Happy Thanksgiving!

After the last few weeks, I wasn’t sure how Thanksgiving would go.  As it turns out, it was a good week.  Yes, I reflected on the losses my family suffered recently, but I also reflected on the many blessings we’ve received over the last year.  Yes, I remember COVID and all it’s taken from us, but I also realize I’ve been blessed, too.  For both of the cousins who recently passed away, I saw them earlier in the year in person.  In fact, one of them, until she became very ill, was periodically joining the family for bible study.

As I mentioned last week, now more than ever is a time to remind ourselves of all the good things in our lives, whether it’s a place to stay or food to eat or a job we really like or being able to take a walk in the park.  These are just a few examples, but we need to be more conscious of things we normally take for granted.  All of them are worthy of our giving thanks to God.  He is the one who understands our needs and desires better than we do.  He alone is God and for that alone, He deserves our praise (1 Chron 16:34).  

At the end of the day, no matter what the circumstance, God’s love for us never fails (Isa 54:10).  He is the one constant we have.  He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow (Heb 13:8).  While we may be shaky in our commitment, He never is.  If we trust in Him, He will never fail us.  He may not do it the way we want it done, but it will always be for our good. 

I pray that the coming season will bring fresh insight into who God is and all He has planned for you.  Stay the course, do the work, praise the Lord and be blessed.  

Why are you Thankful?

Last week, I mentioned losing a cousin.  Yesterday, I lost another – it was unexpected and happened quickly.  I’m not sure how I feel yet.  I’ve known them both for most of my life and I am grieving their loss.  I will miss them both.  

I do realize in both cases how grateful I am to have had them for as long as I did (Job 14:5). Losses like these make me even more grateful for those left behind.  So many people don’t have much family at all and I’m blessed with abundance.  While we’ve had our challenges, we’re been touched with so many blessings of the Lord.  

You know I’ve always tried to be a glass half-full type….always looking for the silver lining in every situation.  But the older I get, the more I realize whether the glass is half-full or half-empty or all together empty, God is still so very good to us (Psalm 100:5).  It’s all a matter of perspective and recognition that no matter the situation, God is still there and He has kept us.  

When we get out of our own way and realize that God doesn’t owe us anything and that He has given us all we need to prosper (2 Pet 1:3; Deut 8:18).  He’s given us His love which has been actionable.  Think back over your life and all the situations that should have taken your life, but God intervened.  Think of all the situations where you should have lost it all, but God intervened.  He has been a constant help in all times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).  He’s met all my needs and many of my wants (Phil 4:19).  He’s blessed me to see 50 (almost 51) years of life and they have overwhelmingly been good years, even with almost two years of a pandemic in my rear view.  

I think I may have mentioned that my family now has weekly bible study together.  What a blessing it’s been!  It took a worldwide pandemic for me and family to start getting together every week.  When I don’t hear from them now, I miss them.  We know that we are stronger when we’re unified and this very difficult experience has brought us closer to each other and more rooted in God’s word.  Talk about a blessing out of tragedy (James 1:17).  

Everyday should be filled with Thanksgiving as we should praise God always (Psalm 34:1).  But, now is especially a time to reflect on all the things we are thankful for and all that God has done in our lives.  I don’t know about you, but I would be a total wreck without Him.  I thank Him for waking me up in my right mind and being able to move independently.  He has opened doors for me that I never imagined as a little girl growing up.  But I thank Him for so much more than what He’s done – I thank Him for who He is.  I thank God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit for each of their roles in my life.    

If you don’t know them, there’s only this moment and I hope you don’t miss it.  Time isn't promised to us, so don't let it get away.  Don't put off, what you need to do today.  There is nothing that will impact your life like the decision to choose a relationship with the Father through Christ, where you will then have the Holy Spirit on the inside of you directing and guiding you (John 16:13).  He changes everything. 

I hope and pray that you have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday and that no matter what your current situation, you remember all the things in your life to be thankful for...there's more than you think. 

What to do when God’s answer is No

This week I lost a cousin we had been praying for to recover.  It is heart breaking to know she is gone from us here, but we know God knows best.  It doesn’t really make the hurt easier, but it does provide us hope that we will see her again.  Was it selfish of us to ask God to save her?  I don’t believe so.  

In John 16, Jesus said if we were His followers and abide in Him, we can ask what we will in His name and it will be done.  We prayed for my cousin’s healing and God in His infinite wisdom did that – not in the way we hoped but her body is not ill anymore.  When we prayed, we meant for her to be healed and be here with us, but we know that God’s plans are high above ours and sometimes His answer to our prayers are “not yet” and “no.” 

We have to remember that at the end of the day, God’s Will and Purpose will be fulfilled (Psalm 138:8)…..not ours.  It’s hard to believe sometimes that we are not in control of our destiny and we can’t get everything we want (even when it is outside of God’s will for us).  But if we were able to have everything “we think” we want, it would lead to our destruction.  If we are not connected to Christ and we go off on our own to get whatever we want, we will be destroyed.  What profits a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul (Mark 8:36)?  Whatever we want here on earth is temporary (2 Cor 4:18), but we will live eternally somewhere and isn’t it best to live in Christ now so we can have eternal life and not eternal death.  Nothing on this earth is worth the cost of our souls.  

When we realize that we don’t know what is best for us and we ask the Father for something?  He knows whether it’s in our best interest.  And if we belong to Him, He will work all things for our best to keep us safe and protected…..even when we don’t understand (Rom 8:28).  As Jesus prayed, Lord your will and not mine (Luke 22:44).  That is surrender and it is powerful….to choose to give up your will for the One who is never wrong.  It’s not easy, but that’s why we need the Holy Spirit to empower us to do God’s good pleasure.  

We have to remember that even when the outcome is not to our liking or what we wanted, God is still in control (Prov 19:21).  He is still on the throne (Psalm 47:8)!  We are still His children and He is still going to do what is best for all of us.  HE STILL LOVES US!  He is a good parent (Psalm 103:13).  

So, just as we expect our children to accept when we tell them “No”, the same holds true for us.  When God says, “No,” we have to understand that He has His reasons that we may not understand now, but it is ultimately for the good of His children.

How Do You Give Thanks?

Today was the beginning of a series on Thanksgiving and Thankfulness (thanks YM360) with the middle schoolers and I had the privilege of kicking off the month.  The lesson started in the Old Testament (Lev 7:12-15) with God giving the Israelites the Law with specific instructions on how to give thanks with a peace offering through the Levitical priests.  Can you imagine having to go through a priest to give God thanks for all He’s done for you?  Well, that was the system.  There was no direct connection to the Father unless He initiated communication.  Sacrifices and such had to be done by the priests or there was a violation of God’s law.  

However, after Israel had been so sinful (like we often are), they took the sacrifices for granted violating God’s Law and sinning purposefully then giving sacrifices to make up for it with no real intention of turning from their ways.  So God told the people to stop their wicked ways and turn from their sin – to do good for others, to honor the name of the Lord, to seek justice and to take care of those with no voice of their own who couldn’t take care of themselves (Isa 1:12-17).  The people continued to sin and then God sent Jesus to us. 

Jesus was, of course, the ultimate sacrifice.  No longer are we dependent upon anyone else going to the Father for us.  We can go to the Father and give thanks for ourselves.  There are a few ways I wanted to reference for us to give Him thanks and for us to give sacrifices (Heb 13:15-16) that will please Him: 

• Give Him Praise (Psa 105:1) – the sacrifice of praise is one way that we can give God thanks.  Whether things are going the way we want or even understand, giving God praise is the appropriate thing to do.  No matter what is going on, God has done more than enough.  He gave us Jesus and no matter what we face here on earth, Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us that where He is, we can be there, too.  If He never does another thing for us, He has done that.  And I, for one, am so grateful that He has.  So post a scripture or write out a prayer of praise or share the good news of what God has done for you.  Give God praise for what He has done in your life. 
• Be Like Christ (John 14:15) – Jesus called us to be His disciples, which means we are His followers.  When people see us, they should see Him.  Just as He taught that He and the Father are one, we should be one with Him.  If we abide in Him and He abides in us, we should look and act like Him.  Our obedience to His instruction is how the world knows we are His.  So it is our responsibility to make sure there is no question about who we belong to.  Yes, we’ll make mistakes, but our reaction to them should not be that of the world…..we should look like Jesus. 
• Do good to and for others in need (John 15:12) – the second of the great commands Jesus left with us was to love our neighbor as our selves.  That means sacrificing for the good of others.  When we get past ourselves and become more and more like Christ, we will begin to seek ways to do more for our fellow man.  It might be volunteering at a homeless shelter or helping a neighbor in the yard or giving to a food pantry.  We don’t have to look for the grand gestures, we need to look for the everyday ways we can help those in need….maybe a meal when a neighbor doesn’t feel well or helping them with their groceries or walking the dog for them.  When we “love” our neighbor as Jesus has loved us (better than we deserve and always for our good), then we show God’s love to the world around us.  

Think about how you are showing thankfulness to God and showing Him to others.  Remember it needs to be in more than just words.  Let your life be a praise unto Him.  Let’s live to please Him.