A Thankful November: Big Savings

I’m thankful for the super-dooper low price I got on a big-ticket item today. I won’t tell you (yet) what that low-priced big-ticket item was, but I am thrilled about it. I almost purchased it earlier for much, much more, but circumstances stood in the way and I had to wait until today when everything worked out so much better. And it’s enough money saved to really make a difference in my finances.
 
I attribute all those circumstances to God’s providence, so it’s God I thank for my bargain basement deal.
 
Other thankful folk 

• Juanita is thankful for technology.
  
• Annette is thankful for many things, including her church.
• Kim is thankful for women who want to dig deep to understand theology and their faith.
• Carla is thankful for snow and all the good gifts that prepare her for it.
  
• Kim is thankful for Sunday and her worship service.
• Anne B. is thankful for her husband’s safety.
• Connie if thankful for Russians. (If that doesn’t make you curious, you’re probably dead.)
• Rosemary is thankful for healing, and the wonderful care of her husband and sons.
  

Doesn’t that list make you thankful, too? If so, why don’t you participate in being thankful with us? Here’s how:

• Mention something you’re thankful for in the comments here, and I’ll include it in one of my thanksgiving posts, or
  
• Email me to tell me what you’re thankful for and I’ll include it in one of the thankful posts, or
• You may post your thankful thought(s) on your own blog and send me the link(s), and I’ll link to your post.
• If you’ve posted something thankful and I missed it, please remind me.

Sunday's Hymn and a Thankful November: Redemption

Since we’re supposed to be teaching one another with hymns, I’ve been chosing hymns that teach us something about a particular Christian doctrine, and this week’s doctrine is redemption.

Enslaved by Sin and Bound in Chains
Enslaved by sin and bound in chains,
Beneath its dreadful tyrant sway,
And doomed to everlasting pains,
We wretched, guilty captives lay.

Nor gold nor gems could buy our peace,
Nor all the world’s collected store
Suffice to purchase our release;
A thousand worlds were all too poor.

Jesus, the Lord, the mighty God,
An all sufficient ransom paid.
O matchless price! His precious blood
For vile, rebellious traitors shed.

Jesus the Sacrifice became
To rescue guilty souls from hell;
The spotless, bleeding, dying Lamb
Beneath avenging Justice fell.

Amazing goodness! Love divine!
Oh, may our grateful hearts adore
The matchless grace nor yield to sin
Nor wear its cruel fetters more!

—-Anne Steele

Here are a few previous posts about redemption: 

• Redemption: What Does It Mean?
  
• Redemption: From What Are Sinners Delivered?
• Redemption: For What Are the Redeemed Delivered?

What I’m thankful for today is redemption from bondage to sin, Satan, and the death sentence.

Other thankful folk:

• Kim
• Carla
• Kim

To participate in this month’s theme of thanksgiving:

• Mention something you’re thankful for in the comments here, and I’ll included it in one of my thanksgiving posts, or
  
• Email me to tell me what you’re thankful for and I’ll include it in one of the thankful posts, or
• You may post your thankful thought(s) on your own blog and send me the link(s), and I’ll link to your post.
• If you’ve posted something thankful and I missed it, please remind me.

Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today:

• Thy Faithfulness, Lord at joythruChrist
• To the Name of Our Salvation at Magic Statistics
• Faithful One at The Happy Wonderer
• Lord’s Day 44, 2007 at The Thirsty Theologian
  
• When in His Might the Lord at Hiraeth
• Rock of Ages at Seasoning of the Heart
• The Lord’s Day at Thoughts from the Teahouse
• Jesus, Love of My Soul at Whatever Things…
• In Christ Alone at Writing and Living
• Update: We Lift Our Hearts in Thanks Today at Above the Clouds
  

Have you posted a hymn this Sunday and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list.

A Thankful November: My Childhood

You can think of this post as the Saturday’s Old Photo, too. I’m multi-tasking.

There are many reasons I’m thankful for my childhood, but this post focuses on only one aspect of it. I grew up poor, because my parents were either students or missionaries during my whole childhood. Not that I was aware that I was poor, because we never went without anything we really needed. There was one time when things got so tight that a can of tuna purchased on sale had to be returned to the store in order to buy baby formula, but according to my mother, that was the worst it ever got, and that’s not quite the bottom of the barrel, is it?

But we never had much extra, either. These dresses are the first pieces of store-bought clothing my sister and I had. They were purchased from the sales rack in a Chicago department store for $2.00 each. It would be at least 5 years more before I had another brand new dress, although I would’ve had a couple of new winter coats in the meantime.

I’m thankful that I didn’t grow up with much, but that I never really went without. It’s given me, I think, an easy relationship with stuff and money. I’ve never had an inner drive to have more and more. So I’m thankful to God for providing everything we needed including my parent’s skill for making enough out of so little.

(This photo of my family is taken in my grandparent’s living room. That’s a photo of my grandpa on the wall above the piano.)

Other thankful folk

• Ann B is thankful for her godly parents and grandparents.
  
• Ontario Kim is thankful for music.
• Carla is thankful for her grandpa.
• Hiraeth Kim is thankful for Saturday.

I’m inviting your participation, too. The instructions  are simple:

• Mention something you’re thankful for in the comments here, and I’ll included it in one of my thanksgiving posts, or
  
• Email me to tell me what you’re thankful for and I’ll include it in one of the thankful posts, or
• You may post your thankful thought(s) on your own blog and send me the link(s), and I’ll link to your post.
• If you’ve posted something thankful and I missed it, please remind me.