Thankful No Matter the Circumstance

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
– 1 Thessalonians 5:18

When the Pilgrims first prepared that infamous feast and came together to unite in fellowship with the Native Americans, I wonder if they realized the impact that moment would have on generations upon generations that came after them.  Although their Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days, many of the Thanksgiving traditions we celebrate today – eating, playing games, fellowshiping, giving thanks – were all a part of that very first Thanksgiving!  It’s truly a testament to their story that an event that happened in 1621 could span the course of time and still be virtually identical for millions of others in 2014.

For the attendees to that First Thanksgiving feast, it wasn’t so much about the food, but rather the coming together of two completely different parties as they worked together to live their lives in unity with one another and through some pretty difficult circumstances - famine, harsh winter, and even death.  It was about gratefulness of not only being alive and with family, but also thankfulness of fellow man and in working together to accomplish something beneficial.  I think that especially today with all of the unrest in our nation in places like Ferguson, MO, among others, that is something we can most definitely pray for and hope happens today.

As I reflect on Thanksgiving, I am incredibly thankful for so much, but certain people and experiences enter my mind today that have made me stop and think about what I take for granted and how thankful I am to the Lord for His provisions in my life.  I hope you will take a few moments to read below and give thanks today for the blessings the Lord has given you…and pray for these particular experiences and people this Thanksgiving.

Life Itself

I’m thankful for each breath I take and each moment I am alive.  I’m thankful for family and friends that surround and encourage me, who let me cry on their shoulders, who laugh and are sarcastic with me, and who pray for me every day.  I’m thankful for experiences that have shaped me and guided me to the path I walk today.  I’m thankful for life. 

This year so many in my church and community have lost loved ones and are spending this Thanksgiving without them - my heart hurts for these sweet friends and I pray God's love to overwhelm them today.  Also within the past month or two, I’ve watched friends and fellow believers in Christ walk through the loss of a loved one who took their own life.  Of course the circumstances that led to that moment are something I know nothing about and even that the family members may know nothing about this side of heaven; but to come to a point where life itself isn’t worth living has to be a place of such intense and extreme loneliness and sadness – even if you are surround by a loving and supportive family.  It’s something that doesn’t make sense at all and my heart breaks for those, believers and unbelievers, going through the feeling today of not being thankful for life.  May they know that the one who gives eternal life is right there holding their hand ready to walk through the difficult and lonely times with them.  May they feel his peace today and every day and be surrounded by love and encouragement.

The Romeike family

I am thankful for miracles and that God hears the cries of His people and answers them.  Earlier this year, I blogged about some sweet friends – the Romeike family; check out “Modern Day Pilgrims.”  Truly the members of this family are modern day pilgrims in our nation.  Just like the Plymouth Rock Pilgrims, the Romeike family came to America to escape religious persecution in their country.  They left everything and everyone they ever knew to come to a place to raise their family in the way of the Lord, something they were unable to do in their native country.

Over the past few years, they fought legal battles and this year it came to a head as their case reached the US Supreme Court.  Would they be granted amnesty or would they be deported?  So many individuals all over the country, but most especially our community, prayed that they would be granted amnesty.  The verdict came back and stated that the final ruling stood – deportation.  It made absolutely no sense that we as a nation founded upon principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness could not see the similarities of this family to that of the Pilgrims and grant them this freedom that they so desperately wanted.  So we prayed…all of us…a nation of us…that God would work a miracle even when it certainly didn’t seem like one could happen.  The very next day, God answered our prayers and the very administration who fought so hard against the Romeike family granted them indefinite deferred action status which meant they could permanently stay in the US.  Truly it was a miracle.  Today the Romeike family…with their sweet “Peanut” pictured with me below…celebrate Thanksgiving with a pretty awesome reason to be thankful.

Servant Hearts

I’m thankful to live among fellow family and friends who seek to live with servant hearts.  I’m thankful that when someone sees a need, they do their best to meet it.  I’m thankful that I am able to encourage children to live with servant hearts and that they listen and take initiative to minister to others.  I cherish the stories they share with me about having the opportunity to tell somebody about Jesus on the school bus or about how they asked for gifts on their birthdays for those less fortunate.  I’m oh, so thankful that these precious children are growing up with servant hearts because that means our future will have individuals to carry on our work and dreams to reach others with the love and message of Jesus.

