I can't let today go by without putting my two cents out there on this holiday.
FIRST -
Let's be intentional about Who we are thanking on thanksgiving.
This day is not considered a religious or sacred holiday. American - yes. Motivated by faith - sadly no.
But the origins of the first thanksgiving were filled with celebrating the goodness of the God that had taken care of and provided for the pilgrims. It wasn't a "high church" holiday and they probably weren't concerned with starting an annual tradition. They were simply and intentionally thanking GOD.
Our public school teachers are not worried about the separation of church and state when they color copied turkeys or ask their students to write essays with the topic of what they are thankful for.
But when the atheist or the average non-Christ follower is thankful on Thanksgiving, who are they thanking?
As I watched "Dancing with The Stars Juniors" on Sunday night, I couldn't help but wonder who the kids were thanking when they were interviewed. The theme of the night was "thanksgiving" and they were to tell (and dance in honor of) who they were thankful for. But who were they thanking?
On Mother's Day we show appreciation to our moms, Father's Day, our dads. We rightfully have Veteran's Day to thank our Vets and Memorial Day to show appreciation for the soldiers who never made it home.
We don't pick our parents, our nation of origin, our health or our IQ. As Christians, we know and need to acknowledge that it all comes from God.
We NEED a day where we stop and say "thank You" to the God who has given and sustains and upholds it all through His Son. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to simply and intentionally thank HIM for all He has given us, is currently providing for us and promises to bless us with in the future.
SECOND -
My second thought on this holiday is a natural out pouring of the first . . .
Some may say that Christmas decorations before the turkey dinner are premature and outta place. At least get the dishes washed and put away before dragging out the tinsel and the tree.
There was a time that I would have agreed whole-heartedly with that train of thought. Not anymore.
Our decorations were put up and out last weekend. Yes, I packed away the pumpkins and set out all my snowman friends. The trees are decorated the nativity sets are displayed.
Yes, there is less stress to our holiday season. The house decorating is crossed off the ever-growing "to-do" list. We had fun placing ornaments and now we are getting to enjoy the fruits of our labor a little longer in a season that seems to go by much too quickly....
But now, there is much more intention for me in the decorating before Thanksgiving Day.
I cannot think of a better way to begin celebrating the coming of Christ than in thanksgiving. With the house dressed for the festivities of the season, I am reminded everywhere I look of the most amazing gift God gave me -Jesus and I am SO thankful.
I want to be thankful all Christmas season long and into the New Year as well. This is the holiday spirit to me, a spirit of thankfulness and thanksgiving of everything it means to have Immanuel, God with us.
The same God I am thanking on Thanksgiving is the God whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.
With all the gatherings and parties - at work, at school, for work, with this side of the family and then with that side - it's all about and for and through Him anyway . . . It's only logical to decorate before we carve the turkey and begin a celebration that lasts 6 weeks at least.
Let Thanksgiving be the kickoff party for all the festivities to come with Christ as the central focus of it all. And if that is the goal then of course the Christmas decorations SHOULD be done in the middle of November.
When I started this post, I offered these thoughts as my "two cents." I am not sure they are worth that much to you, but I felt that this is part of the whole purpose behind blogging - to share what I think about whatever. Well, these are just my two thoughts on Thanksgiving....
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Grace - Saving and Covering
The posters and other promotional material were soon all over the church. Before I knew it, the same hip graphic and my name were also being pushed out on the church's social media platforms.
Honestly, it was -and still is- humbling and intimidating to see the words "Key Note Speaker" next to my name. With the idea of "Ted Talks" and the experience of attending other conferences, my fear of what the attendees might expect of me was a very real thing.
So, I decided to start my talk with a disclaimer. I am no expert.
The conference was on parenting and prayer. Yes, I am a parent. Yes, I do pray, believe in the power of prayer and can testify to prayer's efficacy. But my kids are far from grown. They have real faults and I fail them often. I don't pray like I should, often making it my last resort instead of my first and I keep my conversations with God far too general and generic.
Even before I began, I knew my 20 minute time limit would push me. I had too many pages of notes, too many quotes I wanted to share and too many thoughts I wanted to be sure and convey. I wasn't surprised as Pastor John slowly approached the front of the room from the spot in the back he had assumed after introducing me.
I found myself scrambling to finish my thoughts, silently praying that somehow, someway God would bring cohesiveness to my words and that what He wanted communicated was somehow accomplished.
