November 23,2012

Good morning all-

I hope this morning finds you well.  I am still entertaining and loving it.  My nephew will leave tomorrow but it's been a wonderful visit.  It's hard when people live so far away.  The blessing happens when you see them again and realize that although we are not together, we still are a family.  Thanks to the Lord for allowing me the money to pay for his ticket, it truly has been a blessing this year.

This will be my last entry on the subject of thanksgiving.  Moving forward we will talk about faith, hope and why it's so important to remember that Jesus is near.  I don't want us to forget that we should have thanksgiving in our hearts but I think we all know that this journey would be empty without the Lord in it.  So with that, I'm giving thanks to the Lord for providing my family, my health and the ability to write this blog. I am thanking Him for saving the sinner and for loving the destitute.  I'm proclaiming that all my earthly possessions are His.  I'm thanking Him for all the times He's calmed my fears, moved mountains out of my way or simply listened why I cried silently so no one could hear.  He is my Shepherd and I thank Him for that too.

In every aspect of my life, I know He is near.  I am not a prophet of old or a great disciple; I'm just me.  The Lord has shown me that being me is a good thing, that I was created for this moment and He stands by, watching and directing me as I seek Him.  I've learned that without Him I am nothing but with Him I can soar.  I'm far from perfect, even though I would like to be, and yet, He loves me anyway.

For all that Jesus has done for my life and yours, I thank Him from the bottom of my heart.  I can't even imagine where I would be without Him and thankfully, I don't have too.  So I hope today finds you well and that you have taken time to thank Him for all the things He's done in your life.  If today finds you in sorrow, I'm in sorrow with you.  If today finds you in jubilation, I'm with you on that too.  I've been where you've been and I know that life holds many ups and downs.  It's easy to praise Him when everything is going well, so if it's not, I challenge you to praise Him anyway.  The cloud will lift soon and the rainbow will peep out but you must be secure that God is God and give Him all the glory.

I love you my sisters and I hope that you have seen the glory of our Lord in the last couple of posts.  There are tons of Scriptures on thanksgiving to the Lord our God.  Why?  Because David and the others knew that to put trust in things not seen was far better than their sight.  They lifted praise to the King, their rescuer, their deliverer.  They knew that a life full of things would never bring them the peace and prosperity they desired.  It took a man, born to a virgin, to relinquish them from their sins.  We are part of that holy generation.  Bring forth your will on our lives Lord as we honor and praise you today!

Colossians 2:7 NKJV:

    rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

2 Timothy 1:3 NKJV:

    I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day,

My prayer today:

O, Lord, You are mighty in power and majesty.  We come before You with names written on our hearts.  We are blessed to have good friends and family but our true blessing comes from You dying and washing our sins away.  I can't imagine what the disciples were thinking that fateful night as they relived Your incarceration, Your beating or Your death.  They must have felt immense shame but someone knew to be praising God for that day.  Someone unspoken, someone faithful was watching and waiting in the wings.  I wonder if it was your mother?  You were her greatest joy.  Did she know that Your sacrifice would be the worlds reward?  All I know is that she was praising Your father for the moments You were in her life and so were the men and women that followed You.  Our days on earth become one after another and we deal with moments but not eternity.  If we were to look onto today and find You, we would surely be blessed.  You are the light in the darkness and You are so worthy to be praised.  My prayer today and leading up to the day we celebrate Your death and resurrection is that we would be proclaiming that Jesus reigns from Israel to Germany, from Turkey to Iraq, and to every country and every people group around the world.  You are Lord and we praise Your name!  In Jesus name, AMEN...

Until tomorrow....