Thanksgiving - A Time to Count Your Blessings

It has been 122 years since Johnson Oatman wrote the hymn, “Count Your Blessings." While you’re turning to page 644 in your hymnal (or whatever page number it is in your particular denomination), Allen and Trish have taken time to count their blessings. Not only are they counting them, they are also naming them one by one.

Count your blessings, name them one by one…

• The Sowerses are especially grateful for the people who pray for them and support them financially. They are thankful to everyone who sponsors children, fills backpacks, re-packs boxes of backpacks, and help load the shipping containers. While counting their blessings, they also remembered the people who go out and find deals on school supplies and those who clean and dress used dolls to delight some little girls. They are thankful for the people who visit Honduras on teams to distribute backpacks, provide medical clinics, run VBS programs, and work on construction projects.

• They are thankful to God for the people he has put in place to work alongside them. This includes their co-workers in Honduras and those in the U.S. There are far too many names to mention, but you know who you are. They are counting those people who don’t rest until a container is full, everyone who has contributed to blog posts, and those who help with finances.
  
  They are thankful to God for raising up this North American “army” of workers, as well as the Hondurans who work in the sponsorship programs. They are also counting the blessing of having pastors in Honduras who have a heart for their flocks. They are thankful for the commitment the pastors have made to study the Word of God to make them more effective ministers. They are thankful for how sacrificially these pastors live - working all day in the fields and then preaching the Gospel late into the evenings.

• Family is among their most cherished blessings. Allen and Trish are especially thankful for their family members who work beside them in a physical sense and those who work for the Kingdom in other areas. 

• Finally, Allen and Trish are counting their one greatest blessing--the gift of salvation.

. . . and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Allen and Trish are giving praise to God for placing them in this ministry--in this location, with the primary purpose of empowering pastors. They are grateful to have the honor of doing this work and seeing what the Lord hath done.



 - posted by Christi