Someone at our church lost her husband the day before Thanksgiving. How does one deal with that? He had been on a heart transplant list for four months. Can you imagine? four months of waiting… waiting… waiting… for a heart to be available. It is hard to wait …. to question … can you live longer… will they find a match for you… If their heart is good then it takes a fast acting team to do the surgery and implant the heart into a chest waiting.
He didn’t get a heart. He rested and waited for 4 months and no heart was there to bring life His body weakened and he could wait no longer. God has a reason. God has a purpose for the wait and the heart ache and the final hours. We won’t ever understand it. We won’t ever know why some live and some don’t. We just need to remember this little family now with our prayers. Can you pray with me? He left behind a wife and two sons, ages 8 and 4.
Thank you for being with her God, Give her strength and stamina to press forward in the days and months to come. Help her now to rest in your powerful wonderful love. Help her in her sorrow. Help her in her weakness. For we give her to you as a child of yours who needs your arms to hold her. She needs a hug… Thank you for your promise that you will not ever leave us. Bring comfort to her … bring peace to her… Give her rest through your powerful name ~ Amen
This is the blog I was quoting from I hope it is ok to share it… an awesome reminder for us to slow down and pause. (Click onto the writing in purple or the first line).
On this Thanksgiving day may we be thankful and full of prayer.
Gratitude is the memory of the heart ~ Jean Baptiste Massieu
Thanksgiving. A time for being with family or friends. A time for feasting on wonderful food and sharing in fellowship. A time for setting one day aside for resting and giving thanks for life~ love~ and health. What will you do this thanksgiving? Watch the Macy’s thanksgiving day parade while preparing the food? Will you sleep in and relax or will it be a day of bustling around baking and cooking ‘stressing’ to make everything just right.
Before our day begins~ My prayer for us all is to stop stop Pause and slow down to give thanks.
My prayer is that we will open our eyes to look and see what we have surrounding us.
My prayer is that we will know how richly blessed we are.
We are warm~ fed~ and loved. We have clean sheets on our beds and warm blankets. We have furnaces that take away the chill at the touch of a button and ovens that cook our food. We have hot water by the turn of a faucet and warm towels from the tumble of the dryer.
We are blessed people~ We have the freedom to go the church of our choice or the market when something is needed. How sad it is that We forget…we forget. We are forgetful people and our memory is bad.
We are ungrateful at times We seek more and strive for more.
While others in different countries have nothing. We remain ungrateful and forgetful and it is sad to realize that is who we are. I pray that we can see we are wealthy and rich and so abundantly blessed. Given much~ our bounty is full Our cupboards are running over. Even when we live from paycheck to paycheck we still have the choice of grocery stores with the ability to replenish our stock with fresh water to drink and the protection of a home.
Thanksgiving needs to be not just a day to sit and fill ourselves with wonderfully warm food prepared by loving hands. It needs to be it must be a way of life. We must find a way to remember to give thanks to the one who loved us first and provides for us all that we have.
We must find a way of waking each day and reminding ourselves how much we have to be thankful for.
Gratitude is a memory of our heart~ We must remember how far we have come.
Are we grateful this day Are we thankful this day can we allow ourselves to ask the question?
I read today on anothers blog, and I hope it is ok to share: “When we sit around the table and reach out for each others hands we enter into a sacred place.”
May our hearts prayer not just be a short ‘thank you for this food prayer.’ But a prayer of thanksgiving for we are truly blessed and richly provided for.
The same blog I read said: Without the pause before the thanks, it is just habit.
May we never make giving thanks a habit that is so mundane and normal that we lose the power of the sacred moment.
Prayer is a sacred place I pray that we will allow this thanksgiving to become a new way of life for us. I pray that we will allow ourselves a quiet silence to ‘give thanks with a grateful heart’. On this Thanksgiving I wish you a new way of life and a new hearts perspective to be thankful.
Have your sound on please. Take your time and listen to this song. Take your time and let the words sink in. The cries of our heart and soul searching for depth and intimacy are more important to God than our hallelujah’s from empty places inside. If you have ever been to a ‘charismatic’ church, they say Amen and hallelujah for many reasons throughout the service. It doesn’t mean it is a cry from the heart… its just words… hollow words. Empty sounds coming from voices wanting to be heard but not wanting to be real. God loves our heart’s cries when we bring him our messes… our woundedness. The vulnerable places inside us. Beautiful the mess we are… for that is where HE can begin. Beautiful are the cries from our searching hearts. I pray this be a blessing to you…
The dark, gray skies overhead threatened an early snow.
Rushing shoppers, all bundled up to ward off the cold, crowded the sidewalks, lost in their to-do list for Thanksgiving.
Oblivious to their surroundings, no one noticed a small, shivering boy standing in front of the shoe store, his nose pressed against the window, barely dressed and only flip-flops on his dirty feet.
