Countless Gifts of Love

I was looking up quotes and scriptures about thankfulness this morning for something I was writing for work - I know, I know, tough job to write about Jesus, but someone has to do it :) I came across this and was so encouraged, so I thought I'd share...


"German pastor Martin Rinkart served in the walled town of Eilenburg during the horrors of the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648. Eilenburg became an overcrowded refuge for the surrounding area. The fugitives suffered from epidemic and famine. At the beginning of 1637, the year of the Great Pestilence, there were four ministers in Eilenburg. But one abandoned his post for healthier areas and could not be persuaded to return. Pastor Rinkhart officiated at the funerals of the other two. As the only pastor left, he often conducted services for as many as 40 to 50 persons a day- some 4,480 in all. In May of that year, his own wife died. By the end of the year, the refugees had to be buried in trenches without services. Yet living in a world dominated by death, Pastor Rinkart wrote the following prayer for his children to offer to the Lord:
'Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done, 
In whom this world rejoices.
Who, from our mother's arms,
Hath led us on our way with countless gifts of love,
And still ours today.'"
-Copyright 2000 by the author of Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity. Harry Genet


God has given me "countless gifts of love" from the moment of birth. I have so much to be thankful for and am really grateful that He has led me on His way. Happy Thanksgiving!