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The Most Amazing Thanksgiving Ever!

Thankful!

I think we all have a lot to be thankful for if we are willing to look. Often we can get so caught up in the struggles of life that we can’t see beyond our negative or discouraging thoughts. But Thanksgiving is a day that can help us to reflect.

Think back for a moment to what the Pilgrims had been through before their first Thanksgiving. They had escaped persecution to come to a country where they lost so many of their loved ones. They were struggling just to survive. Yet God was with them through all the trials and struggles by providing help when they needed it most.

We can often not see the help that is provided through the tough times but if we are willing to look back or even pay attention amid the trials we can see it. But too often we want to hang on to the negative instead of finding the positive. We complain about the trials and hardships and take for granted all the good that comes our way like we deserve it or it is owed to us.

Tradition

Thanksgiving seems to have become more of a tradition. And to be honest it has kind of gotten lost in Christmas. Christmas has become the moneymaker of the century so Thanksgiving, well it is just a day.  It is a day of gluttony and maybe family togetherness. But it is a day we should choose to be thankful.

For me, I have often dreaded it because there is so much work involved. But over the years I have realized less time and effort put into preparing is okay. It is really about being together with friends and family and reflecting on what we are grateful for.

Grateful

What am I the most grateful for this year? I am most grateful for the love and mercy of God. Where would we be without it? I see myself often taking His love and care for granted. And when something doesn’t go the way I want it, I question His ways.

The longer I live I realize if I would just stop and reflect I can see His hand in all of it. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Yet He loves us so much, despite our sin, that He keeps coming and wooing us to Himself. He never gives up.

When I am feeling down, discouraged, and realizing I blew it again, I am still His daughter. He is right there beside me, guiding, comforting, prompting, and loving me. Who in this life even does that? Parents are the closest thing to possibly being like God to their children. But as parents, we fail in so many ways. But God’s love never fails.

Hard to Fathom

God’s love is so hard to even fathom. Because no matter what we do He still loves us. We may crucify Him afresh every day but He is still there reaching out His love to us. He wants so bad to have a relationship with us.

Jesus gave up the majesty of Heaven to come down to a place like this. He was born in a stable with beasts of the field. He was ridiculed, bullied, tempted, and was killed but yet He never stopped loving each person. How can we even begin to thank a God with such a magnitude of love?

What God wants is our hearts. He wants to have a connection with us. A connection that is so strong that we will no longer want to do anything that will hurt Him. This is a love that only He can give to us. He provides us with the love to love Him. It is hard for my mind to even wrap around that kind of love. He will do the work in us if we allow Him in. Now that is something to be grateful for!!

Resolution

How many of us make a New Years’ resolution? Probably a lot of us have or still do. Well, this year I am making my resolution on Thanksgiving. My daughter has wanted to have a thankful jar. As we think of things to be thankful for, throughout the year, we write them on a piece of paper and put them in the jar. We did it a little one year but I want to make it more of a habit. So when we come together again next Thanksgiving we can look back over our year and reflect on what we have been grateful for. And we will see how God loves, cares, and provides for our every need.  It isn’t always easy but I am committing to start now.

Dear Father,

Forgive us for not being as thankful as we should be. Prompt our hearts each day, showing us You and what You are doing in our lives. We can be so blind and we need Your help. Thank You for being there for us every step of the way.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

I encourage you to start a thankful tradition.

May you have the most amazing Thanksgiving ever!

Love you all.

Do you have a thankful tradition? If so I would love to hear about it.

 

 

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“How Can You be Grateful?”

How can you…

Have you ever wonder how can you be grateful?  There are so many things that are going on in this world of ours and even within our own lives.  So how possibly can we be grateful?  Someone just lost his or her job maybe that is you.  There are some people that have had someone very dear and near to their heart pass away.  And there are some whose physical body has given up.  There are some that are living each day with someone they hold near and dear to their heart that is not well.  And they never know from one day to the next if they will be there.  There are so many sorrows in this world that I can’t even mention all of them here.  But how is it possible to be grateful through the mist of so many depressing circumstances?

