This Thanksgiving was extra special on many levels. I'm not going to say it was because it brought our family together, or because of the amazing food, or that the Chicago Bears actually won a football game. No, we spent the majority of this year's holiday recovering from a trip to the ER. Though I wasn't the one who was ill, and thankfully no lives were in danger, we were forced to slow down. There's nothing like mandatory down time to make you realize how busy you've been! I've come to learn that when things like this happen, sometimes it's God's way of making me stop and get the rest I need. That rest has helped remind me of why the Thanksgiving season holds such a special place in my heart.

You see, more than any other year, I've seen some fantastic things that God has done in and around me. I'm so incredibly grateful to finally accept that He is ALWAYS working, especially when I don't feel it. My mind has returned lately to a hymn I learned as a child. It always reminded me of Thanksgiving for some reason, maybe because it's words remind me of the treasure we have in Christ alone. As you read the excerpt below (italics mine), open your heart to Him. I pray you remember the steadfast love He has for you, no matter how prone we are to wander from Him. No matter what we do or who we are, His love and desire for a relationship with us never changes.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Lyrics by Robert Robinson, penned 1757

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I'll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.