Each person we touch through our servant hearts could be Jesus in disguise.  I’m ever so reminded of that because of an experience I have witnessed this week at the church.  A little over a week ago a man came to the church office and requested if he could use a portion of our parking lot to load a shipping container.  He is very hard to understand because of his Hungarian accent, but we finally gathered from him that he has lost everything here in America (as his wife and daughter have both died here) and that he has no family or friends and wants to go back home to Hungary.  Unfortunately there have been some issues with the shipping container people and he still hasn’t been able to load his things into the container; he's lonely and frustrated, but grateful for the help we have been able to give.  He gave my dad his address and said, “Here will be my address in Hungary.  I have no family or friends here, but I just want someone in America to know where I will live.”  Breaks.my.heart.  As I’ve watched others help him and as I’ve even spoken to him myself, I am ever so reminded of Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:40, “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for Me.” 

Freedom to Worship

I am thankful for salvation and that I can worship the Lord freely and with no worries of being persecuted for my faith.  This year we have watched many of our fellow man suffer persecution for being believers in Christ, most especially in the Middle East.  From imprisonment to even beheadings – these saints have stood strong for the witness of Christ, something He told us we might have to do. 

I’ll be honest, the subject of religious persecution wasn’t really on my radar until this summer at the Southern Baptist Convention.  It was there I heard first-hand from Naghmeh Abedini, the wife of Saeed Abedini, an Iraqi-American pastor being imprisoned in Iraq because of his faith.  I had seen her on TV and even read about her husband, but it wasn’t until ERLC President Russell Moore spoke about Naghmeh and her husband that I really “heard” their story.  After the presentation, I got to speak for a brief moment to Naghmeh and tell her how I would be praying for her and her children.  I blogged about this experience in “#SaveSaeed this Father’s Day.” 

Over the past few months, I have read her posts and seen her pictures of her sweet family as they go through milestones (like today’s Thanksgiving holiday) in their lives without their precious father and husband.  Through each moment, however, she talks about how she is so proud of Saeed and his perseverance in not denying Christ.  Saeed truly “would rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.”  That is powerful and a testament to all of us. 

1 Thessalonians 5:18 reminds us to “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Giving thanks in all circumstances is hard especially when the world around you is in turmoil, when you are mourning the death of a loved one, when you aren’t sure of your freedom, when you see someone in desperate need of help, or when you are being tortured because of your faith – but giving thanks is important because of all that Christ has done for you.  Not only did he give you life, but He gave HIS life so that you can live eternally with Him.  That fact alone is something for which to be thankful.

The 2014 world most definitely doesn’t look like the 1621 world, but the thoughts behind today span the course of 393 years...give thanks to the Lord and for all He has done for you.  Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

#SaveSaeed this Father's Day

Stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. – 1 Corinthians 16:13

Tomorrow many will celebrate Father’s Day by celebrating with their dad.  They’ll give him home-made cards, gifts that are strangely shaped like necktie boxes and probably give him his favorite meal by grilling-out hamburgers or steaks.  There are others who will remember their fathers who have gone on before them – reminiscing about the memories they shared and looking at old videos and photos of their sweet father.  There is one family, however, who can’t do any of that.  They have to wait, wonder, and hope about their daddy.  Waiting for word that he is okay.  Wondering if he is in pain.  Hoping that God will bring him home to America.

The family I am referring to is the Abedini family.  Saeed Abedini – an Iranian-American citizen and father of two children and husband to Naghmeh – was arrested and imprisoned in Iran in 2012 by the Iranian government.  A former Muslim, who converted to Christianity and became a pastor, helped the growth of house churches in Iran.  In 2005 he and his wife moved to America and soon became citizens.  Saeed traveled back and forth to Iran to visit family and to also help in the continued growth of churches there.  In 2012, he went to Iran to work at an Iranian-approved orphanage, but was arrested and given and 8 year prison sentence.  The Baptist Press reports, “Reports of Saeed’s condition indicate Iranian authorities have tortured him, placed him in solitary confinement and pressured him to deny Christ.  Iranian prison officials have threatened to lengthen his sentence because he is leading fellow prisoners to faith in Jesus.” 

