Day 19 of the #31dbc!
“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” ~ Lauren DeStanfano
Few people on this earth do not find pleasure in the comfort of fall. I love the changing of the seasons, the cooler temperatures coming on, the bright hues and radiant shades and colors! Such joy comes from listening to the rustling of the leaves across the sidewalk, that has been music to my ears all week long!
We throw open our windows and let the cool breezes blow through our homes, the fresh air bringing welcome change from a hot summer of closed, air conditioned houses. It puts us in a cleaning mood and, unfortunately for our waistlines, a baking mood!
(I took this fun picture of my youngest son, Korey Ross, and our “adopt-him-if-we-could” son, Kyle Christian, when we were living in Latvia in 2011. We were visiting a castle in Segulda, and on the long walk back Korey and Kyle saw this irresistible pile of leaves and before we could tell them they were trespassing on “keep off the grass” signs, it was too late. Kyle was already in Superman form and Korey was falling in. They are not teenagers. Ahem. Good times!)
This time of year also makes me pause and think of the good things of God. Of all the blessings in our lives and the many, many reasons we have to be thankful. In our mid-week service Wednesday evening, our pastor was speaking about how blessed we are as a people. Compared to two-thirds of the entire world, we were considered wealthy!
“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” Ephesians 5:20.
If we have a roof over our heads, food on our table and clothes on our back on a daily basis, we are better off than half of the people in the world. But if we have those things and more than one outfit of clothing, can go to the pantry and actually stand there and choose what we are going to have to eat for every meal then we are considered to be rich!
“O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” Psalm 107:1.
I realize that the majority of my readers are from North America, but I am very grateful for the many friends that I have made in so many other countries in the last eight months! You all have been such a blessing to me and have taught me so much. What a thrill it is to meet people from all around the world who share a love for the things of God and who want to study His Word.
“I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:1,2 NLT.
From Dubai to Nigeria, Kenya, the Dominican Republic, Toronto, the Netherlands, Manitoba, and of course we can’t forget the Eastern Europe countries of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. These are just a few of the friends that I actually communicate with on a regular basis and know them by name, out of over 100 countries that visit the blog!
“Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.” Psalm 118:28.
Our lifestyles are so very diverse, but yet when I receive your emails and read your thoughts and comments on things I have written, I am amazed at how alike we really are. We come from different cultures but we love the same God.
As we enter this season of thankfulness, I thought it would be good to hear from you, from your corner of the globe and right here close by too. Some of you I hear from regularly, some read but have never commented. What I would love to know is three things:
-
Something God has done for you in 2013, what you are most thankful for.
-
What you want to see accomplished in your spiritual walk in 2014.
-
How you and your family will be celebrating the Thanksgiving Holiday if at all.
Mention what state or country you are from. You can email me your response to ynannette@gmail.com . I would like to use the information in my Thanksgiving post and show what God has been doing around the world! I will only use first names so you don’t have to worry about confidentiality. But if you do not even want me to use your name at all, please say so in your post and I will respect your wishes.
This will be a great blessing! I hope you will take a couple of minutes and answer the questions for me. I love and appreciate every one of you. These last eight months have been some of the most rewarding of my life and I thank you for being a part of the journey.
God isn’t finished, let’s keep reaching for souls and telling others the Good News that Jesus saves!
Sharing with Saturday Stillness, Heart Reflected, Amaze Me Monday, Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday, Sharing His Beauty, The Better Mom, Making Your Home Sing, Mondays Musings
Such a pleasure to meet you! Love having new friends from around the world ♥ Your faith and hunger for God inspire ME. Love how you said the husband calls you a hippy. 🙂 So cute. I don’t think I appreciate nature enough, God’s handiwork is amazing! I look forward to getting to know you too. Feel free to write anytime. Blessings! ♥♥♥
Hi Nanette aka Candace Jo 🙂 I live in South Africa & have just come across your page and am happy to say am now following you 🙂 I am looking forward to your emails and replies. I love to follow people who inspire me & just reading a few of your posts you inspire me. I am so in love with Jesus, Our Lord God and his amazing beauty all around us and every day i fall more and more in love with nature and the amazingness around us 🙂 haha my husband calls me a hippy now haha 🙂 anyway, thank you for your uplifting posts and look forward to getting to know you better 🙂 xx
The Lord allowed me to have our daughter and son-in-law and their pups stay with us while their house was being built and I loved having them with us!
