November Pastor's Pen
Give thanks with a grateful heart…
Whenever I pray, I begin my prayers by thanking the Lord for all that I was given that day – even when what I was given wasn’t necessarily to my liking.
I do this for his sake: God loves when we recognize his goodness and praise him accordingly. In fact, Scripture says he “inhabits our praise.” But I do it for my sake too. Sometimes I get a little careless with my attitude of gratitude and I need to be reminded of how blessed I really am.
Are you blessed? Someone shared this with me years ago.
If you have food in the refrigerator,
clothes on your back, a roof over
your head and a place to sleep, you
are richer than 75% of the world.
If you have some money in the bank,
in your wallet, and spare change in
a dish, you are among the top 8% of
the world’s wealthy.
If you woke up with more health than
illness, you are more blessed than the
million who will not survive this week.
If you can attend worship without fear
of harassment, arrest, torture or death,
you are more blessed than 3 billion
people in the world.
If you are reading this, you are more
blessed than over 2 billion people in
the world that cannot read at all.
If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because while the majority could do this, most do not.
Happy Thanks-giving!
Pastor Joel
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