Wishing you all a Blessed Thanksgiving with your family and friends…
Happy Thanksgiving!
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Category Archives: Thanksgiving
In Everything…Give Thanks!
I hope you enjoy my new “facelift”! You can teach an old dog new tricks! Sharing from our survey a few weeks back and would love for YOU to share your desires for the New Year in the comments too! Blessed Thanksgiving friends…
“Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
Psalm 106:1
Thankful for those who took the time yesterday to leave their testimonies of praise! 2013 may not have been our best year ever but we are still a blessed people. We have much to be thankful for. If we have a roof over our head, food on our table and clothes on our back (yes I know it is cliché; but it’s true) we are blessed!
Kicking off today’s testimonies with some senseless Thanksgiving facts! Most of them you are aware of but it’s fun to reminisce. Maybe one or two will surprise you.
Apart from turkey and stuffing, football and parades are the biggest Thanksgiving traditions.
The first Thanksgiving Day football championship was played between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears in 1934…26,000 seats sold and broadcast nationally, by NBC…on the RADIO! But the American Intercollegiate Football Association held its first championship game way back in 1876 on Thanksgiving Day! Then the sport kind of resembled something between rugby and what we think of as football today. Who knew?
A ripe cranberry will bounce.
All turkeys & chickens have wishbones. (duh!)
Did you know one year in the United States we actually had TWO Thanksgivings? On Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt carved the turkey at the annual Thanksgiving Dinner in Warm Springs Georgia. But many Americans were not celebrating with him. They were having their Thanksgiving the following day, which was actually the designated Thanksgiving holiday. You can read this story, which was all about retailers and Christmas shopping, here.
So blessed to share some of YOUR hopes and dreams for the upcoming year from my survey several weeks ago.
What do you want to accomplish in your spiritual walk in 2014?
To continue to grow in the image of Christ. “…as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.” 1 Peter 2:2 NKJV.
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. “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:10 NKJV.
I would love to be less concerned about what people think of me and CONSUMED with Christ and staying focused on Him no matter what’s going on around me! “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.” 1 Thessalonians 2:4 NKJV.
I want to grow more in His word. I want to memorize, utilize and understand the scriptures so that I can help build His kingdom to the best of my ability. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15.
Continue growing in my walk; continue encouraging the children to grow closer as well. More daily Bible studies with the children, plus we are learning Hebrew this school year! “You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deuteronomy 11:19 ESV.
This is from Joseph in Kenya: In 2014, we’re trusting God to be a busy year for us. We know He wants us to expand and be in the region He desires for us to reach here in our country and possibly even beyond. It is our prayer that He’ll give us the energy, strength and all the needs He requires of us to put this mission on its feet. Also, that He would send more teachers of the Gospel of Grace to His people that His work may smoothly progress under His guidance. Of course, all the other programs He has for us to be manifested to the glory of His name! “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:9.
Read the Bible through in a year, and have a more consistent intimate time with the Lord each day. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105 ESV.
I want to see my daughter and her husband in the church so they will take my grand baby faithfully in 2014. “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. NKJV.
I would like to find contentment in 2014, both in where I’m living and what I’m doing. I would also love the Lord to grace me with contentment as I grow older. 2014 will commemorate my 60th – yikes! “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” 1 Timothy 6:6,7,8.
I hope that I will be bolder in 2014 to share His truth in whatever way He leads. “Because of Christ and our faith in him,we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” Ephesians 3:12 NLT.
Better time management so I always have my morning quiet time. “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.” Ephesians 5:15,16 NLT.
I want to be stronger in my faith. I want to not be afraid of accepting and embracing the blessings that are being given to me. “The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him.” Psalm 28:7.
Do you see what I see?
Thankfulness.
Desire for growth.
Hope for tomorrow.
Reading the Word.
Contentment, boldness, faith, strength, prayers for loved ones, time management in order to draw closer to the One who makes it all possible!
No complaints! No grumbles! No judgment for others!
He is worthy of our praise and our Thanksgiving!
Most everyone is spending their day tomorrow with their loved ones in one way or another. Some with small gatherings, some with larger ones. Some are cooking their very first Thanksgiving meal, good luck with that. You know who you are!
Elisabeth is a nurse and most always has to work on Thanksgiving. Thank you for your sacrifice Elisabeth! When she does get to sit down with her family for their Thanksgiving meal, they open a jar that they have been contributing to the entire month of November, full of notes of thankfulness. They pass them around and read them out loud. Love this! We do something similar for Christmas before opening gifts but this is awesome Elisabeth!
Amy gets the award for Queen for a Day on Thanksgiving. She only has to bring the cups, forks, plates & napkins. How wrong is that?! (Love ya, Amy!)
Joan and Sue get the most envied award for the holiday. Joan is blessed to get to spend it with her son in a little house on the Columbia River Gorge on the Washington side! Doesn’t that sound beautiful! I have never been there but I am sure the views are amazing! Enjoy your family Joan!
My friend Sue took off into the wild blue yonder yesterday heading for Hawaii to celebrate Thanksgiving with her in-laws! Her MIL blessed them all with a wonderful trip to the island for this family holiday. Can we all be a little jealous? Soak a little sun for us Sue!
Wishing you all a blessed Thanksgiving friends. I will have a super short post tomorrow but know most of you will be too busy to stop by! I will be too! I have two turkeys and a ham I am responsible for plus the stuffing for 24 people, two pumpkin pies, coconut cream pie, seven layer salad, and My Three Sons’ requested Corn Cake. The rest of the family has much more to add to it! Thankfully I have four “chefs” who are better cooks than I am who will be here tonight to help. Love my kids.
