It's another cold and gloomy morning. The whole world seems to be in turmoil. Uncertainty is the only certainty. Instability and fear of what's to come plague our hearts and minds. And in the middle of this, I heard Adam Marshall, his wife Chelsey and their precious baby boy Titus, a missionary family from our church, give a most wonderful testimony of Thanksgiving in the midst of trial and challenges. "This was a good year," Adam concluded...and I was inspired. If a young family who solely depends on the financial support from others, facing enormous problems of all kinds that ranged from having a premature baby in the NICU for months, and not knowing where they were going to live afterwards, seeing donations drop in an economically difficult year, dealing with the Ministry Director's health issues to having to completely redesign the ministry due to the pandemic, can declare "this was a good year" so can I.
And, as a first step to declaring 2020 a good year, I want to start a week-long Thanksgiving Celebration, when I would like to dig deep into my heart and express my trust in the Lord by lifting up my gratitude for all that He has blessed me with...to make the darkness, the gloominess and the chills of fright disappear, because, a "thankful attitude opens windows of Heaven." (Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young)
Therefore, today, I begin by thanking the Lord for faithfully meeting my most basic needs: food, shelter and clothing. As I look in my kitchen, the bounties of His harvest overflow. All the groceries are purchased, and I'm about to go get a home-grown, organic turkey in a couple of hours so we can have a Thanksgiving Dinner at home this week. There won't be a Dieter Family Reunion for thanksgiving for the first time in the almost 30 years I've been in this family...but we will have Thanksgiving at home...and it is a home the Lord has blessed us with, and which we love. We are not going to be dressing up in brand new clothes for the day, but we have closets packed full of great selections that we are thankful for. So even though life is different this year, we have all we need and more.
As I see the joy transpiring through the wide smiles of Adam's family, I praise the Lord for planting the gift of mission in the hearts of His Children. We watched him at home through simulcast, another blessing we are so thankful for, and shared memories of when Adam was a teenager in Dan's Sunday School class. We have no words to express how proud and thankful we are of him and all he has accomplished. We are surrounded by blessings. We just need to open our eyes and see that, indeed, this has been a good year...no matter what.
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