God’s lesson book

God gives us so many examples in nature.  Being grateful reminds me of my daughter’s dog.  Although the dog belongs to her he loves me the most.  I go to sit down in the living room and I get 2 dogs that run and jump on my lap and start to quarrel over who gets to sit there.  Eventually, the one ends up sitting curled around my neck on the back of the couch.  And my daughter’s dog Cuddles snuggles as close as he can get next to my lap or on my lap if I don’t have something laying on it.

Cuddles shows me many things.  He isn’t perfect but I often think that the things he does do wrong are so small compared to what we may do.  You can tell when he is sad or when he is grateful.  When he is happy it is like he has a smile on his face.  His whole countenance just glows.  If you have a pet I am sure you know what I am talking about.  He doesn’t want much except to be fed and loved.  I would say that he doesn’t sit around worrying about whether or not we are going to feed him or love him.  But I can see the sadness in his eyes when I ignore him or shove him away when I am too busy.

Cuddles knows when I am sad, angry, or happy and he cares.  He tries to comfort and calm me by trying to nuzzle me.  Or when I am happy he wants to be a part of those happenings as well. He wants to go with me everywhere I go and can often be underfoot.

When I take a shower he comes into the bathroom with me.  He loves it when I lay down my housecoat for him to lie on.  But if I forget he doesn’t complain.  He just curls up on the bare floor and is content.  I can see the sadness in his eyes when I ignore him but he still tries to stay as close as possible.  He doesn’t seem to worry when I forget to feed him, he seems as happy as always to be with me.  When I realize I forgot I feel so bad but he just seems to be grateful just to have me present.

…Thinking…

When I gave it some thought it made me think of God.  I am kind of like God to Cuddles.  He has to trust me to take care of him, feed him, and love him.  Cuddles loves me no matter what I seem to do.  He must think I love him enough to not let him starve to death or leave him out in the cold.

Of course, there is a difference between God and me.  God is perfect in every way.  He as perfect love for us.  My love for Cuddles is not perfect.  God never shoves us away because He doesn’t have time for us.  He is always there.  But even though He is always there we don’t always think He is.  Sometimes we feel that he has abandoned us.  We also feel like we are being “shoved” away by Him because of the trials that He allows to come into our lives.

We need to have the love and trust that Cuddles has for me for God.  Cuddles seems to know when he has done something that upsets me.  Do we realize the pain that we bring to our Lord when we do some of the things that we do?  And do we even care?  Every time we do things in our lives we should have so much love for God that we wouldn’t want to hurt Him.

We need to put our trust in God so fully that no matter what happens we can still be grateful.  Because we know that He loves us so much we can trust Him for the outcome.  Just like Cuddles always wants to be with me and follows me where ever I go we need to do the same with God.  The great thing with God, He will never consider us in the way or underfoot. We need to “cuddle” up as close as we can get to Him and stay connected.

Grateful

It seems as Christians we have so much to be grateful for.  I think if Cuddles could talk he would talk only about the things that he loves about me and how grateful he is for my love. The love he feels out ways any bad that may come his way.

My biggest gratefulness this Thanksgiving is God’s unlimited, unending love.  It doesn’t matter what I do He still loves me.  But He loves me so much that He doesn’t want to see me stay where I am.  He wants me to grow.  And I can trust Him to take care for me.  He is never late with answering my prayers although it may feel like it to me.  I can trust Him fully.  It may not feel like it but I can claim His promises and know by faith that He will fulfill them.

I am grateful for family.  As each year passes I realize how grateful I am for parents that love God.  And I am grateful each day that I have them.  So each Thanksgiving that comes I am so grateful to still have them with me.  My father has been a spiritual guide for me.  And I am grateful for each day that the Lord continues to sustain him.  Because each day I never know if he will still be here.  I try not to think of these things but be grateful for each day God gives me with him.

I am so grateful for friends.  Friends can bring such love and comfort through hard times.  And I am grateful for the prayers that ascend to the Father on the behalf of my family and me.  Knowing that others are praying for you is such a comfort.

