Tomorrow will be our family’s second Thanksgiving with Nanci in Heaven. I am so deeply grateful for the life God gave us together, and it is impossible to be this grateful without also being happy. This is 2 Corinthians 6:10, “sorrowful yet always rejoicing.” And it is not just words or pretense; it’s an absolute blood-bought reality, a certainty that I feel deep in my heart and bones. I sense continuously His presence. “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from Yahweh, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).
Of all people, God’s people have the best reasons to rejoice at Thanksgiving. After all, our names are written in Heaven not because we were smart and strong and moral. Rather, “because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). In other words, Jesus became for us, and remains for us, what we could never be for ourselves. And that should overwhelm us with unending gratitude.
Author Nancy Guthrie writes, “God is calling us to receive with thankful joy our Savior. He is calling us to join in the heavenly celebration, that we might be happy as He is glorified. God has come to us in Christ to bring glory to Himself in the highest as He grants us peace here in our lives. What can we do but rejoice?”
I am continuously grateful to Jesus, the Creator and Master Builder, who has paid the price of redemption and will one day completely fix all that’s broken and bring into full flower the New Heavens and New Earth, the home of relentless and unending happiness.
Helen Keller blind and deaf since a toddler, wrote, “For three things I thank God every day of my life: thanks that he has vouchsafed me knowledge of His works; deep thanks that He has set in my darkness the lamp of faith; deep, deepest thanks that I have another life to look forward to—a life joyous with light and flowers and heavenly song.”
One day, Nanci and I—and all of God’s risen people—will behold “the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. …No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face…” (Revelation 22:1-4).
I am also so grateful for your support of EPM’s ministry, whether that’s through prayer, giving, or reading and sharing our resources. Whatever challenges and joys you might be facing this Thanksgiving season, I trust you will experience the presence and love of King Jesus. May we all anticipate the glorious fulfillment of God’s great promise that in the coming ages He will continuously reveal to us the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. And until then, even today, may He give us glimpses of that grace and kindness for which we owe Him all gratitude and praise.
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