GRATITUDE

noun

1.

the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful: 

n mid- 15c., "good will," from Middle French gratitude (15c.) or directly from Medieval Latin gratitudinem (nominative gratitudo) "thankfulness," from Latin gratus "thankful,  pleasing" (see grace ). Meaning "thankfulness" is from 1560's.

I love the month of November:  late Fall, beautiful colors, beautiful light and Thanksgiving.  For me, it is a month of gratitude.  I try to concentrate on one thing to be thankful for each day.  And I have so many things to be thankful for.  I will give you my list in a moment.  I do not live a charmed life.  Yes, bad things happen, and yes, I have disappointments.  Yes, I sin and others sin against me.  But, oh, I am blessed!

I am grateful for:

1.  First and foremost God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

2.  His amazing grace.  .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbe7OruLk8I

3.  God's righteousness and His justice

4.  God's Word, the Bible

5.  The Holy Spirit

6.  My sisters in Christ.  I am grateful for those who have been Pauls in my life, those who nurture and teaching and love have moved me along in my Christian life.  I am grateful for the Timothys, those whom God has placed in my life to help them move along in their Christian journey.

7.  To be alive at this time and in this place.  I have had lots of guilt about my having been born in 20th century, white, middle class America, but God made me, and knew that this is when I would live and where I would live, so no, I am at peace with that and know that He has a plan and purpose in placing me here.

8.  for my Strong Man of God

9.  my children, wonderful gifts, all

10.  for my grandchild (on the way)  :)

11.  for my furry friends

12.  Long distance friendships

13.  The cycle of the seasons, in nature and in life and marriage

14.  Health

15.  Opportunities to serve and to be served.

16.  For the "oldsters" in my life.  I am blessed to be in relationship with some nonagenarians who

 love Jesus!

17.  Health Care

18.  For those who pray for me

19.  For those who have poured into my life: teachers, Sunday school teachers, friends and their parents, families that have "adopted" me.

20.  For all of my life's journey

21.  for grace to forgive and receive forgiveness

22.  for strength and energy

23.  For daily provision

24.  Music 

25.  Creative people

26.  Writers and books and libraries, oh my!

27  Movement

28.  Hope

29.  Tears

30.  Laughter 

I could probably write a blog of some extent about each one of these.  I am grateful for all of you who read and pass this blog on.  I hope my list inspires one of your own.  I keep mine handy to look at on those days when my soul is dark and cloudy.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 

Time Well Spent

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,so that you may know how to answer everyone.  Colossians 4:5-7 (NIV)

I don't know where the month of October went!  It has just sped by!  I realized, as I was thinking about this post that this has been a month where I have done social things more than usual.  I have spent time investing in relationships that are important to me; with my God, my husband, and very dear friends.  Time is a very precious commodity.  God created time for man, He is totally outside of it, and He certainly does not need it!  We have it to use and squander it foolishly, pretty often.

Time spent developing my relationship with God is time that is redeemed wisely.  I like to get up early, grab a cup of coffee and my Bible, and be with Him.  I love to sit on my deck, as weather permits.  I love to hear the birds waking up, and experience the light dawning.  The end of night and the coming of the light is an awesome experience.   I spend time in prayer, in worship and in His Word.  I love to just be still and know that He is God.  (Psalm 46:10)

Time that I spend developing my relationship with my spouse is precious indeed.  I intentionally set aside one day a week just for him.  That means no working, no tutoring, no meetings with other ladies, it is just for him.  If we are home together, that is enough.  If we go on a date, that is enough. That time is ours, together.  We each get up early with the other when one of us has to be up early.  We have coffee and talk, or not.  We share what we are reading in the Word, or a a prayer.  I have reached an age, where many of  my peers are widows or widowers, and I want to savor every moment I can with my perfect gift from God.

Time with dear friends is time well invested.  I have realized lately that if I don't intentionally make time to invest in friends, it just won't happen!  I traveled to Fort Mill, South Carolina to be with two of my very best friends.  We traveled across the state to be with friends who have the same passion we do.  Friends nurture us, share our passions, make us laugh, make us cry.  I love our couple friends.  I love my women friends!  They love, they listen.  My women friends empathize, and sympathize.  They are intelligent, dreamers,imaginative, creative, practical, down to earth, believers, questioners and messy.  My women friends push me to know God better so I can love them well.  

