Thinking and Thanking

As we approached Thanksgiving, I listened with interest to an interview relating to gratitude on National Public Radio. Dr. Robert Emmons says that thankfulness is interconnected with thinking, or remembering good things received from other people and from God (or another moral being). Non-gratitude he defines as “forgetfulness” and is much more common than ingratitude which he calls “responding with indifference”, sometimes meanness, to good things. All of this fit right in with what I had been meditating on.
Firstly, I am grateful to God. I am thankful for salvation, for a higher purpose in life, and that no matter where I go, God is with me. I feel privileged to have been gifted by God, and to have had the opportunity to serve Him in many ways and in many places, including Cuba. I am grateful to God for all the divine transformations that He has worked in my life and in the lives of others around me. This list could go on and on…

One of the callers to the radio program saddened me. He professed atheism and asked if he could still have an attitude of gratitude. Professor Emmons said he could, while adding a qualifier that generally speaking all world religions have a gratitude component to their higher being. My first reaction was, if I couldn’t be grateful to God, how could I be deeply thankful? I believe so strongly that God is the source of my being and salvation, my sustenance and guidance, providing blessings of all kinds. How could I truly be thankful if I didn’t believe in God? God is the one who opens up the scope of gratitude for me.

As I mentioned, God provides many blessings – and that includes people like you. There are those who challenge me to grow, who encourage me, who befriend me, who pray for me and who support me in a variety of ways. I do thank God FOR every one of you on my Missionary Partnership Network. I echo Paul in Philippians 1 when he says, “I thank my God every time I remember you …I will always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel…”

I also am thankful TO you for how you support me by committing to keep up with me, pray for me and Cuba as well as sending financial gifts. I couldn’t do it without you!

So as I do some specific “thinking” and “thanking”, here’s a partial list:

· For enabling me to put together and record a power point presentation called “The Church in Cuba” in both English and Spanish this month (despite my not being a techie) which will be available after December 1 to churches

· For the reception and interest at the churches I have visited thus far in what God is doing in Cuba. I have met so many wonderful people!

· For my MPT, (the group that sends this newsletter out, among other things), for encouraging me and doing a lot of leg work for me, for their commitment to serving God.

· For my MPN (Missionary Partnership Network) who have been faithfully praying and giving.

· For Katy’s good adjustment to school and the great strides she has made in English reading

· For the additional new financial supporters of my ministry who continue to surprise me with their generosity.

· For those in Cuba with whom I have had the privilege of working. They have taken the ball and run with it, ministering to so many others in Christ’s name and in such creative ways!

At this Thanksgiving time, and as we head into the Advent Season, take time to reflect on your “gratitude list”. Enjoy giving thanks as well as “Thanksgiving”.

With a grateful heart,

Sue Hegarty

I apologize with being late delivering this message -- however, it is too good to let it get away. That's my thinking. J.B.S.