Better time management so I always have my morning quiet time.
We have a large family and we always get together for Thanksgiving…can’t wait!
Thanks so much for sharing at Amaze Me Monday!
Blessings,
Cindy
( My cousin is in the process of adopting a little girl from Latvia)
Thanks Joanne, you always make me smile! I love the fall and spring too. The changing of the seasons is always a joy! I actually like the snow too…I am rare, ha. Thanks for stopping by. You are a blessing!! ♥
Thank you so much Joan for answering the survey! Blessings to you for 32 years! My Sweetheart and I celebrated 34 this July…wow…doesn’t seem possible. I love what you said about using your gifts in a new way. I am thinking on that one tonight.
Then…I am downright jealous, yep, I will repent later, ha, about your trip to visit your son! That sounds absolutely wonderful! So happy for you friend. I cannot imagine how beautiful that is. I will look forward to your pictures. Please take plenty! Blessings to you dear friend. ♥
Oh Mia, I am so sorry you are in such pain! An abscess is so painful! I am praying for you today. I too am experiencing an extreme Fibro relapse, the change of seasons doesn’t help. We will lift one another up today dear friend. God is near. Much love. ♥
Dear Nannette
Here in South Africa we are in our spring season. We don’t have a Thanksgiving like in the USA, but I want to share with you what our Lord did to me on Saturday night. I think I have told you that I am experiencing a very bad Fm/CFS relapse at the moment and last week I got an abscess in my one tooth. The combined pain was so bad that I silent cried. But I could really feel how Pappa was wiping the tears from my eyes! It was such a holy moment.
Blessings XX
Mia
Hi Candace Jo! I love the fall…it is absolutely my favorite time of year! Thanks for sharing your blessings, fun picture (I want to do that!) and great verses! To answer your questions, I have so much to be thankful for that it would be difficult to say what I am most thankful for…But, I will list here that I am so thankful for my husband of 32 years who is also my best friend! I feel blessed to be his wife! For my spiritual walk this year I am looking forward to my relationship with God being deeper and stronger than ever before. I also am praying that I will have the courage to use the gifts that He has given me in a new way. And finally, for Thanksgiving this year my husband and I will be traveling to visit our grown son. We will be staying in a little house on the Columbia River Gorge on the Washington side. We are so excited!!
Blessings to you and Happy Fall!
In His Grip, Joan
I could write too much, too long, believe me. However, if nothing else at this moment I will say I like this stretch of time, too. Mid-Sept to end of Oct. Getting a bit too cold already, and the acorns dropping over and over from our tree and hitting the roof [we have a small yard], but the colorful trees make me grin. My other favorite part of the year is mid-April to end of May. Warm, colorful, and cleansing. So, that’s me. Two 6-wk stretches of the year. The rest of it is a challenge very often.
Bless you and yours. Love the photo. It’s worth a big grin [on MY part now, but not on a parent part when wondering what’s gonna happen].
Beautiful Patricia! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply! Nothing like family gathered around the table…blessings to you! ♥
Something God has done for me in 2013? Goodness…the list is endless. He has constantly proved His faithfulness. What do I want to accomplish in my spiritual walk in 2014? Continue to grow in the image of Christ. How will celebrate Thanksgiving? Everyone comes to our little home on Pollywog Creek. Because of my recent surgery, my husband says that I am to tell everyone that I’ll do the turkey…they have to bring the rest this year. It’s a wonderful time to be with my children, their children, my brother, and his children and grandchildren. God is always good to me.