"Have we learned to be thankful and grateful? Are you experiencing a feeling of appreciation for the blessings?" Kathy Spampinato

At this juncture, I am thankful and grateful for my sister Patricia's survival. She has been through one of the toughest things that life brings: a year of chemotherapy, radiation, and grave illness, due to cancer. Yet as I look at the situation, I am overwhelmingly grateful that she has turned the corner and is a survivor. She is healing, and regaining her strength. I am so thankful for her doctors and their wisdom, for her husband who lovingly took care of her during this time, and for her own fighting spirit. She was determined, positive, and hopeful throughout this ordeal. She is the only patient her oncologist has ever had that regularly got on the treadmill in the middle of chemo. I rejoice that this trial is coming to an end, although she does have some therapy to go through and will be monitored over the next year. I am relieved and joyful to have her in my life for years to come. I am more watchful and aware of the blessings I am counting this year. I am also thankful for my sister-in-law, Sue, who is recovering from her own battle with cancer.

This week brings us to Thanksgiving, and a time of reflection. Have we learned to be thankful and grateful? Are you experiencing a feeling of appreciation for the blessings? It is interesting to realize that gratefulness includes an awareness of the struggles that we have somehow survived or escaped. Our thankfulness expresses both gratitude and relief. We are pleased with the things that are going well in our lives, and grateful that we are not dealing with some of the very worst situations life can bring. The Pilgrims in Plymouth, MA initiated Thanksgiving to have a day of celebration and thanksgiving to God for the harvest, after a year of rationing and near starvation. The meal was full of abundance and celebration, but included an awareness that God helped them survive. It was HE who provided for them and was their strength and comfort. It was God himself who came to their aid.

Psalm 46:1-2, 10-11 ESV says. "God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way and though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth!" The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress."

Psalm 103:1-5 NIV "Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."

Today, as we are focused on all the things we must do to prepare for the celebration of Thanksgiving, let's be aware and grateful in our hearts. It is God who protects us and provides for us. He is the reason to celebrate. He is our faithful God. Let's rejoice in Him