​As Christians we have to learn to walk.  While we are learning to walk the Lord has a hold of us, but sometimes we may fall.  
We read in Psalms 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me”. Regardless of where we walk; regardless as to where we go, the Lord is with us. He is there to help us and to sustain us. He helps us to walk on this journey.  He will not leave us nor will He forsake us, even when trouble comes.  

The Lord is my strength and shield.
I trust him with all my heart.
He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.
​I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.
Psalm 28:7 ​

We are blessed with so many things - we have so many reasons to give God thanks.  We can thank God for his goodness, for the good things in our lives.
What if you're in a situation where you’re going through things?  It can be marital problems, problems with your children, financial problems, or other problems.  Yes, even in the midst of problems, we can still thank God.
Even then, there are still things to be thankful for.
This Thanksgiving, don't forgive to give God thanks.  

As I prepared this devotion I thought about my parents.  When you talk about somebody telling you to “Come” I think about when I was a kid.  You all know this - your parents would say “Come here!” Sometimes we had messed up, sometimes we had got in trouble, and sometimes we had to pay for the trouble that we had got in.  My Dad would say “Boy, come here!” And when he said “Come!”, I started moving!  

Dad spoke with authority, and I knew what he could do.  Well, today, the Master says “Come”. 

Athletes will tell you if I do the right things, I’ll grow.  Some athletes do all kinds of things to grow; they use vitamins, enhancements, growth hormones, steroids and all kinds of stuff to get bigger.  When I did body building years ago I would work out, take vitamins, take supplements and go to the gym.  I’d train 2 – 2 ½ hours a day, 4 or 5 days a week and a lot of other stuff so my muscles would grow.  
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I was successful as a body builder, but was there another way I needed to grow?

​Electrical devices need electrical power to work; they need to be plugged in.  If we were to plug the hair dryer or electric razor that we used this morning into an outlet in some foreign countries we would run the risk of it burning up. I know from personal experience.  In some places you have to have an adapter or converter.  When I traveled to Germany a couple of years or so ago I didn’t know that. I plugged my shaver in and I went to shaving with it and the thing started getting hot.  I realized that the thing was about to melt, it was really hot! I found out I needed a converter in order to be plugged in.

Did you know that Christians need to be plugged in?  Do you have your converter?
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The Psalmist David had fallen from grace.  We know the story of how David committed sin with Bathsheba. 

​When he was faced with his sin, he was devastated.  Sure, he was still king, but would David ever be great in God’s eyes again?  He had been called “a man after God’s own heart”, but what about now?

​Restoration means the act of putting someone or something back into a prior position, place, or condition.  It’s just like you see on TV or even around this city – you see people restoring or renovating a house or renovating a building.   Some people restore old furniture and old cars; there are different things that people do as far as renovation or restoration.
If we are in sin, we are out of position.  When we fall from grace, we need to be restored.  Thankfully, God is a restorer.  

​We spend a lot of time worrying about things.  You’ve got people that are worrying about food, they’re worried about shelter; you got people that are worrying about jobs, about their relationships, and many other things.  All these things are important, but we shouldn’t let those things keep us or pull us away from looking to God.  We need to be looking to the Kingdom – we need to seek the kingdom first.

I was reminded of the story about a lady that lived in London, England who wore a little gold locket in the shape of a heart around her neck.  And there were people that would ask her - Hey let me look inside of it -  let me see what’s inside your heart,  but she wouldn’t let anyone look in it.  So when she died and family members were going through her things they ran across this locket that she had been wearing for years.  Everyone wondered what was inside of her heart shaped locket. Some thought it might have been a picture of an old boyfriend. But when they opened it up there was ......