One reader summed it up for all of us: “Traditional Thanksgiving is very low key in my family. Just time spent together. Nothing big, no big feast or anything like that. This year though, I have so much to be thankful for and have been celebrating my “Thanksgiving” every day.”
Wonderful.
Now how are you celebrating tomorrow? And what are your desires for 2014? Share with us!
Enjoy your families!
Sharing with Homemaking Party, Women Living Well
For this we give You thanks…
“Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year, & then discover once a year is way too often.” ~Johnny Carson
When President Abraham Lincoln declared the first Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, his hope was that we would remember the Giver of all good things. We were in the middle of a Civil War but he still found something to be thankful for in his proclamation when he took note of the “blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies”, saying, “They are gracious gifts of the Most High God.”
We all have much to be thankful for as we close out 2013. Several weeks ago I hosted a survey at the end of my posts asking YOU to answer three questions.
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Something God has done for you in 2013, what you are most thankful for.
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What you want to see accomplished in your spiritual walk in 2014.
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How you and your family will be celebrating the Thanksgiving Holiday, if at all.
As usual, you did not disappoint! Overwhelmed by the response, I quickly realized that even though many had experienced difficult seasons this year, unemployment, sickness or loss; they still found reason to give thanks and praise to almighty God, the Giver!
I thought I would share some of them with you today and tomorrow. Thursday you will be too busy to think of Hope in the Healing! I hope you enjoy. They have certainly blessed me! Then at the end, please add your own!
Beth writes at Messy Marriages, a wonderful resource for anyone that has a significant other! She is most grateful for the group of women who regularly meet to pray for their marriages. They have seen God’s faithfulness through this effort and His blessing in their marriages!
There were awesome friends and readers like Amy @walkhumblywithgod, that said 2013 brought them the ability to forgive themselves. I was especially blessed by that! The top Google search phrase on my blog is any combination of the following: “If God forgives me, why can’t I forgive myself?” And of course I wrote a post on that several months ago, which is why they keep showing up on my doorstep thankfully. I hope it helps in some small way. I only wish they would let me know they were here.
Elisabeth has much to be thankful for this year! She says God showed her a clear path to some health issues she was having and through that they are now expecting their 8th child, which should make its presence known sometime in January. Praise God!
Patricia, of Pollywog Creek, says He has constantly proved His faithfulness to her this past year.
For Joan, at The Beauty in His Grip, she readily confesses there is so much to be thankful for it’s hard to pin it down to one thing but she chose her husband of 32 years, her best friend. I think she chose wisely, don’t you?
My new friend, Joseph, in Kenya, reports that the Lord helped him to overcome some challenges this year. He has exciting news to share of their work in his area: “Indeed He is a wonderful God! We had also asked Him to allow us to go out and minister His gospel of grace and peace to all at the beginning of the year. Now that the challenges are behind us, He has placed a busy outreach program upon two of our pastors. One will be going to Banita this coming Sunday, and Eldoret, end of the month. Our young pastor will be going to Kericho or Kisii on the 26th. He has also hinted to us about wanting us to open another church about 30 km’s away. We regret that God seems to have had much programs lined for us this year but had to patiently wait for the challenges we had to ease off. Hopefully at the end of the year we’ll file a very successful report back to Him.”
Joseph, I believe God is already pleased! You need have no regrets my friend!
I am so thrilled for my friend Barbie whose husband was blessed with a job recently after three years of unemployment! I can’t imagine how difficult this has been on them financially, emotionally and even spiritually…let me re-phrase that. I think I have the last part figured out. Barbie always gives God praise in ALL THINGS. So even when things were not going her way, even when she did not understand and probably said so, she still gave God praise. He supplied their NEEDS, maybe not their WANTS, but their NEEDS! She shares her story here at My Freshly Brewed Life. Go there!
This beautiful lady, Cindy, who attends Turning Point Church with me, was recently spared a major heart attack! September 23 of this year she had quite a scare but the Lord stepped in and she is doing just fine today. She is giving God the glory!
Sharon is most thankful for her soon-to-be daughter-in-law! She deems her “precious” and is eagerly awaiting the wedding of her oldest son. Congratulations Sharon! I only have one DIL and she is the “little girl I never had”. Be blessed!
Cindy has the most gorgeous blog, Dwellings, the Heart of Your Home; she shares so many beautiful pictures and ideas on her site. She writes that the Lord blessed her by allowing her daughter, son-in-law, AND their PUPS to stay with her while their house was being built! She loved having them and I can imagine they loved being with Cindy; and I am guessing those pups had a great time exploring this house. You are one cool Mom!
I love how Angel summed up her thanks for 2013:
She is always Finding the Inspiring.
I could not have said it better Angel.
One reader who just came back to the Lord said it this way, and I just love it, “Being thankful. What an understatement. Not only has God brought me through a very hard time in my life, He has led me straight back to the Church. He is showing me the truth and blessing me daily.”
Tomorrow we will share some of our hopes for 2014 and how we will be spending Thanksgiving. I have a few thoughts to share of my own.
Now, how about you? What are you most thankful for this past year?
What has the Lord kept you from or brought you through that you know without a shadow of a doubt He alone had a hand in it?
Has He healed your physical body?
Touched your mind?
Provided a financial need?
Brought home a prodigal?
Sent comfort when it was needed?
Sharing with us today might just be the encouragement someone else is looking for.
Have a blessed Tuesday!