Happy Thanksgiving!

Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalm 100:3-4

Here are some of the many things I am thankful for:

1. God, Who made me, saved me, and keeps me.

2. A kind and loving husband.

3. My children, three sons and a daughter-in-law.

4. That we have a voice in our government and the ability to vote in America.

5. “For the beauty of the earth,” as the hymn says — beautiful fall colors, spring flowers, multicolored sunsets, and so much more. Even though the earth is marred by the fall of man, God’s creativity, intelligence, and love for beauty still shine through.

6. Extended family

7. The Bible

8. Books

9. Chocolate

10. That I have good reason to be thankful for every thing

11. Veterans, freedom.

12. Senses

13. Facebook

14. That I know Whom to thank. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17

15. That I can cool or warm my home at the touch of a button

16. Friends

17. Home

18. Food

19. Humor

20. Technology

21. The “peace that passes understanding.”

22. My mother-in-law’s new hearing aid

23. Music

24. The family being all together again for the holiday.

25. The many blessings of Thanksgiving Day and its reminder to cultivate a thankful spirit.

26. Health

27. Answered prayer — even when answer has been “No.”

28. Church

29. Doctors, nurses, medicines, health care

30. Being able to be a homemaker since my children came along

31. Running water, indoor plumbing, hot water heaters (I’ve visited places with none of those luxuries!)

32. Games

33. Art, crafts, hobbies

34. The ability to walk. I was without it for a few short months, and I think maybe that makes me appreciate it a little more.

35. Decaf Diet Pepsi and Mugs Root Beer

36. Pellet ice

37. That I’ll never run out of things to be thankful for, in major spiritual blessings and little everyday ones.

Hope you all have a wonderful, thanks-filled day!

The Week in Words

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Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

I still have more quotes saved up than would be beneficial to share all at once, but here are a few standouts:

From our youth pastor’s Twitter:

God’s mercies are new every morning, and morning happens every hour on the hour all across the globe. New is always happening with God. ~ Dan Cruver

Isn’t that a neat thought? I’d always reveled in God’s mercies being new every morning, but to think morning is happening at some point on the globe all through the day!

Seen at Challies:

You all have by you a large treasure of divine knowledge, in that you have the Bible in your hands; therefore be not contented in possessing but little of this treasure. God hath spoken much to you in the Scripture; labor to understand as much of what he saith as you can. God hath made you all reasonable creatures; therefore let not the noble faculty of reason or understanding lie neglected. Content not yourselves with having so much knowledge as is thrown in your way, and as you receive in some sense unavoidably by the frequent inculcation of divine truth in the preaching of the word, of which you are obliged to be hearers, or as you accidentally gain in conversation; but let it be very much your business to search for it, and that with the same diligence and labor with which men are wont to dig in mines of silver and gold. ~ Jonathan Edwards

Forgive me for another lengthy one, but this convictingly cuts to the heart of the matter:

The original sin, pride, is behind my “poor self-image,” for I felt that I deserved better than I got, which is exactly what Eve felt! So it was pride, not poor self-image, that had to go. If I’m so beautiful and lovable, what was Jesus doing up there, nailed to the cross and crowned with thorns? Why all that hideous suffering for the pure Son of God? Here’s why: There was no other way to deliver us from the hell of our own proud self-loving selves, no other way out of the bondage of self-pity and self-congratulation. How shall we take our stand beneath the cross of Jesus and continue to love the selves that put Him there? How can we survey the wondrous cross and at the same time feed our pride? No. It won’t work. Jesus put it simply: If you want to be My disciple, you must leave self behind, take up the cross, and follow Me. ~ Elisabeth Elliot, Keep a Quiet Heart.

I thought about doing Thanksgiving quotes this week, but really wanted to share the ones above instead. But I have shared some past Thanksgiving quotes here and here.

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share.

Thanks to God

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I Thessalonians 5:18

Thanks to God for my Redeemer,
Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a memory,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,
Thanks for dark and stormy fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul!

Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!

Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks through all eternity!

~ August L. Storm, 1891

The Week in Words

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Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

It’s going to be hard to narrow down my choices this week to a manageable number — I have about a dozen I’ve saved through the week! But I’ll do my best to focus on a few and save the rest for another time.

From a friend’s Facebook:

If you mourn the fallenness of your world rather than curse its difficulties, you know grace has visited you. ~ Paul David Tripp

It’s too easy for me to get gripey rather than seeing people as fallen, lost sheep without a shepherd.

From Diane‘s Facebook:

We carefully count others’ offenses against us, but we rarely consider what others may suffer because of us. ~ Thomas a Kempis

I think if we thought more of our offenses rather than others’, it would help us be less prone to offend and more gracious towards those who offend us.

Also from Diane:

“Every day God patiently bears with us, and every day we are tempted to become impatient with our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. And our faults and failures before God are so much more serious than the petty actions of others that tend to irritate us! God calls us to graciously bear with the weaknesses of others, tolerating them and forgiving them even as He has forgiven us.” (from the book The Practice of Godliness, pg 174 by Jerry Bridges)

I forgot to note where I saw this:

Send out the heat of piety into your house, and let all the neighbours participate in the blessing….. “The joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off.” The joy of the Lord should be observed throughout our neighbourhood, and many who might otherwise have been careless of true religion will then enquire, “What makes these people glad, and creates such happy households?” Your joy shall thus be God’s missionary. ~ Spurgeon

Love that last line.

