I talk a lot on this blog about my anger, about the difficulty of trusting God and of believing all the stuff we Christians are supposed to believe. I try, in those kinds of posts, to bring it back around to hope. I must admit, however, that I have not found hope all alone. With that admission, I thought I should take this Thanksgiving to honor, in brief, a few people who have reminded me of God's love, encouraged me to keep the faith, and helped me along.

So I would like to thank the Vineyard pastor, who put his hand on my shoulder and interrupted his prayer to say, "On behalf of all ministers, I'm sorry."

Thanks also to Sallie and Karen, who model for me faithful women, full of the Holy Spirit, who do not fit anybody's mold, but who have grown up enough in Christ not to care.

Thank you, Father Reed, for acknowledging the craziness of God's words, and encouraging me to read the Bible anyway. Thanks for always urging your listeners to give the Word, meaning both the holy words and Jesus himself, another honest look.

Many, many thanks to the Russian Christians, to Roman and Natasha, Alexai and Zenya, to all those precious brothers and sisters, whose Jesus I have not been able to forget.

And thanks, of course, to God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so holy and high and yet nearer to me than I am to myself.

There are many other people to thank; too many to list. I have all the usual people, like my family, always there, and my friends, so forgiving. I am thankful for my new family, my husband and his kinfolk, with whom I am spending this holiday. Later, I will eat lots of turkey, and I'll be thankful for that, too.

God bless you, dear readers. I'm thankful for you taking the time to stop by and read a bit. You are always welcome.

It's a good day.