I think that often we don’t look at the everyday blessings and give thanks.  We just seem to expect it.  I am grateful for every breath I take, a roof over my head, food on the table, being able to walk, see, and hear etc.  There are so many things that I could write down but I think you get the idea.  We need to make an effort toward thinking about the positive things that God has blessed us with instead of always focusing on the negative things that may happen.  God is so good.

Dear Father,

Thank You for another day of life.  I am so grateful to You for all you have done in my life.  I know that all things work together for good.  You have blessed my life with great things and I pray You will help me to focus upon those things rather than the negative things.  Thank You for nature and the lessons that You teach through it.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Make sure to be grateful and not just on Thanksgiving.  Be grateful all year long.

Love you all!  And have a great Thanksgiving!

What is something that you are grateful for?  Please comment below.  Let’s see how many things we can get listed.

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“It’s Over!!”

The New Year is coming!

It is hard to believe that another year has passed.  The year has gone so quickly that it feels like a dream.  How many of you are looking back at your year and wish things could have been different?  Maybe there are things that you have done or said you wish you could take back?  Or maybe you’re looking at the New Year thinking about what next goal you can set to try to achieve?

It seems like a lot of people have a New Years resolution.  And most of the time it doesn’t last for long.  It seems that the most popular resolutions are to eat better, exercise more, and lose weight.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with these resolutions.  I do have one for the coming year and that is to be more regular in my exercise.

Failure

What tends to happen is a person starts out well but they may eat something that is not healthy, or a day goes by without exercising and they give it all up because they failed once.  This is a problem.  When we fail we should not get discouraged and stop we should reset our goals and start again.  Every day is a new day and a fresh start.  We don’t have to live on yesterday’s mistakes or tomorrows goals we just live today.

Setting goals are well and good and we should do it because that is what keeps us motivated.  But don’t beat yourself up when you do fail, just get up and keep going.  I am going to give you some tips on setting goals and how to keep them.  Keeping your New Year’s resolutions is a choice every single moment, day, week, month, year.  But I believe that you cannot do it alone.

Get your priorities straight

There is a “must” in setting goals.  It starts with making a commitment to allow the Lord to lead in your life.  We are unable to stick to our commitments without the aid of God.  We may think we can and we may try.  But I can tell you by experience that it is way easier to have the Lord to depend on.

I know you have heard these excuses and have made them yourself.  “I don’t have time to exercise.”  “I didn’t have time to eat a decent meal I just had to grab it on the go.”  “I accidentally slept in.”  “The food looked so good I could not resist.”  “I can never lose this weight, it’s impossible.”  “I don’t have time to spend with God.”

Alarm clocks

You might be thinking, “What do alarm clocks have to do with New Year resolutions?”  Well, I believe that “alarm clocks” are the key to success when setting goals.  And I have the best “Alarm Clock” ever made and I want to share it with you.

When starting the New Year you have to get your priorities straight.  You have to make a commitment.  I believe to make your day, week, month, year successful you need to make a morning commitment.  It is important for you to get up in the morning so you want to make sure you set your “Alarm”.

The best Alarm that I have found is God.  I have found this to be so true in my life.  I ask the Lord to wake me in the morning and He does it faithfully every day.  And when He wakes me I am wide-awake.  Now, can I hit the snooze button on God?  Yes, I can and I have done it.  It usually comes in the form of, “I’ll just lay here and pray for a few minutes.” Or we make similar excuses.  Something that sounds so legit.  And without fail, I go back to sleep.  What is amazing to me is that when I wake up the next time I feel groggy and I don’t feel as good the rest of the day.  Make God your alarm clock.

