THANKFUL THURSDAY...Do it continually!

Hello friends. I want to greet you with special Thanksgiving greetings. All year long, we meet here or over at my friend Iris's place to express our thanks and gratitude. Whether we do it once a week or just on this special day set aside, I must ask myself and ask you...Is it enough?

Giving praise to God is one of the best ways to express our thanks to God for all of His blessings but yet so many of us do not take the time to do it on a regular basis. I know, I know, I am preaching to the choir as most of you reading this today are regular Thankful Thursday readers and supporters. But I seriously have been pondering this thought, what kind of "thanking Him" routine do we have?

Is saying "grace" before we eat enough?
Is saying a bedtime ritual enough?
Is even expressing our top ten list at Thanksgiving enough?

In Hebrews 13:15, it says this...

"By Him therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name."

Continually, you say? That does not mean just once a year or even once a day! It is implying that we offer thanks repeatedly, without interruption. David sums it up well in Psalms...

"His praise shall continually be in my  mouth. At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto Thee because of Thy righteous judgements." (Psalm 119:62)

When is the last time you or I found ourselves up giving God praise at midnight? I can barely open my eyes to see the way to the bathroom, let alone, open my lips.

God is desiring for His children to develop a lifestyle of praise, offering thanks and praise for all He is and all He does, at ALL times. Continually.

Today is Thankful Thursday and I have had the privilege of hosting with my friend Iris for several years now. Due to some health issues going on within my family, this will be my last time to host TT  for a short while. I will be back and until then, I will continually be thanking Him!

TODAYS DAILY...If only!

We like the idea of change. Something appealing about starting over. Most people think if only they could move, life would be better. Or only if I had a mate or if only I had friends or if only, if only, if only.

A survey showed that 80 percent of American women ate dissatisfied with their appearance. If only we could look like Hollywood, if only, if only....

? for today...can we really change who we are, can we reinvent ourselves?

Changing ourselves requires a lot more than just changing our looks. We can change our looks, we can change where we live but we cannot change who we are in the inside. Only God can do that.

Jeremiah 17:9 says "The Human heart is the most deceitful things, and desperately wicked."

Woah...seems to me the only change that matters at the end of the day is the change God makes in us, anything else is really irrelevant. If only. If only we would ask God to change us!

LACED WITH GRACE...Whose plan is it anyhow?

I shared the following devotion with the readers of LACED WITH GRACE today....

No-one likes last minute changes. Whether it is the carpool schedule or a vacation cancellation, making changes really can mess us up.

It not only inconveniences us but last minute changes just messes up our plans.

As a pastors wife, I see it all of the time. Just change the order of service on Sunday and watch who all will get messed up because of your change. It will throw the worship team off. It will mess up the plans of the ushers. It may even throw the preaching off alittle bit.

But not all of our last minute changes is bad. In fact, sometimes changes that are unexpected can be good for us. Problem is that WE want to be in charge of the changes in our lives. God sometimes will make a last minute change in our life that may seem out in left field, but when He makes the changes, everything will always fall into place.

As a young woman, I had a dream to buy a house in a certain historical part of town. For years my dream did not happen until one day, God opened a door and my husband and I were able to purchase what we deemed our "dream" house in the historical area that we wanted. We thought we had everything that we ever dreamed of. We had each other. We had 2 sons. and now we had the house we would raise our kids in and retire in. Life was great!

Until a few years later, when God opened a door for my husband to take a job transfer with his company. 800 miles away from our dream!

I remember thinking, "How could God make these last minute changes?"

God does that sometimes. Nothing is last minute to Him though, every change and every detail is a very well thought out plan on His part. Even though we plan, we sort, we organize...God has a much bigger and more organized plan than we ever could. Sometimes God uses our life circumstances to change our plans so that He can use us in different situations.

Psalm 118:8 “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”

So, don't worry if plans get changed...whether you are the one who plans the schedule or the one who sings the Sunday morning special, trust God to use the last minute changes for something even better.

It is ok to make plans...but trust Him when He chooses to change them.

THANKFUL THURSDAY...it is not about a day!

Dear Friends,

I wanted to speak to you from my heart today.

 I am late getting my TT post up today as I just spent the past two days at hospitals, labs and doctor offices with our 18 year old daughter. To be honest with you I am drained physically from what this week has brought.

 I woke up on Monday morning as usual, got dressed like usual, went to work like usual. Nothing out of the ordinary. But by late morning, everything about my ordinary day became un-ordinary and confused and scary and unsure.

My daughter's skin turned a strange green color and her fingers and toes went numb. She couldn't feel them. Within a short time she had difficulty breathing and had chest pains. My ordinary prayer now became an urgent prayer, as doctor after doctor looked at her in wonderment and confusion.

Today, as we still await test results on my daughter, I am reminded that even though this time next week we will all be celebrating Thanksgiving Day with our families, that Thanksgiving is not a day...it is a condition of our heart.

Even in times of the un-ordinary...we CAN have an attitude of thanksgiving. I choose this day to give God praise and thanksgiving for EVERYTHING...the good, the bad, the ugly - the everything!

1 Thessalonians 5:18 "Give thanks in ALL circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Today I am hosting THANKFUL THURSDAY and today of all days, I have so much to give thanks for. I have been blessed with one more day to give Him praise and nothing will keep the praise due Him from my lips. Not sickness. Not bad doctor reports. NOTHING!

How about you...what are you thanking Him for today?

 

THANKFUL THURSDAY...lingering in His presence

One of my favorite things of coming together with my church family is before or after service, lingering around the hallways fellowshipping with each other. It is the one time of the week that I can catch up with my brothers and sisters in Christ and receive encouragement from them.

I have noticed that sometimes it is easier to linger in the presence of our fellow believers than it is to linger in the presence of the One Who died for us.

Oh how I love (and long for) worship, enjoying His fresh touch. But often times, we are consumed with our time restraints and rush right out of our time with Him. Instead of just lingering in His presence, we brush right past and lose out on that special fellowship time with Him.

What I am thankful for today is that we have the freedom and liberty to worship Him anywhere, anytime. A freedom that not all countries experience. While I am thankful for it, it is my prayer today that I will stop, drop and roll .. stop what I am doing, drop to my knees and keep my praises rolling! May His fire consume me!

"Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him." -Psalm 37:7

Today, I am hosting THANKFUL THURSDAY and I invite you to share what is on your grateful heart.

*I apologize that my TT post did not go thru last week. I just noticed that it didn't upload. Computers are great until they get glitzes in them. Glad you made your way back this week!