From the moment I finished into the next week I fought Satan's taunts. I kept striving to hold to the belief that God had answered the prayers I prayed for the event. From the time I had been asked to speak, I had prayed that He would speak through me.
I had even recruited close friends to pray for me that way too. Faithfully, several of them approached me after the event, asking "how'd it go?" Even last night with several friends inquiring, I found myself explaining how I was just trying to trust that God somehow said what He wanted said through me.
Today, God confirmed that He did answer all those prayers.
My friend and her husband had attended the conference. Immediately afterward she complimented me and I had dismissed it as polite platitudes and discounted her words. Somehow in my head, the notes I hadn't gotten to, on top of the ways I swayed from my outline were somehow greater than the kind things she had to say.
This morning she stood in my office and renewed her gratitude for what I had shared that afternoon. I started to dismiss her kindness again, when she stopped me cold by asking me if she had already told me about her son's conversion. Knowing and loving her little man, I told her she had not, and could not wait to hear all about it.
She shared specific words I had said and how another one of the presenters had encouraged the couple as well. That very night, after those sweet parents had prayed driving home, their son made his desire clear that he wanted to be a Christian and they guided him to accept Jesus as his own.
I felt the goose bumps rise on both my arms and legs as she spoke. God had used me. He had answered my prayers and the prayers my friends and husband had prayed for me. And now, He let me see how.
He didn't have to do that. Yet, he did. I could've lived the rest of my life never knowing how He had answered my prayers - but He allowed me a glimpse into eternity to see how He did use me.
Grace upon grace.
After I finished speaking that afternoon, I attended two of the breakout sessions and took notes. Parenting and prayer are two areas of my life that I can always learn more about. I want to grow in my practices of both.
Maybe I will blog about that someday. Maybe I will share my notes here that never made it to the conference attendees that afternoon . . .
But for today, I am choosing to thank Him for the ways He answered my prayers for speaking at that conference. God gave me victory over my insecurities and short-comings. He silenced Satan's accusations. He allowed me to see how He was indeed glorified in and through this sinner's words and actions . . . His grace has saved me and it continues to cover me.
If His grace would do all that for me, I know He will use it to do all that for you too. How has God's grace covered you recently?
Honestly, it was -and still is- humbling and intimidating to see the words "Key Note Speaker" next to my name. With the idea of "Ted Talks" and the experience of attending other conferences, my fear of what the attendees might expect of me was a very real thing.
So, I decided to start my talk with a disclaimer. I am no expert.
The conference was on parenting and prayer. Yes, I am a parent. Yes, I do pray, believe in the power of prayer and can testify to prayer's efficacy. But my kids are far from grown. They have real faults and I fail them often. I don't pray like I should, often making it my last resort instead of my first and I keep my conversations with God far too general and generic.
Even before I began, I knew my 20 minute time limit would push me. I had too many pages of notes, too many quotes I wanted to share and too many thoughts I wanted to be sure and convey. I wasn't surprised as Pastor John slowly approached the front of the room from the spot in the back he had assumed after introducing me.
I found myself scrambling to finish my thoughts, silently praying that somehow, someway God would bring cohesiveness to my words and that what He wanted communicated was somehow accomplished.
From the moment I finished into the next week I fought Satan's taunts. I kept striving to hold to the belief that God had answered the prayers I prayed for the event. From the time I had been asked to speak, I had prayed that He would speak through me.
I had even recruited close friends to pray for me that way too. Faithfully, several of them approached me after the event, asking "how'd it go?" Even last night with several friends inquiring, I found myself explaining how I was just trying to trust that God somehow said what He wanted said through me.
Today, God confirmed that He did answer all those prayers.
My friend and her husband had attended the conference. Immediately afterward she complimented me and I had dismissed it as polite platitudes and discounted her words. Somehow in my head, the notes I hadn't gotten to, on top of the ways I swayed from my outline were somehow greater than the kind things she had to say.
This morning she stood in my office and renewed her gratitude for what I had shared that afternoon. I started to dismiss her kindness again, when she stopped me cold by asking me if she had already told me about her son's conversion. Knowing and loving her little man, I told her she had not, and could not wait to hear all about it.
She shared specific words I had said and how another one of the presenters had encouraged the couple as well. That very night, after those sweet parents had prayed driving home, their son made his desire clear that he wanted to be a Christian and they guided him to accept Jesus as his own.