However, one man did see him and stopped, dead still in his tracks, causing others to bump into him. He didn’t notice the bumps and grumblings, but he did notice the small boy because he had a son about the same age. Thinking how he would feel if this were his son standing there, barely clothed, the man quietly slid next to the boy, the man stood there for a moment, and then said,
“They have some pretty nice shoes here, don’t they?”
“Yeah,” came the soft reply.
“Which ones do you like?”
“That pair over there… the cool running ones.”
“Oh, I”ll bet you could run fast in those.”
“Yes sir. I could. Like the wind!”
“You know, I have a little boy just about your age.”
“Oh, yeah? I’ll bet he has shoes like that.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, he does. But I have an idea.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“How ’bout I take you into the store and buy you that pair of shoes?”
The boy stood there motionless.
After a few moments,
with tears in his eyes, he looked up at the man.
“You want to buy me shoes?”
“I sure do. Your feet must be freezing and I’d love to buy them for you.”
The boy couldn’t even answer.
The man took the boy by the hand and walked into the store.
Finding the manager, the man described the pair of shoes and asked the manager to please get a pair in the boy’s size, along with some socks.
Then, he said he and the boy would be in the restroom and would he please bring the shoes and socks in there.
The manager gathered the shoes and socks and, upon entering the men’s restroom, found the man on his knees washing the young boy’s feet.
“Can’t stick dirty feet into clean, new socks and shoes, now can we?”
The young boy just stared at the man as he lovingly washed away all the accumulated street-dirt and gently dried his feet.
Feeling he was intruding on a very special moment, the manager quietly placed the shoes and socks on the floor without saying a word.
After placing the socks and shoes on the boy’s feet, the man stood up, and with hand on his hips, said, “Okay. Let’s see how they look. Walk around.”
The little boy couldn’t move.
He stared down at his feet that felt glued to the floor.
He looked up, tears now streaming down his little face, and said,
“Mister, are you Jesus?”
The boy’s words took the man’s breath away.
So overcome with emotion, the man could barely speak.
Finally, he muttered,
“No, son, I’m not. But I know Him very well.
And this is a gift from Him.”
“This is the greatest Thanksgiving ever.
Would you tell Jesus thank you for me?”
“Well, let’s go for a walk and I’ll tell you how you can do that yourself.”
After reading this writing I asked permission to post it and share it with the readers on this blog, to help us all to get into the thanksgiving spirit. Whether we purchase a pair of shoes for someone, or write a letter, send a card, or make a phone call. Perhaps it is time to tell others how to ‘thank Jesus’ for the greatest gift of all and give someone a reason to give Thanks.
The other day looking outside I noticed the wind blustering and blowing as the rain poured down in many directions and the darkened clouds cracked the skies with thunderous roars. Then all of a sudden the hail came pounding and pounding with loud earthen noise. I watched it from the warmth and protection of the window feeling thankful that I was inside and not out as I heard the roar upon rooftop tumbling onto brown green grass turning into tiny balls of white. The force of the wind gave the trees no choice but to let go of the leaves that were once hanging the beauty of glorious reds and yellows tranforming limbs empty… barren as the colors now carpeted the wet and white ground. I was in awe of the moment… time of day and season and gently reminded of the many things we have to be thankful for.
Remembering that: fall…is a time for hunkering down and finding solace in a warm room. a steaming cup of tea. a good book. a phone call with a friend. a pot of soup on the stove. a nice glass of wine. a hand written letter.
fall…is a time for dying leaves and empty trees. fall…is the entrance into a time for giving thanks for loved ones near and far. fall is… the invitation for Thanksgiving to come and walk alongside us as families share food and festivities and dishes pretty with goblets shining and steaming cups of coffee.
Thanksgiving… where pumpkin pie with real whipping cream is the dessert of the day and magical moments where children and old ones mingle and visit in the midst of meaningful conversations and we give thanks that we can do that this year for we know next year could be different.
Thanksgiving… a time for giving thanks for hot flames of fire dancing within the fireplace and the Love of a God who reaches down to save us from ourselves. Thanksgiving… for hope given to a world lost without it. Thanksgiving… for life and breath and love and dying.
Just as the leaves let go of the limb that holds them we must let go of our stubbornness of heart and remember to give thanks with a grateful heart to the one who gives us choice. For life and love and liberty and health of spirit too. Thanksgiving… where knees bent and hands folded express sincerity from a place deep within us to the one who holds us close and restores our souls barren like empty tree limbs. Thanksgiving… is a time for remembering who we give thanks to and why. Thanksgiving… is something special for us all. I pray we take time to give thanks.
Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Hebrews 13:5b God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Can you hear the promises from God to you? This was a deep question I asked myself… when we were sitting in a marriage retreat by John and Staci Eldredge. Because of my ‘childhood’ and the abandonment issues. I brought into our marriage as a young bride the ‘agreement’ in my heart… ‘no one will hurt me again.’ If my walls were high enough and my heart was shut off tight enough… no one could enter and no one could cause hurt. I went into the marriage with the ‘knowing deeply embedded inside my heart’… that I was not important and I didn’t matter and in that knowing… I made an agreement to believe… ‘what was really not true in this relationship.’ Even so… the lie continued to reinforce itself. As my husband and I were sharing after the retreat a feeling many years ago on our first anniversary came forward for me. I was pregnant and sitting in a sparsely furnished apartment while he worked over time. There was no ‘dinner’ out that night. Although I do believe we did go out on a different day. I wanted it to be our day and to feel special and it wasn’t. I was sick and nauseated and I was emotional… and I was feeling non important. The lesson replaying itself … if you really were important to him he would not be working overtime. you are alone…you have always been alone.
We talked about that and in the frame reference from where we are now… and it would not ever happen. If it was an important day… work would wait. But when you are a young person you only ‘see’ the paycheck with the over time on it… you don’t see or feel or even think about the feelings surrounding that decision. The opportunity for the enemy to come alongside and speak his lies… was there… it was a prime event for him. John said, “In relationships… interpretation needs time”. Listen to the self talk. Pay attention and listen to what is happening inside you. He said, “Pain is the enemies playground for agreements, when you are in pain you are most vulnerable to the enemy and his tactics.” As I sat alone in the sparsely furnished living room on our first anniversary night. I told myself… “see… I knew I was not important… I know it doesn’t matter if it is our anniversary… work is more important.” The agreement I made that night set our ‘relationship’ up with the message any time he said, “I would like to go hunting, I would like to go fishing…” my internal interpretation was… “I need time away from you and this is my way of doing it.”
That really wasn’t the truth of what was happening but because I had placed a filter around the agreement. I could only interpret his leaving as ‘you are not important enough for me to stay.’ This is more important to me.
I have learned a lot in the last 37 years. Each of us brought in to the relationship baggage from our past. My big one was abandonment. As I grew closer to God I realized my husband did love me. My husband did not purposely choose to hurt me. We were young. We didn’t know. We both made decisions out of immaturity. We have worked hard and we made it and it is good. The promises above… I have loved you…I have drawn you… I will not ever leave you…*a commentary said the verse really means never never never never never…five times… to get the point across.* That is a lot of never’s. I challenge each of us today to ask God to show you what kind of agreements you have made in your marriage if you are married… if not what personal agreements have you made about yourself or other relationships. John said, “if it doesn’t feel risky it is not love.” For love risks… to love deeply. He said, “Your marriage will have rough waters, and deep turbulence, you will have pain and crisis moments, how you handle them as a couple will determine the strength you have in the relationship.” He says, “You live in a brutal war and the enemy does not want you strong and united.” He will whisper accusations to you just so you can replay the, “See I told you so moments.” (boy did we ever have some stretching moments in 37 years) John said, “You must guard your relationship. Watch your heart. Take note of your attitude towards each other and pray.” John said “God is always after deeper healing~ deeper character building~ deeper transparency.” He also said, “When the storms come… and they will…you must have an anchor to hold onto.” Do you have an anchor… who loves you deeply and won’t ever leave you? Take hold of it and cling tightly to the one who keeps you stable. You cannot drift far if you allow Him to love you and keep you in a safe place.
Our Pastor yesterday was sharing with us as he continued the topic of ‘knowing Jesus’. A few more of the attributes of Jesus we don’t often think about are Grace and Justice. He was full of grace, and compassion, and kindness and forgiveness. He was also full of Justice for He was fully God and could not tolerate sin and evil. Pastor said, “If you read the interactions of Jesus He deals with women much differently than He deals with the men.” The reason for that was the fact that women were low in status and had little value in that culture. They were devalued and when he ministered to them he collided with the theology of the day. (And he knew that) He saw they had value. He saw they were needing His touch and He saw they were searching from their heart.
That brought great chaos to the leaders of the day for He was not supposed to talk to women or heal them (remember the woman who grabbed the end of his garment?) Women were valued in the presence of Jesus and that made the rulers of the day upset with him. In John 8:2-10 Pastor said Jesus was ambushed into a situation so that the leaders of the day would see what Jesus would do and build their case against him. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts; where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and ask her, “Woman, where are they? no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” (Pastor said there should be a question mark there because in reality the only one who stood there without sin was Jesus and he could have thrown the stone at her and he knew that) “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” GRACE…was shown to her. The leaders of the day wanted to ambush Jesus into judging her and in the process they became the judged. Jesus declared the truth to them and he revealed to them their hearts intention of judgement. They had to have set her up in order for them to know she was in adultery so they were more guilty than she was to catch her in the act. Just as they set Jesus up they set her up too. Pastor said, “Jesus was teaching and all of a sudden in walked these men dragging a half dressed woman wrapped in bed sheets caught in the act.” How would they know without being a part of it?
