1) The author recalls how at age 10 on the day before Thanksgiving in 1944, while pledging allegiance in school, their teacher began sobbing during her prayer as she had recently lost her husband in WWII. This moment made the author fall in love with Thanksgiving and feel profound gratitude. 2) The author walked home slowly that day, stopping to promise God that they would fight to keep their country free, a promise they remembered serving in the military. 3) In the letter, the author asks the reader to donate to their ministry Insight for Living, which aims to equip people with biblical truth to fight personal battles, as their loyalty to God runs deeper than patriotism.

1. Dear Friend:
I’ll never forget the day Thanksgiving became my favorite holiday.
I was 10 years old, standing ramrod straight beside my desk at Southmayd Elementary School in East
Houston, pledging allegiance to the flag. On that day in 1944, soldiers were fighting for our freedom across
the Pacific and the Atlantic. At home, everything was rationed from gasoline to toilet paper. We were getting
used to things being different—including seeing stars in our neighbors’ windows. Those decals said, “This
is the home of a soldier.” Too often, a star changed to a cross, meaning the person had died in combat.
It was the day before Thanksgiving as I stood beside my desk. After we honored the flag, our young
teacher, as always, led us in prayer. But this time, she began to sob. Tears stung my eyes too as she stumbled
through one of the most moving prayers of gratitude I’ve ever heard. I found out later that she had lost her
husband on the blood-washed shores of Normandy. Bravely, she refused to let her grief eclipse her gratitude.
At that moment, I fell in love with Thanksgiving.
I walked home that afternoon very slowly with profound feelings of gratitude. I stopped somewhere
between Japonica Street and Quince Street, looked up, and promised God that, if needed, I would fight to
the finish to keep my country free. I remembered that promise thirteen years later when I earned the right
to wear the Marine Corps Dress Blues. I remembered it every time I saluted the flag serving in Okinawa. To
this day, I rehearse the words to myself every Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving puts steel in our patriotic bones. It speaks in clear, crisp tones, reminding us of important
terms like integrity and courage. Determination and discipline. Sacrifice and godliness. It was those truths
our forefathers declared to be self-evident. It’s those truths that have motivated men and women to fight for
our freedom ever since.
As deep as my patriotism runs, my loyalty to the Lord Jesus runs even deeper. It’s for His glory that
Cynthia and I began Insight for Living Ministries. It’s by His grace that it has grown into a worldwide
ministry, committed to pouring biblical steel into the bones of people in every nation
and equipping them with Truth to fight their very real and personal battles.
Since day one, I’ve trusted the Lord to lead the right people to join our
mission at the right time. It’s with that mind-set that I ask: Would you give to
Insight for Living Ministries this Thanksgiving? And if you’re not already a
Monthly Companion of Grace, would you pray about becoming one today?
I would be so grateful for the privilege of serving our Lord with you.
With joy and thanksgiving,
Charles R. Swindoll
November 2019
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2. Asdeepasmypatriotismruns,myloyaltytotheLord
Jesusrunsevendeeper.It’sforHisglorythatCynthia
andIbeganInsightforLivingMinistries.It’sbyHis
gracethatithasgrownintoaworldwideministry.
—ChuckSwindoll
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