Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving! We're Not Ant Children!

Core Thought: God's love is not given to us through some spiritual eye dropper, it is LAVISHED upon us!!!

I am at my mom's; she's on the couch reading the oh-so-heavy-with-Black-Friday-sales-circulars newspaper; I'm updating my blog on the other end of the couch, and Tom (my brother's 10 year old Golden) is contently snoozing on the floor. We spent the day at my aunt's in Mauldin, having some good fellowship and great food. I'm pretty content. Thanks to everyone for the prayers concerning my first Thanksgiving without my father. My gratitude has far outweighed any feelings of sadness, and even for that, I am....well..."thankful."

Last night at prayer meeting, we began with 10 people including me since the church had opted to cancel supper and the kids' program due to the holiday. I jokingly began to talking about hoping God would send two more to make an even dozen (a prediction I had been making all day), and then we heard the door open, and another came...just one more to make my lofty goal.
As I finished with announcements, the door burst open and my dozen was made (PLUS NINE MORE!!!)! One family entered with a total of 10! We joked about God's generosity and my lack of faith. So I did a short devotion about 1 John 3:1: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" I asked, "How do we know that God's love has been LAVISHED on us?"

Everyone answered, and I kept grinning, because I was getting the answer I wanted, until our 5th and 6th grade Sunday School teacher, smiled and said, "heirs." "That's it!" I exclaimed! "We're CO-HEIRS with Jesus Christ! We're adopted into his family, and we're not some little, itty-bitty ant children sitting in some saucer by God's bed, we're co-heirs with Jesus! We're really part of the family!" How great is that!

For my place in God's family...not because I was good enough to earn it, but because God was good enough to want it...and provide for it! So I am thankful that we're not ant children of God, but co-heirs with the Son, Jesus Christ!

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