Thanksgiving comes from the love of God
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In a sermon at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, 
Gary Wilburn said: "In 1636, amid the darkness of the Thirty 
Years' War, a German pastor, Martin Rinkart, is said to have 
buried five thousand of his parishioners in one year, and 
average of fifteen a day. His parish was ravaged by war, death, 
and economic disaster. In the heart of that darkness, with 
the cries of fear outside his window, he sat down and wrote 
this table grace for his children: 

'Now thank we all our God 
With heart and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things had done,
In whom His world rejoices. 
Who, from our mother's arms,
Hath led us on our way
With countless gifts of love 
And still is ours today.'

Here was a man who knew thanksgiving comes from love of God, 
not from outward circumstances. 

- Don Maddox.