Gina Caswell Kelly
We are told in God’s Word to be thankful. God wants us to be grateful for all those things that we have, all the people that are in our lives, and for all He does for us. With any luck at all, we are thankful everyday and not just this one time of the year. But, Thanksgiving is a good time to go over all for which we should be thankful everyday of the year.
I have a tremendous legacy of faith behind me in the generations of my family. I have talked before about the great words of a grandfather written in the 1700s. This man, in his will, talked of his faith in God and his trust in Jesus as his Savior. That is just so special to me. To know that the line of faith was strong even that long ago. In my lifetime, I remember hearing my grandfather pray a few times over meals, maybe. But I can remember his strong voice talking to God as if He were a friend.
I remember my grandma and her faith. This woman. Oh my goodness! She had four sons overseas during World War II all at the same time. She had the stars in her window. I have heard about how she would take one day a week and fast and pray for the safety of her sons. They all came home. One injured a few times, but all came home. One of my favorite stories of faith of my grandma is when she was sewing. She liked to do little sewing things like needlepoint or with yarn. As she was getting older and her eyesight and her steadiness were not what they once were,I have watched her as she held the needle in one hand and the thread in the other and closed her eyes and prayed for God to thread her needle. And He did. It was a miracle right before my eyes. Even though it was such a small thing, it was her need and her God met that need because of her faith in Him.
I remember hearing my Uncle Charlie pray at my cousin Gerald’s deacon ordination service. This was a man who was quiet and shy. He worked the land. And I listened that day as he leaned on the pulpit and just talked to God so easily and in the most humble manner. What a blessing to get to see and hear.
Of course, my daddy and mother. There are not enough pages to write the times I witnessed my father’s faith being played out. Quiet and shy, like his brother but oh how powerful in the pulpit. My daddy and mom lived their faith. It was not something they just talked about. Their lives proved that faith up.
I pray that my children can look at me and see the legacy continuing. I pray that I will be a great example of faith in God in front of them. I pray that that legacy does not stop right here.
If you have family still with you, be thankful and spend time with them. Share your stories of faith and trust in God. Let each generation pass the stories to the next.
I am so glad that I am a Christian and that God loved me enough that He sent His only Son to die on a cross so that I might have eternal life. That is amazing love! This God who created everything we have around us. Who created the stars and the planets and the waters and the earth and all the animals and everyone who has ever lived. This God loved ME enough that He sacrificed His greatest blessing and joy so that I could live with Him eternally.
I love that this God who is clearly busy, has time to listen to me when I call. He even takes the time to watch over me when I am not calling on Him and I should be. He calls me by name. He has the good stuff I have done hanging on His refrigerator. He has room for lots more if I would get my act together!
I am so grateful that this God I serve has stood so close beside me when my life has been a wreck. When I didn’t know how to take my next breath or even if I could, my Father stepped in and held me so close and directed my breath from one to the next until life let me relax again. He guided my steps through it all and continues to do that today. He showed me joy where I didn’t think I would ever see joy again. He gave me the ability to one day laugh again. He gave me peace with the knowledge that I would see all those who had gone before me again one day. In that place where there are no more tears and no more suffering. That place where all those things that confuse us on earth are made clear. That place where I will see my Savior face to face.
I am thankful that my salvation is secure in the hands of Jesus and in the hands of the Father. I am thankful that His Words promised us that He was faithful and would hold us until that day and that nothing could ever separate us from Him. I am so very thankful that He forgives my sins and, as the Bible says, they are cast into the depths never to be brought up again. What a mighty God I serve!
I am so very thankful to be a child of God and thankful for the legacy that got me here. It makes a difference!
