Thanksgiving Week 2014

Greatness, power, splendor, glory, and majesty are yours, LORD, because everything in heaven and on earth is yours. The kingdom is yours, LORD, and you are honored as head of all things. Riches and honor are in front of you. You rule everything. You hold power and strength in your hands, and you can make anyone great and strong. “Our God, we thank you and praise your wonderful name. (1 Chronicles 29:11-13 GW)

Our favorite time of year is here, beginning with Thanksgiving Week.  We call it "week" now because the kids are out of school all week - all except the college girl who had to go to school today, but will be home later this evening.  But, we will be together for the rest of the week and until Sunday afternoon!

What are you thankful for this year?  Each of us has countless physically, personal, spiritually, and emotional blessings from God.  The key is learning to give thanks for them realizing that ALL of them come from HIM. He is the giver of all good things! 

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

May each of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I pray that you have family and friends around you and that the love of God and Jesus strengthens your soul, guides your heart, and fills your mind with gladness!

A Month of Thankfulness

Do you tend to be a thankful person? Does thankfulness come easy for you?  If it does, then thinking of something to be thankful for every day in November is easy, but if you're not, then it may be really difficult.  And if your not, the thought or site (on Facebook) of everyone being thankful for a whole month may really annoy you!  Sounds strange for some of us, but I know it's true because I see it each and every year - the complainers of "thankful" month!

But if you are a child of God, you are commanded to be thankful - not just ONE month out of the year - but each and every day!

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 107:1

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 118:1

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:21

Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  Colossians 3:15-17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 106:1

Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Psalm 105:1

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans! Psalm 20:4

That my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever! Psalm 30:12

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! Psalm 100:4

And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.  Isaiah 12:4-5

And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.  1 Chronicles 29:13

I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers.  Philemon 1:4

In addition to being more thoughtful in your thankfulness this month, maybe you could pick one of these scriptures to memorize or meditate on every few days. There are 20 listed, so even one every weekday would work.  Either way, spend more time being thoughtful about your thankfulness this month.  In doing so, you will begin to be more thoughtful every month and every day.....and fulfilling God's Will for your life!

What Am I Thankful For?

(Reposting this. First published November, 2010.)

Today, I am thankful for:

T - The truth found in God's Word

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

John 8:32

H - Heaven 

Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

John 14:23

 

A - Abundant Blessings

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3

N - Never-ending Love 

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

1 John 3:1

 

K - Knowledge of God

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

1 Peter 1:3

S - The sacrifice for our sins

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 2:2

G - God's gift of eternal life

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

I - Integrity of fellow Christians

I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. 

1 Chronicles 29:17a

V - The vine - Jesus

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

John 15:5

I - Inheritance for children of God

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Hebrews 9:15

N - Needs met by God

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

G - God's grace

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Ephesians 2:8

Are You Thankful?

Wednesday night I taught a lesson on "Being Thankful" in the ladies' class. I asked some questions I thought I would share with you - kind of a self-check to see how thankful you are.  

Are you a thankful person?

Are you thankful for your family?  Do you ever treat them unkindly?

Are you thankful for your material blessings?  Are you a good steward with those blessings? Do you use them to further the Kingdom of God or just for yourself and your family?

Are you thankful for your town, state, and nation?  Do you participate as an active citizen and help make your town, state, and nation better? Do you care for the world?  Do you waste resources?

When you are sick, do you pray to God to heal you? When He does, do you tell him thank you?

When you receive an award or someone brags on you in some way, do you say thank you and think to yourself, “I deserved/earned this!” or think that it is all because of your own hard work?  Do you forget to thank God for allowing you the opportunities you have, for giving you the talents you have, and use those accolades to bring glory to Him - or do you take them for yourself?

Are we thankful for our friends?  Are we better friends to them because we are thankful?

Are we thankful for the gospel?  Do we prove it by sharing it with everyone around us?

Sometimes we're not thankful. Sometimes we may find it hard to be thankful, due to circumstances around us, but God asks us to be thankful no matter what is going on in our lives. He commands us to be thankful in all things.  Not for all things, but in all things. 

Our thankfulness should always be directed towards Him, for He is the One who supplies everything for us and grants us all of our many blessings.  But we should be thankful to Him, not for what He will do for us, but because of who He is....Our Heavenly Father, Our Creator.  

There is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, something to be thankful for!

 "... in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." Colossians 3:15

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:17

"Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving." Colossians 4:2

Take Time to be Thankful

I'm participating on the "30 Days of Thankfulness" on Facebook.  Maybe you are, too.  During the whole month of November, I - and others - post about one thing we are thankful for on that particular day. We'll be doing it every day in November.

Of course, it is easy to find something to be thankful for every day.  Or is it?  It should be, but maybe it's not.  Maybe we're struggling to be thankful.  Maybe all we see is bills that need to be paid or hurting people who need help.  Maybe we're overwhelmed with obligations - family, friends, work, school, extra-curricular activities, busy schedules.  Maybe we don't have time to stop and think about being thankful.  But maybe we should.  Maybe we should stop.  Maybe we should be still and think about all God has done for us.  Everything we have has been given to us by Him, so we should be thankful for it all - shouldn't we?

Being thankful is an attitude of the heart.  Recognizing God in everything - big or small.  Recognizing Him in the busy times and the quiet times.  It's finding a way to be thankful during the trials and hardships of life.  It's trusting Him enough that, even in the bad things, the good things shine through. 

