At our Thanksgiving Service, Pastor George distributed pieces of paper and asked us to write our name on top. Below the name was a line that read "I should be thankful for:" We passed this to the person next to us, and that person was asked to fill in one line of a paper belonging to someone else. We continued to pass these around for more than 10 times with each person adding a line to the list of things we should be thankful for. Then we got back the paper with our name already filled with a list of things each of us should be thankful for, as perceived by the people around us.

It was interesting to discover how easy it is for us to notice and be thankful for the obvious: a beautiful sweater, a family, a new car, bread on the table, etc.

Then Pastor George asked some of us to share things others had written on our paper that might have impressed us. He also encouraged us to go on to a deeper level of thanksgiving. This moved me to share my thoughts.

As you know I am experiencing what I consider the biggest loss in my life--the death, three years ago, of my best friend, my husband of 37½ years. I am not going to talk about my loss, however, but rather my gain.

This Thanksgiving I am most grateful to God for making my biggest loss my greatest gain! My loss has made me see the best in people around me. My relationships have been strengthened. I have grown closer to my children and grandchildren. I have gained both personal and business insights on my own. Most importantly, I feel a closeness with God. I feel Him on my side in my journey. More frequently and with more ease I call on Him in prayer.

I feel enlarged by my loss! I feel much bigger now, than when Leon's death left me feeling very small!

I will continue to feel sorrow and mourn my loss. I will continue to talk with God when loneliness hits me and I will continue to trust and believe that my loss is in His keeping. And I rest on a greater promise that someday at Jesus' feet Leon and I will meet again. The best is yet to be!

The hymn "Thanks to God for My Redeemer" captures my feeling this Thanksgiving:

Thanks to God for my Redeemer, thanks for all Thou
         dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a memory, thanks for Jesus by
         my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime, thanks for dark
         and dreary fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten, thanks for peace
         within my soul!
Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered, thanks for
         what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered, thanks for all
         Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure, thanks for
         comfort in despair
Thanks for grace that none can measure, thanks for love
         beyond compare!
Thanks for roses by the wayside, thanks for thorns their
         stems contain!
Thanks for homes and thanks for fireside, thanks for
         hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow, thanks for heavenly
         peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow, thanks for all eternity!

(I was so touched by Myrna's Thanksgiving Eve testimony that I asked her to write it for the encouragement of all Messenger readers. - Pastor George Van Alstine)