Thankful

Thank You, God, for You. You are amazing, holy, and glorious, yet You condescended to make me and to know me.   Your grace drew me, saved me, and now keeps me from falling so that I will be presented faultless before You. You even found a place for me to serve You, a calling that humbles me with awe at Your benevolent grace.

You overflow with blessings that spill into our lives at every moment. Too often we take those everyday blessings for granted: the air we breathe, the sun in the sky and rain that falls, a place to live, clothes to wear and food to eat. We scorn the good things that come our way by assuming that we somehow deserve what graciously drops from your hand.

On this Thanksgiving Day, I am so aware of Your many blessings to me. Today I awoke in a warm house on a cold morning. I saw the sunrise, pink and blue etching the sky, a sign of Your powerful creativity and undying faithfulness. I saw my parents who I never thought would still be an active part of my life at this stage in my life. We rode in a reliable car to the airport to put them on a plane. I ate a hot breakfast, sitting across from my very best friend who also happens to be my loving husband. I still have enough good health to join hundreds of runners on a Turkey Trot this morning. We had clean clothes to change into before joining some of God's people to serve meals at a shelter and then sit down and enjoy a turkey dinner together with them. This afternoon a nap and watching football gave us a relaxing day. The telephone allowed me to connect with family, spread across the U.S. Coffee and pumpkin cheesecake finished off a very good day. Thank You, Lord.

Although we take time today to make a point of saying "Thank You," my life would be bereft of much of its joy without daily thanks. So tomorrow when I rise, I will again give You thanks once again for some of Your many blessings.

There is no God like You who blesses us with so many blessings. It is impossible for us to count, let alone properly savor each blessing you send. Thank you for being so generous to me. My cup is truly running over.

Our Maine Bag

Every once in a while we are really touched by a special approach to missionary care.  This past weekend we were in our home church, West Hampden Baptist Church.  Several years ago while we were still there, they began a tradition that is still going on.  The church collected Maine-made items for a “Maine Bag”.  This bag is always presented to the missionary wife, if she is present.  So it was my privilege to receive the Maine bag at the ladies’ lunch and to bring it “home” to show Charlie.

Inside the bag were all sorts of treats.  All of the treats are made in Maine. It was obvious to me that care went into selecting the items.  We do not have a house, so it is entirely appropriate for us that most of the items in the bag are expendable.  In fact, for most missionaries on home assignment, the same holds true.  I know that each missionary’s bag will vary depending on what the church collected, but here is what ours contained.  (In the picture, I’m starting at the back and then going left to right with each “row”.)

1. An L. L. Bean tote bag was used as the container.
2. “Bob’s Sugarhouse” Maple Barbecue Seasoning.
3. Balsam Fir lotion
4. Capt’n Eli’s root beer
5. A “Maine” embroidered kitchen towel.
6. Sitting on that is a little knitted holder for a hand sanitizer.
7. Beddington Ridge Farm’s wild blueberry jam.
8. Stonewall Kitchen’s roasted garlic mustard.
9. Stonewall Kitchen’s maple pumpkin butter.
10. Down to Earth Pottery’s soap dish
11. Cape Shore’s Sea Lavender scented soap
12. Carol’s Country Crafts’ quilted coasters
13. Bluehill Spoonworks’ wooden spreader
14. Two handpainted notecards (not pictured).

What I love about this bag is that everything came from Maine.  That makes it unique and a great reminder to me of this church.  Most of the things will be used up rather quickly and we will thoroughly enjoy them..  The soap dish and the tea towel, however, will make their way into a storage box to wait until the day that we can unpack our storage locker and move into a house.  Since we do not have a house right now, the edible nature of most of these items is very appreciated.  We still need to eat, even though we don’t have a house. 

Thank you, West Hampden, for your care for us and other missionaries as well.  Thank you for loving us and caring for us.