 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2

The "30 Days of Thankfulness" is great.  It's wonderful!  It's great to see so many posts from so many people expressing their thankfulness.  But our thankfulness shouldn't be limited to 30 days or to just November.  We should be thankful each and every day - 365 days a year.

The Chronicles of Biscuit - "You should thank God!"

In March, Biscuit came home from Kindergarten and said, "Mom, I'm the only one in my class who doesn't know how to tie shoes!". Well, out of 21 students, I was really shocked! Then I began to fill bad that he didn't know how because we hadn't taught him. We practiced from time to time, but not very often at all. I had never really thought about it before.

Because our other three children learned from each other or from a friend, I began having one of the siblings try to teach Biscuit how to tie. It immediately seemed more difficult teaching him because of his lack of caring in learning to accomplish this task, but also because he was left handed and none of us are. Though he practiced from time to time,it just wasn't working. I asked the teacher about it at the next parent-teacher conferences. She assured me that out of the 21 students, not even half of them knew how to tie their shoes! But, I still felt bad that we had neglected it. I think it's because he's the youngest of our four. It's easy to keep that one "young" and forget what they are capable of!

In July, we told Tyler he had to know how to tie before he began 1st grade in mid-August. He tried a while, but still didn't seem interested. But then I had an idea! We've never bribed our children to do something, but we've often-times taken things away as a means of discipline. (Ex. Potty training our third child (son) wasn't going so well until I told him he couldn't watch another movie until he learned- then he was totally potty trained in three days!) So, I told Tyler he couldn't have any gum until he learned to tie his shoes. He really liked gum, so I thought that would do the trick. It didn't. He didn't have gum for three weeks!

On the way to Nashville last week, we came up with another plan. He and his older brother, Zachary, were going to be sitting in the second row of the mini van for 13 hours, so it was a perfect time to practice shoe tying. After a few minutes of that not going so well, we thought of another "take away" as a form of discipline. Being an avid "ball" player, we told Biscuit there would be no more ball playing of any kind until he learned to tie his shoes. Well, you should have seen Biscuit then! It was like he was in a race...so excited and interested to learn to tie his shoes!

It still took a while, but at least now he had the interest to learn how. It took lots of patience (from Zachary, especially) and lots of practice (from Biscuit, Zachary, and us) but Biscuit learned to tie his shoes on that trip to Nashville...then fine-tuned the task on the 13 hour trip back home. Joe and I helped a little bit, but I'll give credit to Zachary for the majority of the help.

While we were on our way home from Nashville, we stopped to eat. Biscuit was so excited about learning to tie his shoe, he was doing it all of the time...even while waiting for our food. I said, "Biscuit, I sure am proud of you! Thank you for learning to tie your shoes." He said, "Mom, you should thank God!" How sweet!

Yes, Biscuit, I do thank God....for you and for you learning to tie your shoes.

Thanksgiving in June

Gratituesday: Hosted by Heavenly Homemakers

Last Tuesday we had a free evening without any baseball games. Because of the free evening, and because we had a frozen turkey that needed to be cooked, we had "Thanksgiving in June". Lauren set the table and we ate on our "nice" dishes, instead of the plain white Corelle ones. Zachary made brownies and we had brownie sundaes for dessert. It was great to have "Thanksgiving" leftovers for a few days, too. It was a fun evening!


Tyler (a.k.a. "Biscuit") prayed for the meal, which included, "Thank you, God, for this big 'ole turkey!". Of course, a few giggles from the siblings we heard during the prayer. Then Tyler giggled a little. When the prayer ended, Tyler started crying because he had laughed during the prayer. He wasn't meaning to be funny when he said it. We assured him that God understood.

I asked each of the children what they were thankful for. Here are their responses:

Zachary, age 12: My parents
Tyler, age 6: Going to a Texas Rangers baseball game this summer. (I asked him again after the others had all answered, but it was still Texas Rangers! I suppose that's okay.)
Jacob, age 11: My whole family - parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles.
Lauren, age 14: The same as Jacob said - our whole family.

I am grateful for "Thanksgiving in June", the big 'ole turkey God blessed us with, my family, our whole family, and yes, even for getting to go to Texas Ranger's games from time to time! What are you grateful for today?

(Note: Visit "Life's a Bowl of Cherries" for some new recipes!)

Saying "Thank You"

In VBS today, we studied about the 10 lepers who asked Jesus to help them by healing them (Luke 17:12-19). Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest. The picture above is what my 1st and 2nd graders made to act out this story. Each of them were given two gloves. All ten fingers one one side of the plastic gloves were given sad faces and "leprosy" spots.
The other side of the gloves were given happy faces. The Bible tells us that on the way to see the priest, the lepers were cleansed. But, only one of the lepers came back to tell Jesus "Thank You". Jesus asked in verse 17, "Were there not 10 cleansed? Where are the other nine?"
The kids also were given "leprosy" with baby powder and acted out the story. They enjoyed the story, but learned the importance of saying thank you. The handprint cookies below also illustrated the story. You can tell the points of this story were really emphasized today! They also learned about the deaf/mute man being healed, but there were more activities to do with this healing.
One leper returned and told Jesus thank you. One leper returned and praised God. Only one. Which leper would I have been? The one who returned and said thank you and praised God? Or, one of the nine who accepted the healing power, but failed to give Jesus and God praise?

I wonder which one God would say I am? I'm afraid I need to work on telling Him more often how thankful I am for all of my blessings, and how thankful I am for the gift of His Son, Jesus.