I felt the goose bumps rise on both my arms and legs as she spoke. God had used me. He had answered my prayers and the prayers my friends and husband had prayed for me. And now, He let me see how.
He didn't have to do that. Yet, he did. I could've lived the rest of my life never knowing how He had answered my prayers - but He allowed me a glimpse into eternity to see how He did use me.
Grace upon grace.
After I finished speaking that afternoon, I attended two of the breakout sessions and took notes. Parenting and prayer are two areas of my life that I can always learn more about. I want to grow in my practices of both.
Maybe I will blog about that someday. Maybe I will share my notes here that never made it to the conference attendees that afternoon . . .
But for today, I am choosing to thank Him for the ways He answered my prayers for speaking at that conference. God gave me victory over my insecurities and short-comings. He silenced Satan's accusations. He allowed me to see how He was indeed glorified in and through this sinner's words and actions . . . His grace has saved me and it continues to cover me.
If His grace would do all that for me, I know He will use it to do all that for you too. How has God's grace covered you recently?
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
God's Anniversary Present to Us
I don't want to forget a thing about this past weekend.
It was absolutely perfect and a perfect reminder of just how good our God is.
Lemme explain . . .
Twenty years ago when we married, Wally and I decided that we would spend our 20th anniversary where we were blessed to honeymoon. Well, real life happened and a return trip to Maui was not in the cards this year.
But we couldn't let our December anniversary date slip into the holiday fog of obligations and responsibilities, only to be procrastinated into a later celebration that may or may not happen - not this year, not for our 20th anniversary . . .
So months ago we began to plan and anticipate a weekend away from home, daughters and distractions. I suggested we do something we had always wanted to do, but never seemed to be able to make a priority . . . We would visit Neyland Stadium and cheer on the Tennessee Vols.
Wally made the hotel reservations and bought the tickets. I packed the girls' bags and made the arrangements to spend the nights with their friends.
From the time we left the county every little detail seemed to just fall into place. At every turn we saw God's goodness and His grace. The traffic was easy. The room was nice. The conversation between us flowed.
We ate delicious food at a couple of neat Knoxville places, sampling the dishes in front of the other without having to cut up anyone else's food or coax them into taking one more bite.
Walking onto campus we followed University of Tennessee's quarterback's parents to "The Vol Walk" where we cheered the football players' and coaches' arrival to the stadium. We watched the band descend on the stadium and found where The Vol Navy was docked or anchored in the river under the bluest sky we had seen in weeks.
When we made our way to our ticketed spots we found that "our" seats just "happened" to include the cushioned and backed stadium seats. We took off our coats and soaked up the heat of the sun for the entire first half.
Yes, the second half was a lot cooler but our guys were winning and somehow the cold didn't seem so cold. We stayed for the band to play "The Tennessee Waltz" to the players after their upset win over a ranked rival team from the state north of ours.
As we left, the fans were still chanting and cheering. Our voices were a little hoarse, but neither of us minded. We walked into downtown Knoxville and found we did not have to wait for a table at this cool, hip, tapas and tacos place.
More than once over the course of our time together, we just kept marveling at how God seemed to be blessing our little trip will lots of little extras that seemed to just be that - little extra blessings.
Why would God do that? Why would He bless us with all these seemingly insignificant "extras" all weekend long?
He is still good, and most definitely still God, if we wait for a table or don't have nice soft seats for our bums. Eternity is not altered by our enjoyment of His weather or how tasty the chicken biscuit was at breakfast.
However all weekend long, we both chose to acknowledge God as the Giver of all these good gifts. From the families that took care of our children to the unexpected win of our favorite team, we both were intentional to thank God for His provisions. He seemed to do immeasurable more than we had asked or imagined. (Eph. 3:20)
I firmly believe that God delights in giving us good things. Just as we delight in seeing our kids enjoy the gifts we give them, God loves to see us enjoy the blessings He gives us.
I firmly believe that there is no such thing as luck. Wally and I weren't lucky on our trip. We were blessed over and over again.
I firmly hope that God was glorified over and over again as we acknowledged each blessing a long the way - that He was delighted in us as we delighted in Him.
Since returning, I have been asked several times about our trip. I honestly can't imagine it going any better. I could not have written a better time. My expectations were exceeded by my God who gifted us with the best anniversary gift.
