Giving Thanks!

My Dear Readers,

I lovingly greet each of you in Jesus Name!  I am so glad that you've come to visit here, and I trust that on these pages you will receive refreshing, encouragement, answers, challenges and love!

Since I have so many different places reading, I thought I would share with all of you about our American day of Thanksgiving.  It is always the 4th Thursday of every November.  It is a National holiday here, and the banks and the Post Office close.  Most retail stores also close, some the whole day, some the afternoon and evening.

The pastor who spoke Wed. night talked about the 5 "F's" that will be celebrated today: Family, Friends, Feasting, Football (American football) and Falling Asleep while watching the game!  We all laughed, because for many that will be the case!

The real point of the holiday, however is to remember and give thanks to God for all of His many blessings and abundance to us.  The tradition goes back to the Pilgrims who settled in a colony on the eastern shore of American. They had much hardship and a brutal winter.  Many died to smallpox.   But some friendly Native American Indians taught them how to hunt, and find wild berries.

One Indian in particular, was a huge blessing. His name was Squanto.  He had been taken captive as a slave and taken to England, where he was schooled.  When he was freed, he returned to find his whole tribe wiped out by disease (much the way some villages in Africa have been wiped out by AIDS.)  He was taken in by another tribe, and it was he and these friendly Indians who helped the colonists survive.

Because of God's Providence the settlers had a big feast and invited the Indians and they all gave thanks to God for His mercy and goodness in this brave new world called America!

So, no matter where you come from, or where you live please take a moment today and stop and thank God for things that only HE can do and give to you!

To help you focus on things to thank Him for, I am going to post below the Scriptures that I put together into a reading for our Community Thanksgiving Church Service tonight.  I hope you will join me in a giving of thanks unto God! And if you can, would you post some of your things you are thankful for in the comment section?  You don't have to leave your name, or where you are from- unless you want to,  but it would bless all of us, to read and rejoice together at God's goodness to each of us!

So, I will go first:  I am grateful and thankful that God knows me by Name and Jesus rescued and saved me and I can KNOW HIM personally, intimately!  I am grateful for my dear family and our friends and for the creative gift of writing that He gave to me.  I am grateful too, I can share what He gives me, with all of you!  I am grateful that His giftings are without repentance, and He never gives up on any of us.  I am grateful for my Health (after having been sick for over 4 weeks!) and God's protection upon each of us.  And I am thankful for 5 soft and purring cats who amuse and keep me company when kids and husband are not around!  There's more, but that is a good start.  It's your turn now!  What are you thankful and grateful for?!!

God Bless You, over and over!
Much Love,
Nancy

I   

I read: (The Amplified Bible)

Psalm 103:1  Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!

Psalm 103:2  Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits--

Psalm 103:3  Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases,

Psalm 103:4  Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy;

Psalm 103:5  Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]! [Isaiah 40:31]

The Congregation responds with:

Psalm 107:1  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!

Psalm 107:2  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has delivered from the hand of the adversary.

I read:

Psalm 105:1  O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His doings among the peoples!

Psalm 105:2  Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on and talk of all His marvelous deeds and devoutly praise them.

Psalm 105:3  Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek and require the Lord [as their indispensable necessity].

Psalm 105:4  Seek, inquire of and for the Lord, and crave Him and His strength (His might and inflexibility to temptation); seek and require His face and His presence [continually] evermore.

The Congregation responds with:

Psalm 107:8  Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!

Psalm 107:9  For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good.

I read:

Psalm 106:1  Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! [1 Chronicles 16:34]

Psalm 106:2  Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord? Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?

We all respond:

Psalm 107:31  Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!

Psalm 107:32  Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people and praise Him in the company of the elders. 

IF you do not know Jesus as your personal Saviour, you can know Him!  He WANTS you to know Him and He wants to show you His Glory.  If you want to believe, but are struggling to do so, He already knows about your struggle and wants to take away that torment.

First, you must believe that HE really exists and even though He is creator of the Universe, He cares about YOU!  So ask Him to help you to know Him and to believe. 2ndly, you must ask Him to come into your heart.  He wants to, but He is waiting to be invited in.  You may say something like this:

Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God and that you died on the the cross to take away all my sins.  Come into my heart and forgive me and cleanse me now.  Make me into a brand new person that is Born Again by The Spirit of God and Live with me all the days of my life!  I give you my life and heart, so help me live pleasing you from now on.  I THANK YOU for forgiving me, accepting me and making me Yours!  I now belong to YOU JESUS! And YOU belong to me! Wow. Thank you for saving me and giving me a brand new start.  I receive it all and pray in Jesus Name. Amen.

Email me at: heart_and_hands@yahoo.com  and tell me of your decision.  I want to email or postal mail you some material to help you in your new life with God!  Hallelujah!  Now that is something worth Praising and Thanking God for!