True thanksgiving is being thankful for all the circumstances in life that God brings our way, whether they be good or bad. That doesn't mean that we rejoice in the evil around us, but rather, that we find joy in the lessons that God teaches us from our trials.
This past week our family has had opportunity to find joy when the hard drive on our computer broke. The biggest loss was 2 1/2 months worth of pictures, including all of Rebecca's baby photos and the results from Chelsy's first 4 professional photography ventures.
So with God's grace we are learning that thanksgiving is being thankful for what we have, not for what we have lost.
- We are thankful that we have our dear baby Rebecca, even though we lost her baby pictures.
- We are so grateful for many wonderful friends although we no longer have your e-mail addresses! (If you would send us an e-mail, that would help us to rebuild our address book.)
- We are thankful (most of the time!!) for our computer and its abilities in helping us to organize, communicate with friends, research through the internet, and store photographs.
- We rejoice for the opportunity to learn the devasting affects of procrastination and being too busy (we know we should have downloaded the photos a long time ago).
- We give thanks for the talents God has given Chelsy in the area of photography although we mourn the loss of over 1,000 photographs.
- And most of all, we are thankful for God's faithfulness and for the lessons He is teaching us through this trial. We are learning not to get too attached to the things of this world.
May all of you find joy today in what God has given to you. When you start to count your blessings, you will find that you are indeed blessed.