Finally, this blessed me from Lisa’s post about her infant daughter who passed away 18 years ago:

We’ll have all the time we need when time runs out.

What comfort when we want another hug, a conversation. just more time with a loved one who has gone on: some day we will have all the time we could want.

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share.

Sound Theology

Saw this going around Facebook:

There may be times sound theology will unsettle us first — when we’re facing something we cringe from in the flesh (e.g., Moses when he was told he’d face Pharoah, Christ in the garden of Gethsemane) or convicted of sin or in need of chastening. But in any situation rightly responded to,  with God’s grace, we can rest in His sovereignty, in the truth of His Word, the rightness of His judgments, the love He has for us.

The Week in Words

”"

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

Here are a few that caught my attention this week:

From Lisa‘s Twitter:

The consequences of confession are far less severe than the consequences of concealment. ~ Andy Stanley

That’s profound. It echoes Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

From a friends’ Facebook:

Don’t ever let someone rob you of your joy because of their own issues and insecurities that they try to put on you.

From an e-mail devotional taken from Elisabeth Elliot‘s book Keep A Quiet Heart, the chapter “Interruptions, Delays, Inconveniences”:

There is nothing like the biographies of great Christians to give us perspective and help us to keep spiritual balance.

From Created For Work: Practical Insights For Young Men by Bob Schultz:

If you have great talents, industry will improve them: if you have but moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency. ~ Joshua Reynolds

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share! 🙂

Speak O Lord

These words are perfect for any day, but especially on a Sunday getting ready to go to church.

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility;
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of pow’r that can never fail—
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us—
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we’ll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we’ll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

My favorite version of it is on a CD “Come Bow Before the Lord” by Clearwater Christian College. Unfortunately I can’t find the whole of their version online but there is an excerpt here and here.

May you have a great feast in His Word and enjoy His Presence today.

The Week In Words

”"

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

Here are a few that caught my attention this week:

From Diane‘s Facebook:

“Nothing gives one a more spuriously good conscience than keeping rules, even if there has been a total absence of all real charity and faith.” ~C.S. Lewis, The Joyful Christian, p. 80.

Ouch! Isn’t that so true? I’m so glad our salvation is by grace through faith rather than our rule-keeping. “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 1:9).

Seen at Challies:

“A drop of praise is an unsuitable acknowledgment for an ocean of mercy.” —William Secker

From Warren Wiersbe’s With the Word commenting on Isaiah 17:

If the people you trust do not trust the Lord, their judgement may become your judgment (p. 462).

Scary thought — we’d better be careful whom we trust.

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share! 🙂

I may not feel Him standing near

I had the last stanza of this in my files but failed to note how I came across it. In Googling a line of it, I found it came from a hymn titled, “Surrounded By Unnumbered Foes.” I have never heard it sung, but I thought it was good, especially the last stanza.

Surrounded by unnumbered foes,
Against my soul the battle goes;
Yet though weary, sore distressed,
I know that I shall reach my rest:
I lift my tearful eyes above—
His banner over me is love.

Its sword my spirit will not yield,
Though flesh may faint upon the field;
He waves before my fading sight
The branch of palm, the crown of light:
I lift my brightening eyes above—
His banner over me is love.

My cloud of battle-dust may dim,
His veil of splendour curtain Him;
And, in the midnight of my fear,
I may not feel Him standing near:
But as I lift mine eyes above,
His banner over me is love.

— Gerald Massey, 1863

Do you recognize Him?

A devotional book I read as a teen-ager (sadly, I can’t remember the name of it) started off with the story from John 21 about how the disciples went fishing after Jesus’ death, and how He appeared in His resurrected body on the shore asking if they had caught anything. They had fished through the night and caught nothing. He told them to cast their net on the other side, and they did so and caught so many fish they couldn’t draw the net in. John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” recognized then, “It is the Lord.” The devotional went on to encourage us to recognize the hand of God in our daily lives.

For some reason that particular lesson is all that I can specifically remember from that book, but it has stayed with me for years. I hate the little quip that “Coincidences are God’s way of remaining anonymous” because God is not in the business of remaining anonymous! He wants people to see His actions, influence, and provision.

Earlier this week I heard a story of  brother and sister in our church. The sister was known as a very slow driver, and in one outing with her brother he was getting after her about going faster. At a stop light she decided to tease him by just puttering along as slowly as she could. She was in a double turn lane, and the car beside her shot ahead — and got hit by someone running the red light. What was meant as a bit of fun was used to protect them.!

But its not just in the more dramatic episodes where He is at work and wants us to recognize Him, and He doesn’t want just His children to recognize Him. The Father “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45b).

And it’s not just in the good things that happen where we see His hand. He allows illnesses, accidents, losses, loneliness and such for many different reasons, all designed to focus our attention on Him, to draw us closer to Him, to meet some need in our life or to manifest His glory.

I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. Isaiah 45:5-6.

For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Hosea 2:8.

That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it. Psalm 109:27.