Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to think back and remember all the things we should be thankful for having experienced in our lives.  

I am thankful for those who had a positive influence on me as a child.  No child comes to a saving faith in Jesus without adults around them showing God’s love through the actions day-by-day.  I am sure there are people who will reap rewards in heaven who I do not even remember today, but I am thankful for every one of them.

I am thankful for my high school friends – Jimmy, Wendell, and others.  They helped me learn how to discern true friends from destructive “friends”.  Some urged me to do things I knew were wrong.  Others encouraged me to do right – even if it was not popular. No one learns to stand on their own feet and do right unless they have friends to help them learn how.  Hay gang, if you are reading this, Thank You!

I am thankful for my education.  I had the privilege of getting a liberal art degree.  I do not know how people with specialty degrees survive when the work conditions around them change.  My liberal arts degree in education has equipped me to be able to adapt and grow in every work environment that God has placed me in. Thank you, Lord, for choosing my path when I had no idea what I needed to have when I started.

But most of all I am thankful for my help mate.  My wife has had more positive impact on making me who I am today than all other factors combined.  There were times in my life that I did not appreciate her the way I should.  There are times that I do not deserve her.  But she has stuck with me and encouraged me and built me up.  When I thought I could not go any farther – she told me I could and then helped me keep going.  “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” (Proverbs 31:10).  By God’s grace I did.  Thank you dear!

What are you thankful for?