Thank you dear friends, for sharing life with me.  Thank you for reading this and passing it on!  Thank you for your support in stepping out to do this.  Thank your for being a friend.

   

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,so that you may know how to answer everyone.  Colossians 4:5-7 (NIV)

I have been in some fierce passages this week:  the book of Joshua, Habakkuk 3, and in the Psalms.  I am preparing to facilitate Girls with Swords by Lisa Bevere, and so I have been reading about and soaking in all that our God has to say about war and warfare and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  Today I want to share with you two things that have impacted me this week.  The first, direct from God's Word:

Psalm 144New Living Translation (NLT)

1 Praise the Lord, who is my rock.
    He trains my hands for war
    and gives my fingers skill for battle.
2 He is my loving ally and my fortress,
    my tower of safety, my rescuer.
He is my shield, and I take refuge in him.
    He makes the nations[a] submit to me.

3 O Lord, what are human beings that you should notice them,
    mere mortals that you should think about them?
4 For they are like a breath of air;
    their days are like a passing shadow.

5 Open the heavens, Lord, and come down.
    Touch the mountains so they billow smoke.
6 Hurl your lightning bolts and scatter your enemies!
    Shoot your arrows and confuse them!
7 Reach down from heaven and rescue me;
    rescue me from deep waters,
    from the power of my enemies.
8 Their mouths are full of lies;
    they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.

9 I will sing a new song to you, O God!
    I will sing your praises with a ten-stringed harp.
10 For you grant victory to kings!
    You rescued your servant David from the fatal sword.
11 Save me!
    Rescue me from the power of my enemies.
Their mouths are full of lies;
    they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.

12 May our sons flourish in their youth
    like well-nurtured plants.
May our daughters be like graceful pillars,
    carved to beautify a palace.
13 May our barns be filled
    with crops of every kind.
May the flocks in our fields multiply by the thousands,
    even tens of thousands,
14     and may our oxen be loaded down with produce.
May there be no enemy breaking through our walls,
    no going into captivity,
    no cries of alarm in our town squares.
15 Yes, joyful are those who live like this!
    Joyful indeed are those whose God is the Lord

Secondly, Please watch this powerful teaching by a wonderful man of God that we know, Eric Ludy.  He is speaking Truth, and we need to hear it! 

https://youtu.be/-XKSV9sKr8w

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,so that you may know how to answer everyone.  Colossians 4:5-7 (NIV)

Joel 2 is what is on my mind and heart over this past week.  All that leads up to it, but especially verse 11:

The Lord thunders     at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number,
    and mighty is the army that obeys his command.The day of the Lord is great;
    it is dreadful.    Who can endure it?

Do you wonder at these times?  We see  droves of people fleeing the Southern Hemisphere because of war, poverty and persecution.  We see rampant disregard for a God's law.  We see selfishness abounding.  The thing is, God planned that we would be  women, living in the United States "for such a time as this."  He has called us and equipped us to be in this battle alongside our sisters and brothers in Christ around the world.  Though we did not choose war, in choosing Jesus, we joined God's army. It is time for us to repent, and turn again to our God.  It is time for us to open our ears and hear His commands.  It is time for us to obey them.   It is time for us to learn to use the Sword, which according to Ephesians 6 is the Word of God.

The Commander's orders come in verses 12-17

:12 Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart,  with fasting and weeping and mourning.”  Rend your heart and not your garments.  Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. and he relents from sending calamity.  14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing—grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.  15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.  16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast.  Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.  17 Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar.  Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord.  Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

We must do this, not only for our sake, but for the sake of our God and King.  The unbelievers look at what is happening in our community, in our nation in the world and say, "Where is their God?"

  CONVERSATIONS SPRINKLED WITH GRACE                          Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,so that you may know how to answer everyone.  Colossians 4:5-7 (NIV)

My beloved and I went to see The War Room.  What a phenomenal movie, and what an inspiration !  I have had some Miss Clara's in my life, and I have been Miss Clara a few times, but I echo her prayer, "Lord, send me another one."  I echo her prayer, "Oh, Lord, raise up an army of prayer warriors"  You might be wondering why there is a sword at the top of the page,  I will refer you to Ephesians 6:17 

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the  Spirit, which is the word of God.

