STN November 2023 President’s Message - Being Thankful

As hard as it is to believe, our year is rapidly coming to a close. As we know, it is the time of the year to focus on those things that we have to be thankful for.

Sometimes this “thankfulness” requires us to have a relative perspective. When we step back and take a moment to recognize that not everything that we had planned went as we would have hoped. It is then the time to look at things not so much as how we would have liked to see things go, but rather as God has planned.

We must remember that God never answers certain questions from us. He never answers the “when” and “why” questions. You see, God is not willing to justify Himself to us or to get into an argument with us.

He will, however, answer “How” and “What” questions. “What can I do to fulfill your purpose for me?”, or “How can I navigate through these challenging times.” Then we must be willing to listen and act on what He tells us to do and how He leads us. Only then do we have the obligation to move with strength and conviction, remembering Isaiah 41:10; “So do not fear, for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

What evil wants above all else is to remove our will to resist by creating chaos on so many levels, and thereby creating hopelessness and division among us. This Thanksgiving and through the year, I ask you to remember this sage recommendation from Paul in Colossians 3: 12: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”

Please don’t misunderstand that term thankfulness as it is recommended here. That thankfulness is for other like-minded believers, and not for evil. We must always remember, as was recorded in 2 Thessalonians: 9-12; “This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. So, God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.”

What we truly have to be thankful for above friends, family, and our health, which are all things we must be thankful for, is the fact that; “He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and make us His own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. You must teach” (Education, our 3rd Core Value) “things and encourage doing good deeds...so don’t let anyone disregard what you say”. (Titus 2:14-15). STN has stood firmly on our Biblical Foundational Core Value consistently remembering that this is what truly holds us together, and it is certainly what we all must be truly thankful for.

I want to emphasize that in spite of the fact that STN has accomplished a lot over the last year, we are only getting started. Keep in mind and be thankful for the fact that He moves in His time, not in ours. We must always remember that He is developing our “mental maturity” into individuals that “keep on keeping on”, “move ahead”, “wait patiently”, and in spite of delays in our timeframe “trust anyway”. This is a process for us as individuals and for any organization such as STN. Count your Blessings, live in Gratitude, and continue to Grow and Mature.

Thank you all for being a part of this movement!
Dr. Pfeiffer