Thursday, November 28th

30 Days of Praise

Happy Thanksgiving, Beautiful Girls!  You are precious to me, and I'm grateful today for Y-O-U!  Working with this group has given me a brand-new burden for teen girls, and it's been such a spiritually-rewarding venture for me.  In challenging you to be faithful to your Bible reading and prayer, I've challenged myself to go bigger for the Lord, and I just want to thank all of you for your faithfulness.

Because today is Thanksgiving, it's appropriate that we consider the cost of that very first Thanksgiving celebration.  It cannot be stressed enough that the Pilgrims faced the risks they did for one reason: to obtain religious freedom in the New World.  They wanted to worship the Lord without the interference of government or fear of cultural repercussions.   Just to contemplate this grueling trip took great faith.  The waters tempestuous, the risk of disease great, the bitter cold, and other factors made this journey difficult, at best, and at worst, life-threatening.  In fact, of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, only half survived that first hard winter.  Can you imagine willingly taking this risk with your family for only a 50% survival rate?  But, the desire to serve God was greater than their fear.  It reminds me of Hebrews 11:15,

And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

 

 

Our forefathers suffered greatly---disease, the cold, and starvation.  Yet, what if they had not been willing to take the risks?  What if our generation---the ones who know Christ as Savior---do not step out by faith and take risks for our religious freedom? 

 

Today, we give thanks for the ones whose faith drove them to do the "un-do-able".  May we have the same unwavering faith.

Scripture Reading for the Day:

Proverbs 28
II Corinthians 7