Thanksgiving Always

I asked my daughter-in-law, Suzanne Crocker, to write the Thanksgiving message for the website. Some of you may know that she and my son, John, and their three children (Sarah Joy, Rebekah,and Christopher), serve the Lord in Togo, West Africa with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Church. My special thanks to Suzanne for sharing this special Thanksgiving message for all of you.

Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice."

It all started with a "gobble-less" turkey. Here in Togo we don't have a lot of the cultural clues that indicate the holiday season is approaching that you have in the USA. There isn't any crisp weather, fall leaves, decorated store windows, or holiday specials so we have learned to make our own traditions. Every fall John goes out to a village and purchases a real, live turkey for us to fatten for Thanksgiving. As soon as I hear Tom turkey gobbling out in his pen, I know that the holidays are upon us-hot weather or no.

This year John came back from the village with a turkey and said, "Honey, I'm sorry, but this is the only one they had and they said that he is over 3 years old." We put him in his pen and I woke up the next morning expecting to hear him gobble, but silence reigned that morning and the next and the next... I found myself wasting a lot of energy grumbling about how it didn't seem like fall and here we were with the only "gobble-less" turkey in existence and so on. Then I realized that Scripture does not give us a choice. It says "Rejoice in the Lord always" and "Give thanks in all circumstances." It very plainly does not say, "Rejoice when and if your three year old tom turkey gobbles."

I don't know what stresses and concerns you have in your life this holiday season. No matter what our circumstances we are commanded to rejoice. God never gives us a command without providing what we need to obey it and this command is no exception. In Philippians 4:13 we are told the secret to obeying this command, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." I challenge you to choose to rejoice in spite of your circumstances and to rely on Christ who can give you the strength to do this.

Incidentally, once that turkey adapted to his new environment he began to gobble just fine. And I began to realize that the real issue wasn't a "gobble-less" turkey, but homesickness. Even in all these things, His strength is sufficient. I pray that you will have a truly thankful, joyful season rejoicing in Him who created us.

In Christ,
Suzanne Crocker