That's my God - an amazing gift giver who is even greater than the greatest gifts He gives.
He showed me in countless ways that He loves us, pursues us and does good things for us.
I know we don't deserve this attention from Him much less His attention to details in our lives, yet He goes above and beyond to see to all of the littlest things. If I open my eyes, I can see where He is at work everyday doing countless things to show me that love. I just had to get away to see it this past weekend . . .
Yes, I had an amazing time with my amazing husband. We experienced a lot and had the best time. We made some great memories - but I want to make sure I don't forget the role God played in it all. That's the memory I want to hold to the longest . . .
It was absolutely perfect and a perfect reminder of just how good our God is.
Lemme explain . . .
Twenty years ago when we married, Wally and I decided that we would spend our 20th anniversary where we were blessed to honeymoon. Well, real life happened and a return trip to Maui was not in the cards this year.
But we couldn't let our December anniversary date slip into the holiday fog of obligations and responsibilities, only to be procrastinated into a later celebration that may or may not happen - not this year, not for our 20th anniversary . . .
So months ago we began to plan and anticipate a weekend away from home, daughters and distractions. I suggested we do something we had always wanted to do, but never seemed to be able to make a priority . . . We would visit Neyland Stadium and cheer on the Tennessee Vols.
Wally made the hotel reservations and bought the tickets. I packed the girls' bags and made the arrangements to spend the nights with their friends.
From the time we left the county every little detail seemed to just fall into place. At every turn we saw God's goodness and His grace. The traffic was easy. The room was nice. The conversation between us flowed.
We ate delicious food at a couple of neat Knoxville places, sampling the dishes in front of the other without having to cut up anyone else's food or coax them into taking one more bite.
Walking onto campus we followed University of Tennessee's quarterback's parents to "The Vol Walk" where we cheered the football players' and coaches' arrival to the stadium. We watched the band descend on the stadium and found where The Vol Navy was docked or anchored in the river under the bluest sky we had seen in weeks.
When we made our way to our ticketed spots we found that "our" seats just "happened" to include the cushioned and backed stadium seats. We took off our coats and soaked up the heat of the sun for the entire first half.
Yes, the second half was a lot cooler but our guys were winning and somehow the cold didn't seem so cold. We stayed for the band to play "The Tennessee Waltz" to the players after their upset win over a ranked rival team from the state north of ours.
As we left, the fans were still chanting and cheering. Our voices were a little hoarse, but neither of us minded. We walked into downtown Knoxville and found we did not have to wait for a table at this cool, hip, tapas and tacos place.
More than once over the course of our time together, we just kept marveling at how God seemed to be blessing our little trip will lots of little extras that seemed to just be that - little extra blessings.
Why would God do that? Why would He bless us with all these seemingly insignificant "extras" all weekend long?
He is still good, and most definitely still God, if we wait for a table or don't have nice soft seats for our bums. Eternity is not altered by our enjoyment of His weather or how tasty the chicken biscuit was at breakfast.
However all weekend long, we both chose to acknowledge God as the Giver of all these good gifts. From the families that took care of our children to the unexpected win of our favorite team, we both were intentional to thank God for His provisions. He seemed to do immeasurable more than we had asked or imagined. (Eph. 3:20)
I firmly believe that God delights in giving us good things. Just as we delight in seeing our kids enjoy the gifts we give them, God loves to see us enjoy the blessings He gives us.
I firmly believe that there is no such thing as luck. Wally and I weren't lucky on our trip. We were blessed over and over again.
I firmly hope that God was glorified over and over again as we acknowledged each blessing a long the way - that He was delighted in us as we delighted in Him.
Since returning, I have been asked several times about our trip. I honestly can't imagine it going any better. I could not have written a better time. My expectations were exceeded by my God who gifted us with the best anniversary gift.
That's my God - an amazing gift giver who is even greater than the greatest gifts He gives.
He showed me in countless ways that He loves us, pursues us and does good things for us.
I know we don't deserve this attention from Him much less His attention to details in our lives, yet He goes above and beyond to see to all of the littlest things. If I open my eyes, I can see where He is at work everyday doing countless things to show me that love. I just had to get away to see it this past weekend . . .
Yes, I had an amazing time with my amazing husband. We experienced a lot and had the best time. We made some great memories - but I want to make sure I don't forget the role God played in it all. That's the memory I want to hold to the longest . . .
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