Simple 30-minute startup

I want to give you a simple 30-minute startup that you can easily commit to doing every single day.  Upon rising:

  1. Get a large glass of water. For me, I like to drink a quart of warm water and drink it in a fairly short period of time.  It is a good cleanser first thing in the morning flushing toxins that have built through the night.  But you can choose how much water and what temperature you want.  I am not going to count this into your 30 minutes because this should not take long.  If you choose to heat your water you can lead into #2 while you are heating and drinking your water.
  2. Spend around 5 minutes in prayer and gratitude to God. I definitely spend more time in prayer than this but this is a great place to start.  We need to be grateful every day.  Our tendency is to look at the negatives in the past year.  Instead, look at what the Lord has done in your life, look at the positive.  As you start to be grateful you will see more and more positive things.
  3. Spend 10 minutes reading your Bible or your favorite book that draws you to God. Again I spend more time than 10 minutes.  And I have found that the Lord will wake me up in plenty of time to spend more time.  And He also multiplies the time.  He is so faithful.
  4. Spend 15 minutes in some form of exercise. I like walking.  Just try to pick something that you will do.  I have a treadmill and I like to get on it. One reason I like the treadmill is that I can listen to something while I do it.  So while I am on my treadmill I listen to the Bible on audio.  This is a good way to do two things at once.  I also have used this time to memorize Scripture or even spending more time in prayer.  After you exercise, make sure to get a glass of water in.

Now you can go on with your day, as usual, making sure that you have invited the Lord to attend you throughout the day.  I have found that not only is God a great wake up alarm but as I invite Him to accompany me throughout the day that He also sets off the “alarm” when I start to do something that is not in line with the commitments I have made.

You have it made

If God is reminding us of our commitments what is there to worry about?  I know that God is always faithful but my commitments can be like ropes of sand.  Knowing God will “alarm” me I don’t have to worry.  But I do need to make sure that when He does warn me that I listen and don’t hit the snooze button and go ahead and do my own thing.  God is always there we are the ones that walk away.

Dear Father,

Thank You for always being there for us.  Thank You that You are always willing to forgive.  Help us in this New Year to stay more committed and connected with You.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Let God lead you in the commitments you make in this coming year.  And allow Him to help you stick to it.

Have you great New Year!  Love you all.

Have you asked God to wake you in the morning?  How has it worked for you? Comment below.

 

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“Are You Complaining Again?!!!”

Do you ever find yourself complaining?  It seems that your natural nature just wants to complain no matter what.  When blessings come you seem to act like this is the way things are supposed to be so you don’t even really acknowledge them.  Then when bad things happen you start complaining and totally miss the blessings you could have.

Don’t worry you are not alone.  I am right there along with you.  It is so easy to look at others and wonder why they are complaining but then we turn around and do the same thing.

Recently I have been “trying” for the umpteenth time to read my Bible through.  I have tried many times and have always got bogged down somewhere around Deuteronomy.  In the last year, I heard of this idea of reading four chapters a day, one chapter in the Old Testament starting with Genesis, one chapter from Psalms, one chapter from Proverbs, and one chapter in the New Testament.  I have appreciated the idea because it helps break up some of those harder to read areas.  I was already in Numbers when I started the idea.  So I have been reading a lot about the Children of Israel.

As I have been reading I keep thinking how stupid can they be.  I mean God just brought them out of the land of Egypt, where they had been slaves for many a year.  The miracles that God performed for them were amazing.  But then the next trial came and all they could do is complain.  “Why did you bring us out of slavery, to just kill us off?”  What?!  You have got to be kidding me.  If God could bring them out of slavery couldn’t He feed them or provide water for them?  I shake my head as I read but then I realize I am not any different.  What is wrong with us?  We keep going back to default, our natural sinful nature.

There was the time where some of the Children of Israel were complaining about the leadership.  They felt they could do better.  God had the earth open up and swallow up the rebellious group and the Children of Israel fled.  But then the next day they came complaining that Moses had killed the people of the Lord.  What?!  As if Moses could open up the earth.  What were they thinking?!  God sent a plague and a big number died.

Then a few chapters later they are complaining again to Moses for bringing them out of Egypt because of lack of water and bread.  The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people.  When someone was bit they would die.  A lot of people died.  Then the people confessed that they had sinned and were begging to have the snakes taken away.  God instructed Moses to make a fiery serpent and place it on a pole and if a person was bitten and they would look they would live.  They had confessed their wrongs now they needed to look and live.  It was simple but not all of them even looked to live.  Did their complaining end there, no.