This courageous daddy has not seen his two small children for over two years.  He has missed milestones in their life, watching them grow up, and being able to protect them like any father would.  Although thousands of miles away, he is still teaching his children, however – as well as the rest of us.  He is teaching his children and the world to stand strong in faith of Christ.  In 1 Corinthians 16:13, Paul urges believers to “Stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.”  I can’t think of anyone more representative of this verse than Saeed.  He has not wavered or denounced his faith in Christ and although being tortured to the point of having to be hospitalized, he has remained strong – strong in his convictions and belief that Jesus is the Christ and that He lived, died, is resurrected, and offers a free gift of eternal life for anyone who believes that.  At the Southern Baptist Convention this past week, the Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission’s president, Russell Moore, spoke eloquently of Saeed’s bravery saying, "And at every point, the Iranian government seems to think that Saeed Abedini will get tired of all of this treatment and renounce his faith in Jesus Christ, and at every step no matter the beatings, no matter the imprisonment, no matter the exile, Saeed Abedini has confessed with that great cloud of witnesses that Jesus Christ is Lord." 

As horrified as we are about this grave injustice, persecution was foretold to us by Jesus Himself.  He said that as believers in Him, we will face persecution.  Obviously, it is different for everyone depending on location, ethnicity, circumstance, etc.  In John 15:18-20, Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world, but have chosen you out of the world.  That is why the world hates you.  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.”  But Jesus goes on to promise HOPE to those being persecuted.  Matthew 5:11-12 says, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”  Those Christians being persecuted today – at this very minute – are true heroes of the Christian faith.  Even though they know the danger they face, they continue to be courageous, stand strong, and proclaim Jesus every. single. second.  The rest of us have a lot to learn from these champions.

Throughout Saeed’s imprisonment, his wife, Naghmeh, has been his voice to the world.  She has publically spoken out for Saeed’s release to government officials, news stations, churches, the United Nations, and the list goes on and on.  During the ERLC’s report at the Southern Baptist Convention, they had Naghmeh come and receive an award of bravery for Saeed on his behalf.  As I personally watched her receive the award, I was truly inspired by her bravery and that of her husband’s.  Yes, I had heard Saeed’s story before that day.  Yes, I knew that he was being persecuted.  Yes, I knew that he was separated from his family.  But being literally 20 feet away from her and being energized by the words of Russell Moore, the story I had read about on the news became real.  I couldn’t bypass this story anymore.  After the report, the ERLC group walked off-stage and because I had to go off-stage too in order to make some copies of questions that had come from the floor, I took the opportunity to speak to Naghmeh.  Normally I wouldn’t do this because I don’t want to overstep my bounds and take advantage of where I am and what I am doing, but I felt so strongly that I needed to tell her I was praying for her and her family.  I tapped her on the shoulder, she turned, and I said, “Thank you for your bravery.  I’m praying for you and your family.”  She gently said, “Thank you, sister” and gave me a hug.  She didn’t have to do that, she could have just said thank you and moved on, but she took the time to be appreciative and thankful and that spoke such volumes to me.  This woman is a hero of the faith too…she is also standing strong, being courageous, and proclaiming Christ through her story.  She is truly inspirational.

I saw that Naghmeh was on Instagram and followed her just so I could keep track of what is going on with Saeed’s story and know specifically how to pray for her and her family.  Yesterday, she posted this photo and related it to Father’s Day.  I’m going honor Naghmeh’s request and take part, I hope you will too:

What can you do?  Pray.  Pray that God will bring Saeed home to his precious family.  Pray that he will be able to be treated by a doctor as he is very weak and ill from being tortured.  Pray also for the other persecuted Christians around the world – Saeed is just one of many who are experiencing the exact same situations because they won’t denounce Christ.  Secondly, you can contact your senators and congressmen to take steps in DC to facilitate Saeed’s release.  You can also keep this story and that of the persecuted church in the forefront of your mind and heart.  Inform other Christians about it, keep the chain of prayer and petition going.  Lastly, you can be inspired by Saeed and those like him around the world and stand up for Christ.  This world is getting crazier by the milli-second and there is going to be a point and time that you are going to have to stand up for your faith.  Know the Word, know your beliefs in Christ, and stand firm in them both.

As you spend time with or remembering your dad this Father’s Day, take a moment to remember the Abedini family and the bravery, strength, and courage that each one of them are exhibiting every single day.   

Sources:

http://www.bpnews.net/42759/erlc-honors-heroic-christians-at-sbc

http://www.bpnews.net/42674/abedini-threatened-with-more-jail-time-over-fruitful-gospel-witness-in-prison-wife-says