha, but you have made it so that it has been effortless. We were nervous about leaving a church that we deeply loved and where we were deeply loved, but your goodness and your love toward us have far surpassed any blessing that we could have asked for.

Most of all, I am thankful for my salvation in Jesus Christ. I praise God that when I was a sinner and far from God, I was gloriously saved by grace. The moment that I surrendered my life to Christ I received a forgiveness and peace beyond what I deserve. As my faith has grown, my understanding of what happened that day has grown as well. But if I never knew more than what I knew at the moment of my surrender, I knew enough. I was a sinner in need a of a savior, and Jesus’ love rescued me from my wicked rebellion against God. Praise God for freely giving me a gift I could never deserve! The single most defining moment of my life came as a boy at the age of 6 when I surrendered all I am to Jesus Christ.

May God lead you to reflect on his goodness and his mercy toward you. The love of God was demonstrated toward you, in that while you were a sinner, Christ died for your sins!