My beloved grandmother, Sara Melson, completed her sojourn in this world the Saturday before Thanksgiving. She had faithfully fought the good fight and completed her race. She has entered into her final rest.<\/p>\n
That evening, I decided that I will be endeavoring to pay more attention to those God has blessed me with in my life and not take them for granted so that I may both be thankful for them for who they are and all that they do and that I may better love and appreciate them as God would have me do. After all, if you read through Paul’s letters, how often did he thank God for the brethren?<\/p>\n
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world<\/em>” (Romans 1:8).<\/p>\n“I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus …<\/em>” (I Corinthians 1:4).<\/p>\n“For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him<\/em>” (Ephesians 1:15-17).<\/p>\n“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you …<\/em>” (Philippians 1:3).<\/p>\n“We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers …<\/em>” (I\u00a0Thessalonians 1:2).<\/p>\n“We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater …<\/em>” (II Thessalonians 1:3).<\/p>\n“But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth<\/em>” (II Thessalonians 2:13).<\/p>\n“I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers …<\/em>” (Philemon 1:4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nEarlier this holiday afternoon, I had an epiphany while feasting with a few members of my Christian family and my parents. You see, through the last year, I had a friend that God brought into my life, temporarily, it seems, who had a deep impact on me, proving to be a great catalyst for my growth in Christ. I’ve had a hard time letting go, largely because I recognized that God was behind our friendship, and it’s been many years since I had that strong of a friend.<\/p>\n
How deeply do we feel that each of us here in this church is our God-given<\/strong> friend? What about our brethren in other congregations who we only see occasionally, if not only once?<\/p>\nAre we taking each other for granted? Are we taking our Christian family-our parents, siblings, spouses, and children-for granted?\u00a0God gave<\/strong> them to us. Am I taking them for granted, or am I investing time and energy into getting to know them, appreciating them, and loving them as God would have me do?<\/p>\nI know<\/strong> I have failed in that.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Anthony Hamilton My beloved grandmother, Sara Melson, completed her sojourn in this world the Saturday before Thanksgiving. She had faithfully fought the good fight and completed her race. She has entered into her final rest. She was among the most generous, serving, and encouraging people I know, and I am so thoroughly blessed to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[233,579,1395,704],"class_list":["post-82764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-friends","tag-friendship","tag-gratitude","tag-thankfulness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-not-certain-if-this-girl-is-the-one-for-me-what-do-you-do-in-such-a-situation\/","url_meta":{"origin":82764,"position":0},"title":"I’m not certain if this girl is the one for me. What do you do in such a situation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I attended a singing night at a congregation and I met a young woman. She is a member of the Lord's church. Her mom attends when she is not working. Her grandmother is faithful in attendance. She became very interested in me and I was interested in her too\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46901,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-have-no-friends-i-dont-trust-anyone\/","url_meta":{"origin":82764,"position":1},"title":"I have no friends. I don’t trust anyone","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I found this website by accident. I read some stories and would like to have some guidance and advice. I'm the youngest of four siblings. My parents both work. Both make enough that we can manage. When I was five, my next oldest sister passed away when there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82791,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-just-read-your-sons-wonderful-tribute-to-his-grandmother\/","url_meta":{"origin":82764,"position":2},"title":"I just read your son’s wonderful tribute to his grandmother","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, I just read your son Anthony's wonderful tribute to his grandmother. God has truly blessed us with the gift of Christian friends and family-each one a reflection of His love. Your thoughtful advice and godly guidance shared through your website have made a difference in many lives,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49605,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-bad-because-i-wasnt-with-my-mother-when-she-died\/","url_meta":{"origin":82764,"position":3},"title":"Am I bad because I wasn’t with my mother when she died?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a 22-year-old woman who is having a crisis. I have spoken and confessed to God my transgressions for my sins against Him and others; and yet, fear still takes hold of me. How can I cleanse both my mind, heart, and soul of this taint? I still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88099,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-think-i-should-dedicate-every-use-of-my-car-to-my-grandmother\/","url_meta":{"origin":82764,"position":4},"title":"I think I should dedicate every use of my car to my grandmother","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening, I've been diagnosed with OCD. I've been struggling with promises to God for a long time, but now I've a problem with one, I suppose I did five years ago. While I was trying to get my driving license, the month before the driving exam, I probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36162,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-boyfriend-is-handicapped-and-his-life-is-controlled-by-his-grandmother-i-dont-know-if-i-should-continue-dating-him-or-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":82764,"position":5},"title":"My boyfriend is handicapped and his life is controlled by his grandmother. I don’t know if I should continue dating him or not","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been dating this man from church for about half a year now.\u00a0 Our original getting together was through his uncle inviting me over to meet him.\u00a0 I have to mention that he is the victim of a drunk driver over a decade ago. Because of this, he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}