Happy Thanksgiving

We all have things to be thankful for.  We have food, we have a roof over our heads, we have transportation.

We are blessed if our kids are healthy, we are healthy, and if we still have living parents.  We are blessed if we have siblings and if we get to see those siblings.  We are blessed if we have aunts and uncles and cousins.  We are blessed if we have nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews, or even grandchildren.  We are blessed if we are free to worship God.  We are blessed if we are free to speak what we believe out loud.  We are blessed if we can read and write and speak.  If we can see, hear, smell, touch, walk, run, or do any number of things that we take for granted.  If we can hold a baby, and see a newborn animal, we are blessed with the newness of life.  We are blessed if we get to experience the beauty of a sunrise, a sunset, a rainbow, the sunshine, or the moonshine, or to see the ocean in its power and glory or to see the mists in a forest glade.  Most of all, we are blessed if we get to be born anew in Jesus Christ.  If we have accepted His free gift, and then have the Holy Spirit's Power help us live each day in Jesus.

I pray that each of you will experience the blessing of a thankful heart.  That you will see God working in you, to look around you and find the places He has placed gifts for you to find.  Treasures to bring you to a heartfelt and grateful place.  It says in God's Word, "That out of the mouth, the heart speaks".  What do you want your mouth to speak?  Blessings or curses?  We choose which will come forth out of our mouths.  If we fill our hearts with wonder at God's blessings, blessings will spring forth out of our mouths.  But if we are continually finding the negative and faultfinding things around us, we will be speaking curses over our lives, because our heart is focused on the negatives.  The Bible says "We can speak life or death".  These seem the same, but they are just a bit different.  Because we need to understand that blessings lead to a more abundant life, and curses lead to death.  So, yes, similar, but not the same.  As we speak blessings over our lives, we see more of God's strength and power at work within us.,  When we speak the negative curses, we feel weak and unable to see victory.  We see more destruction and chaos and havoc in your lives.  Now, you may have those things in your life, due to the enemy battling you, and that is a different thing than what I am talking to you about.  What I am talking to you about, comes as a direct result of the words you are speaking.  It is the worry, or the "This financial mess will not ever be resolved" type of thinking, or the "I'll never be well" thinking.  Your job is to take those thoughts captive, and make them line up with the Word of God.  What does the Bible say about you, about us believers?  It says "We are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus".  It says, "That Jesus came to give us life, and that life more abundantly".  

As you think of the things I've said, think of why we celebrate Thanksgiving.  It was after a time of intense struggle for the pilgrims.  They had lost many family and friends.  They were weak and many were sick and hungry.  They barely made it through the first year in the New World.  But here they were, with a harvest to reap, and new friends to share it with.  Friends who came through to help save this struggling colony.  Friends who showed them the way to survive in this new place.  God has given us instructions on how to make it and survive in the places He's placed us in.  May you find your heart being filled with praise and thanksgiving to Him for what He does for you.  For Who He is, even if you don't know what He has done for you.  I challenge you to start finding 5 things to be grateful for each day.  I challenge you to make sure you are really grateful, and not just saying things without meaning it.  Think about the thing you are grateful for.  Now, think about how God has provided that for you.  I know you can do this.  I'd love to hear if this has helped you.  God bless each of you, on this wonderful day to celebrate God and what He does each day for all of us.