Remember the old song that goes, “Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God has done?” In this Thanksgiving season, have you taken stock of what you’re thankful for? If you haven’t yet, here are a few ideas from around the world to get your list started:
Do you ever worry that your grandfather’s spirit might visit your family and kill you because you forgot to wash your hands and feet after attending his burial (p. 15)? Every July, do you hide in your home for 10 days and offer prayers, food sacrifices and incense to your ancestors’ spirits so they won’t bring misfortune on your family (p. 31)? Do you panic at the thought that your spirit may be sentenced to haunt the earth in eternal hunger if you do a few too many bad deeds in this life? None of these worries torment you? Then give thanks!
Are you currently in a hospital bed recovering from dengue fever (p. 39)? If not, then chalk that up as a blessing.
Do you have your sight, and do you live in a house with four walls (p. 40)? Yes? Then praise the Lord!
Did you recently hike over several steep jungle-covered mountains carrying your critically ill child to the nearest healthcare provider (p. 43)? You didn’t? Then by all means add that to your Thanksgiving list.
Isn’t it funny that we often have to stop and think a while to come up with ways in which God has blessed us? Sometimes it’s almost like we are stumped. Well, if you ever find yourself running out of reasons to be thankful, just pick up a copy of Adventist Frontiers. There’s nothing like the mission field to remind us how tremendously blessed we are as we place our hopes and fears in the hands of our loving Savior who took away the eternal curse that we all deserve and gave us the eternal blessing that He deserves. This profound sense of thanksgiving to our Redeemer is the reason AFM missionaries leave many of life’s blessings behind and go all over the world to invite the unreached to “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations” (Ps. 100:4, 5).