That is what Miss Clara taught, to use the Sword of the Spirit effectively in prayer. 

 

We do live our lives, day to day, sometimes forgetting that we are in the middle of a war.  Maybe no one has ever told us that we are, or maybe our life is comfortable, so we become blind to the war that surrounds us.  Nevertheless, the war is real!

I want to give you a chunk of Scripture today, to kind of set the stage for some following posts.  It is from the Phillips translation of the New Testament (one of the first "modern" translations.  Please read it and think about it in terms of your personal life, the life of your community, the life of your church, and life of our nation.

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (PHILLIPS)

We are not merely human agents but God-appointed ministers

10 1-6 Now I am going to appeal to you personally, by the gentleness and sympathy of Christ himself. Yes, I, Paul, the one who is “humble enough in our presence but outspoken when away from us”, and begging you to make it unnecessary for me to be outspoken and stern in your presence. For I am afraid otherwise that I shall have to do some plain speaking to those of you who will persist in reckoning that our activities are on the purely human level. The truth is that, although of course we lead normal human lives, the battle we are fighting is on the spiritual level. The very weapons we use are not those of human warfare but powerful in God’s warfare for the destruction of the enemy’s strongholds. Our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect against the true knowledge of God. We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ. Once we are sure of your obedience we shall not shrink from dealing with those who refuse to obey.

CONVERSATIONS SPRINKLED WITH GRACE                          Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,so that you may know how to answer everyone.  Colossians 4:5-7 (NIV)

I have known all week that I wanted to write about September 11th.  I watched a video of that planes hitting the towers with a class at the Rockingham County Literacy Project.  It brought back a lot of grief; for the victims, for the first responders and for our nation.  In 2001, I was teaching at an elementary school in Michigan.  The school day was just beginning.  A hush fell amidst the early morning chatter of the staff, as we saw the first plane hit.  Meanwhile students were entering the classroom, so we began our day as calmly as we could.  The phones began ringing as parents wanted to come and get their children.  It was totally surreal to perform a job in a normal fashion on such an abnormal day.  I know this is a generational marker for my children; "Where were you on September 11, 2001?"  just as President Kennedy's assassination is a marker for mine.

On that evening there were prayer meetings being held all over the city.  It was wonderful to see people come together to pray for our nation, to pray for the first responders and to pray for all of the families affected by the attack.  There was a renewed need for Someone larger than ourselves.  There was a realization that America was not impermeable, and we needed Someone to keep us safe.

I want to share a prophetic vision that was given to a wonderful woman of God that I know (Miss PH).  God gave her a vision of a cross rising from the ruins of the towers, but as the cross rose up, it became obscured by the American flag.  At that time, my hope was that there would be revival in the United States.  However, as time went on what I saw was a wave of nationalism overtaking our nation's desire for God.

The picture above is a picture of the steel cross that was found in the ruins of Ground Zero.  Many went to that cross as they worked to clean up the carnage.  May we continue to go to that cross always.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.  Psalm 33:12

CONVERSATIONS SPRINKLED WITH GRACE                     Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,so that you may know how to answer everyone.  Colossians 4:5-7 (NIV)

Light

I have been thinking about light the past few days. Fall is my favorite time of year.  I love the color and the weather but most of all, I love the light!  It is Labor Day, so I may be rushing things, but I can hardly wait to turn the air off, open the windows and enjoy the light.  I enjoy the light of the sun, and the light of the Son.

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.

I was once in darkness, but now I am light in the Lord!  How awesome is that!  To be light, to illuminate the path, to allow sight, to warm, to beautify!  It makes me dance to even think of it! What glorious God we serve, that he would take us out of darkness and translate us to light in Him.

Before I came to know Jesus as the Lord and Saviour of my life, I walked in my own light.  It was kind of like a spot light, all about me, dark around the edges, so that anything outside that small circle of light was not very visible.  I was so busy taking care of me and protecting me, that there wasn't much room for others, even those who loved me.  I am so grateful to have  life in Jesus, in the Light of the World (John 8:12).  Because of His light I know that He takes care of me, that He protects me and most importantly, I see the people around me.  I see their love and their lives, as they share their light with me.

1 John 1:7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.