I will not forget you!  See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.  Isaiah 49: 16

It all started with this verse and it seemed only fitting that it end with this verse.  Friends come and go.  Relationships form and fall apart.  On this earth nothing last forever.  But I am so greatful that My God remembers me no matter how far I drift away.  No matter where I may move.  He never moves.  He never forgets.  My name is engraved in the palm of His hand................... Everytime Jesus looks at the nail scars in His hands He remembers me!  I am blessed.

You may laugh out loud in the future at something you're eating your heart out over today.

Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.  2 Cor. 4:17

When I stop to think of the things I spent time in worry over years ago it makes me laugh.  Oh at the time it was a big deal.  I would lose sleep over some things and would sometimes lose my appetite over the smallest things.  If we could have the mindset of these things being only temporary...... it would make for a much happier journey.

This is an article that I read in the Okmulgee Daily Times on Nov. 11, 2007. I hope that you get as much out of reading this as I did. Sandra felt as low as the heels of her shoes when she pulled open the florist shop door, against of November gust of wind. Her life had been as sweet as a spring breeze and then, in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a "minor" automobile accident stole her joy. This was Thanksgiving week and the time she should have delivered their infant son. She grieved over their loss. Trouble had multiplied. Her husband's company "threatened" to transfer his job to a new location. Her sister had called to say that she could not come for her long awaited holiday visit. What's worse, Sandra's grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer. "She has no idea what I'm feeling," thought Sandra with a shutter. "Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?" she wondered. "For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life, but took her child's?" "Good afternoon, can I help you?" Sandra was startled by the approach of the shop clerk. "I .. I need an arrangement, " stammered Sandra. "For Thanksgiving? I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she continued. "Are you looking for something that conveys 'gratitude' this Thanksgiving? " Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong." Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the clerk said, "I have the perfect arrangement for you." Then the bell on the door rang, and the clerk greeted the new customer, "Hi, Barbara, let me get your order." She excused herself and walked back to a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and what appeared to be long stemmed thorny roses. Except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers. "Do you want these in a box?" asked the clerk. Sandra watched - was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed. "Yes, please," Babara replied with an appreciative smile. "You'd think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again," she said, as she gently tapped her chest. Sandra stammered, "Ah, that lady just left with...uh..she left with no flowers!" "That's right," said the clerk. I cut off the flowers. That's the 'Special'. I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet. Barbara came into the shop three years ago, feeling much as you do today," explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had just lost her father to cancer; the family business was failing; her son had gotten into drugs; and she was facing major surgery. That same year I had lost my husband," continued the clerk. "For the first time in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family near by, and too much debt to allow any travel." "So what did you do?" asked Sandra. "I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly. "I've always thanked God for the good things in my life and I never questioned Him why those good things happened to me, but when the bad stuff hit, I cried out, 'Why? Why me?!' It took time for me to learn that the dark times are important to our faith! I have always enjoyed the 'flowers' of my life, but it took the thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort! You know, the Bible says that God comforts us with consolation when we learn to comfort others." Sandra sucked in her breath, as she thought about what her friend had tried to tell her. "I guess the truth is I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God." Just then someone else walked in the shop. "Hey, Phil!" the clerk greeted the balding, rotund man. "My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving arrangement . . . twelve thorny, long-stemmed stems!" laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator. "Those are for your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind telling me why she wants a bouquet that looks like that?" "Four years ago, my wife and I nearly divorce," Phil replied. "After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, er trudged through problem after problem, the Lord rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she had learned from "thorny" times. That was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific "problem" and give thanks for what that problem taught us." As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special!" "I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life" Sandra said to the clerk. "It's all too . . . fresh." "Well," the clerk replied carefully, "my experience has shown me that the thorns make the roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember that it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don't resent the thorns." Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on her resentment. "Ill take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please," she managed to choke out. "I hoped you would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in a minute." "Thank you. What do I owe you?" "Nothing. Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year's arrangement is always on me." The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra. "Ill attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first." It read: "My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns, I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to You along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of Your rainbow look much more brilliant." Praise Him for the roses; thank Him for the thorns

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Love....thinks no evil.  1 Cor. 13:4-5

As I get older I find it is easier to forget many things.  Not all things though, things I need to forget I tend to hang on to.  Kinda like when I am trying to remember a person's name I have just met, I will repeat that name over and over in my mind till I feel it stick.  But regretfully I do the same with other things in my mind.  I replay them over and over.  Hurts, and grudges are big on that list.  Long after the incident occurred I will recall the feelings of betrayal, laughter and deep pain that it left me with.  But just as I choose to try and remember a new person's name............ because I want to............I need to make it  a want to forget past hurts. 

Finally brothers, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy... think about such things.

HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING