Category: Thanksgiving

Hope in God

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As I work through writing my statement of thankfulness, my mind goes down different paths.  Too often, I think we fall into one of two ditches.  Either we go about trying to think everything is peachy and happy or we fall into the trap of griping and complaining through our days.

God’s Word gives us several examples of people who struggled through difficulties and learned to balance hardship with praise to God.  Many Psalms tell of pain and sorrow as well as hope and joy.  Psalm 42 is one.  The Psalmist shares his groaning, but keeps reminding himself to hope in God.

As I continue to work through how I believe I should live my life, I want to balance the truth of adversity with the goodness of God.  Passages like Psalm 42 help me to do just that.  Below is a portion of the passage.

Psalm 42 partial

Photo Credit: My friends David and Abby took this picture at the En Gedi Oasis in Israel.

Thankfulness and Praise

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With the Thanksgiving holiday coming soon (3 1/2 weeks), I have been thinking ahead to my traditional Thanksgiving week posts.  I have been challenged to come up with a philosophy or thankfulness statement.  This has been a thought in my mind for at least a couple of years.  I am still working on it, but plan to post it on Thanksgiving Day.  Praise and Thanksgiving can get lost in the midst of the difficulties, but God is still good.

Will you praise and thank God with me?

Psalm 103 1

Who Owns Everything

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With Thanksgiving coming in a little over a month, I think it helps to remember who owns everything.  The greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty belong to God.  Too often we want the greatness – and then we will be thankful.  However, there is more to be thankful for when we realize despite the fact that we deserve nothing but punishment, God still wants to have a relationship with us and bestow good gifts on us (James 1:17).

God is so good.

1 Chronicles 29 11

Hugs from God

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Life is full of various challenges.  We face the trial of living in a sin cursed earth which includes our own sin nature as well as that of others.  I find as I wade through the muck and mire of difficulties that I can feel weighed down with negativity.  As God teaches me to pray, He sends many hugs.  The hugs don’t get rid of the effects of sin, but they help me through.

One hug God has sent me this summer is through hummingbirds.  I have a hummingbird feeder on my deck.  I don’t often see them, although the sugar water levels have consistently gone down.  A few times in the evenings and on the weekend I have seen a hummingbird come up to the feeder and take a drink.  One night the hummingbird even flew towards my back door where I was standing and watching.  It was amazing.

God often sends blessings through people.  One such blessing came from friends of mine.  I was chatting with a couple of friends while one member of the household was working on a car.  When he brought in an old license plate from one car, I joked about the Vikings license plate cover on my car.  I wanted to remove it, but hadn’t gotten to it.  I’m not into football and I didn’t want to look like I was a Vikings fan.  About 5 minutes after the conversation, he comes back into the house with the Vikings license plate cover.  This is one of those “little things” that may seem silly, but is still fun.  I like my car much better without the Viking logo on it.

Friends, I know life can weigh us down and blessings seem few and far between.  However, the more I watch for blessings the more I believe God shows me.  If I am willing to receive as God chooses to give (knowing what is best for me), I will gain more.  I pray you see the many blessings (hugs) that God sends.

Father Brother Son

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On Mother’s Day, I introduced the title of Mother Sister Daughter, based on my relationships with many sisters in Christ. Now that Father’s Day is here, I want to talk about my spiritual brothers.

In order to keep relationships appropriate (a concept that can be lost by misuse of Christian liberty), I have to approach this differently. The Father concept is pretty easy. I have “dads” in my church. If you read back through some of my blog stories, you will see fatherly care (this could also be considered brotherly love). I have been blessed many times where guys in my church have helped me out – from mowing the lawn, to car care, clearing snow, roofing, relighting the pilot on my hot water heater (amidst jokes about blowing up my house), installing dead bolt locks, installing carpet, etc. 1 Corinthians 12 talks about serving; each member has different strengths. I can use tools, but there is a point where home-ownership projects overwhelm me. I am thankful for godly men who are willing to help me with projects that fit their strengths.

My stories about the help I have received can easily fall under the father and brother category. Now for the son portion – I have a mama bear personality. With the guys in my church I have to show it in a different way. As I have learned more about prayer, I am finding more ways to show appropriate Biblical love. Ultimately, God takes care of those things any way. I am simply His tool to use in the lives of those around me.

So on this Father’s Day, I want to thank the Father Brother Sons in my life. We don’t tend to verbalize thanks as much with the guys, but they like appreciation, too. So thank you – I appreciate your work and investment in my life.

Thankfulness and Praise

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During the thanksgiving season we often take time to reflect on the blessings that God gives.  I have thought and prayed about thankfulness and praise in the last few years.  Grumbling and complaining come more naturally.  However, no matter how bad life gets, God is still good.  He still gives good gifts.

Praise His name!

Thank You

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I started writing over 15 years ago. I wrote because I felt compelled to. Blogs weren’t on my radar then and I wasn’t brave enough to share my writing until a little over a year ago. 

I started sharing this blog with much fear and trepidation. However, I have been blessed by the response. So thank you to all who have supported me. I pray that I may honor and glorify God through writing.

The Blessing of Food Issues

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A while back I shared my story about “Contentment with Flooding“.  Today I want to share about another challenge that God put in my path and how He has used it to my benefit.

Some years ago I had been getting sick frequently.   Too frequently.  I floundered for a while, but finally wondered if I had food issues due to an article I had read about gluten sensitivity.  I also talked to a friend who has Celiac’s Disease and found we had health issues in common.  I decided I needed to try eating gluten free to see if that would make a difference.  Wow, did it ever!  I had more energy than I had in a long time and didn’t get sick as much.  I started losing weight (that needed to come off) and could tell I was healthier.

As hard as I tried,  I felt it impossible to consistently have good food habits.  I am learning to change my thinking about food.  Food should be fuel  for my body (which is the temple of the Holy Spirit according to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and not used to make me feel good.  God blessed by taking away the convenience foods that I tended to run to when life was crazy (which is often).  Food is still a battle, but God has blessed in making it possible to get the foods I need and encouragement from friends to have right thinking.

Sometimes blessings come in the form of difficulties.  I still struggle counting trials joy (especially when I want pizza), but God is patient and lovingly brings me back to the right path.

God is so good!

Worried?

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Have you ever worried?  I certainly have.

I love this picture.  Pretty flowers with a beautiful, blue sky background.  However, life is not always this pretty.  Sometimes it is downright ugly.  There is much trouble.  But worrying about the trouble (especially tomorrow’s trouble) doesn’t help me.  In fact, it can be a great hindrance to what I need to accomplish today.  Worry also doubts God’s ability to provide.

I am thankful God has given us passages like Matthew 6:25-34.  My loving Heavenly Father takes care of the lilies and the birds.  He will take care of me.  He has promised.  God always (yes, always) keeps His promises.

I am thankful for God’s promises. They are encouraging, but sometimes I still worry.  The best remedy I know for worry is pleading in prayer.  I know God will listen and provide.

Matthew 6 34