Thanksgiving

I have been studying the history of Thanksgiving today. I didn't remember many of the specifics about that first feast and how Thanksgiving became a national holiday. So I have been enlightened today.

I am more grateful than I have ever been for the Thanksgiving holiday. I am so grateful for Squanto and what a miracle he must have been to those pilgrims who had endured so much on their journey to find religious freedom and a place where their children would come to know God. Surely The Lord was in the storm that pushed them off coarse to make them land in Massachussets instead of Virginia. 

What a miracle it must have been to them to have an English speaking and educated Native American to teach them how to survive in this new world!

It is yet another example of how The Lord uses trials as blessings in our lives. I am sure those pilgrims did not feel "blessed" to have such a fierce storm hit them on their journey. It nearly forced them to turn back as it broke their mast and made leaks in the ship. 

But they had brought a large metal screw that allowed them to fix the mast. They had materials to seal the leaks. The Lord always provides a way for us to get through the storms so that may one day realize the blessing. 

All their sacrifice and loss would no doubt bring them closer to that God they sought to worship. Indeed the first Thanksgiving feast is evidence that they knew by whom they had been kept and preserved.

I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with a new appreciation for the holiday this year. I will be remembering the great freedoms we have in this land. I will be thankful for such a rich history of faithful people seeking The Lord. I will be grateful for the storms in my life that have pushed me off my coarse and onto God's.