So Thankful

Another Thanksgiving came and went. My family and I enjoyed a morning at the beach and an afternoon celebrating with very hospitable people here in St. Croix. It was fun making new memories of a totally different Thanksgiving. And then as the evening came to a close...God reminds me of how blessed we really are. As we were driving home we passed a lady who was waving down cars in the dark. After stopping we realized she needed a ride home. I am so ashamed to admit this, but because this is the world we live in, we are driving her home and all of us in the car were secretly saying our silent prayers..."please keep our family safe" The lady came and went...and all she needed WAS a ride home. This poor women who apparently was not having a good Thanksgiving...mentioned her husband was shot and killed a couple years ago...mentioned she was shot as well...she is in shambles.......and then, bam....the guilt set in, "how could we immediately think she would bring harm to us??" And then more set in....we are so blessed. God has cared for our every need and we have been given WAY more than we deserve. Sitting on this gorgeous island in pretty much paradise I am reminded of how blessed I am to even be here. I am so thankful I have a risen Savior that brings hope to my life. I am challenged to be used by Him in every way possible...that I allow Him to work through me for the benefit of His kingdom and that I love unconditionally those who need it most...without reservations...without fear...

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 4:7-21