But are we really any different?  Where has God brought us from?  What slavery has He brought us out of?  He has brought us “out of the house of bondage”(sin) but we complain.  We want to go back to the place of “bondage” because we can do what we want.  We have all the music, movies, games, clothes, entertainment, food, etc., that we want.  There are no “restrictions”.  But is that really true?  We can do whatever we want but we are slaves to alcohol, drugs (legal or non-legal), depression, anger, overweight, etc.  It does not really sound like happiness.

What we forget is what God has done for us.  He brought us out of the bondage of sin but we keep looking back at the “fun” of sin.  We keep forgetting about the “food” He has provided, His Word, to sustain us through the difficult times.  We forget about the “water” that He has given so that we will not thirst again.  We forget what the slavery was really like.

And the most amazing thing is that He came to this earth and was lifted up on a “pole”, the cross so that we can look and live.  He took on the sins of the whole world and died so that we may live if we so choose.  Why is it so hard to choose life over death?  There is a devil that shows us “all the glories of this world” and we think we need to have them.  But the reality is the things of this world only bring misery.  I can speak from experience.  Many may think that they are happy in their life of sin but in reality, they are not.

When I look at the Children of Israel I ask myself why did they keep going down this road?  Why did they want to go back to slavery?  Here are some ideas for us to look at and learn from.

  1. They forgot their past history. If we forget our past history and what the Lord has done for us we tend to want to go back to that life of “slavery”.
  2. They focused their eyes on the problem rather than the problem solver. They took their eyes off of God.  We do that all the time as well.  When problems arise instead of focusing on it we need to go to God with it.  He can handle anything.  He can take care of all problems.  And He will do it in such a way that we will grow spiritually.
  3. They complained. They spent so much time complaining and we can do the same thing.  We are supposed to be thankful in all things.  It is hard to be thankful but if we really have faith and trust in God we can be thankful.

Yet despite all that they did God still loved them.  It is beyond comprehension.  He still wanted to save them.  And He still wants to save us.  What can we do to stay focused on the right things?

  1. Get a grateful journal. We need to write down all the things the Lord does for us.  Every time He does something for us no matter how small we should be writing them down.  When things get tough and we are having a hard time remembering, we need to get out our grateful journal and read it.
  2. Read God’s Word. We need to be reading God’s Word so that we can see how He worked in the lives of those in the Bible.  We will find encouragement and comfort there.
  3. We need to focus our eyes on the Problem Solver. We need to go to God with our problems.  Prayer is the key to open heaven’s floodgates.  I love how one author puts it,  “Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your fears before God. You cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him. He who numbers the hairs of your head is not indifferent to the wants of His children. “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” James 5:11. His heart of love is touched by our sorrows and even by our utterances of them. Take to Him everything that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too great for Him to bear, for He holds up worlds, He rules over all the affairs of the universe. Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for Him to unravel. No calamity can befall the least of His children, no anxiety harass the soul, no joy cheer, no sincere prayer escape the lips, of which our heavenly Father is unobservant, or in which He takes no immediate interest. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3. The relations between God and each soul are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the earth to share His watchcare, not another soul for whom He gave His beloved Son.” SC 101.
  4. When we are tempted to complain let’s be positive. We need to focus on the positive.  This can be hard at times but we can re-train ourselves.  We need to look at the cross and what Christ has done for us and we need to be grateful.  He suffered greatly to bring us out of the slavery of sin.  And no matter what we are going through we can look and live.

Dear Father,

We live in troublesome times.  We need You more than ever.  Thank You for the stories of the Bible that can help us keep all things in perspective.  You are the One that can bring us through every difficulty.  Continue to prompt our hearts to turn to You as easily as the flower turns to the sun.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

I am so grateful that each day can be a new day with a new start.  Start new today.  Make a commitment to stay fully connect to Jesus and keep your eyes on Him.

Love you all.

What story in the Bible has been an inspiration to you?  What have you learned from the story?