Pastor said, “Don’t we wish we could know what he wrote? It must have been revealing enough for all of them to leave.” Jesus exposed their hearts of stone and condemned the ones who were accusing. Did he write down specific names… did he write down specific sins only those who read would know about? They left…one by one. They left…one by one… which tells me he dealt with each heart individully. Grace was shown to the woman standing near him in a bed cloth… transparent with her shame exposed. Grace was shown to her heart. Grace mixed with love was shown to her with compassion. Jesus said, “leave and not only leave here but leave the life you have been living. You don’t need to live that way.”
Justice was when Jesus found the temple being used wrongfully in the selling of animals and exchanging of money. Jesus was angered and drove them out removing them with force and strength. In John 2:13-20 He was God refining and cleaning out the ones who were abusing the temple for wrong purposes. He made a whip and used his anger… the anger of God against sin and forced them out of the temple. (Pastor said, “I don’t think he used his inside voice.”) Jesus was not just a quiet gentle person. He was God full of Grace and Justice and He used His power when He needed to. The ending question was this: What part of your life do you need refined and cleaned by a grace filled powerful God full of justice and strength? Pastor said, “Jesus became the voice for the voiceless.” The women of the ‘day’ had no voice. They had no purpose and no value. Jesus did not stay within that law he stayed within the soul searching God laws that asked questions. Questions of the heart. He showed compassion when it was against the rule of the day. He challenged those who challenged him and gently cared for those who sought him out. He was an advocate and a Judge. Will you also make him your Lord and Savior so he can gracefully move into your heart and show you what needs to be refined and cleaned? This is just a little something to think about today. God in His Holiness was gentle enough to have grace towards a women standing before him in shame wrapped in a bed sheet. What are we wrapped in?
We went to a marriage seminar this weekend. It was good, it was challenging, it was thought provoking and it brought a bit of tears. The whole topic was heavy and good. It will take me a few days to process it all.
I will share in a few days the ‘whole idea’ of the seminar.
For now I think I will just wish you a good week. I pray it is a good one for you. I pray that you will feel blessed and rested. God bless you as you press in and ask him to give you a restful renewed heart and a spirit within you that is ready for worship. Blessings to you on a new week ahead.
Tender words, gentle touch, and a good cup of coffee,
And someone that loves me and wants me to stay;
Hold them near while they are here,
and don’t wait for tomorrow.
To look back and wish for today.
We have this moment to hold in our hands, And to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand; Yesterday’s gone, and tomorrow may never come, But we have this moment today. ~ Bill Gaither
Thirty Seven years ago November 3rd, 1973. We were young and not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into. God was with us and He followed us through times that were good and times that were not so good. He protected us from ourselves and our immature growing up years. When the babies came we did our best and when the sicknesses came we again did our best. When life threw us one curve after another we again did the best we could do to move forward in the same direction. We pressed on when didn’t know why or how and we took one step at a time to regroup when we felt so undone and alone. There have been challenges and through them all… God has been with us deepening our commitment and our love and faith in the journey together.
Now in the autumn part of our lives… I pray He will continue to be with us as we grow through the wonderful privilege of being grandparents and as we pass the torch of faith and love to those who walk behind us. We have this moment… We have this moment in time…before it slips by us like grains of sand… to say to each other… Happy Anniversary and I am glad we made this journey together. May we cherish each day and Thank God for giving us this gift of marriage. As I am often reminded…”Remember we are supposed to grow old together.”
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Philipians 4:13
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. ==================== Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." Courage is not the absence of fear but it's taking action in the midst of it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A diamond is a chunk of coal that made good under pressure.
It's your heart, not the dictionary that gives meaning to your words. Matthew 12:34 (msg) version.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below you will find a few of my favorite websites or blogs. They have given me encouragement and challenged me on this journey.
Ann Voskamp's blog A holy Experience This image of a bleeding heart represents a journey of healing from brokenness to wholeness. Some of my favorite books: One thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Married over 46 years and entered into my 65th year of life.
I am a mother of two and grandmother of six and mom to two very spoiled kitties. I love to worship and encourage and of course write whenever I can find a topic or subject to share about.
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Thank you for visiting my blog.
I hope you find it encouraging and that it gives you
'Something to think about'. The vision for this is to challenge the reader into a new and different way of thinking. I appreciate and always value your comments. Having others walk alongside and join in the sharing is part of the process.
Thank you for joining me... on this journey. As we get encouraged ~ Lord help us to encourage others. "And the day came when the risk to remain a tight bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." Anais Nin my blog button The crosses are found on a beach at Winema Christian Camp on the Oregon coast.. a place to relax and find God in the process. My favorite place ....to rest and restore my spirit.
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