GIVE THANKS WITH A GRATEFUL HEART

GIVE THANKS FOR ALL OF GOD'S BOUNTIFUL BLESSINGS!

TURKEY SHOOT

Here's something fun to do. They say it is a stress reliever. I'm not sure about that, but I thought it was fun. It's a TURKEY SHOOT. Just click HERE and let the fun begin. My highest score was just over 10,000. 

I went back after I posted this and played it again and got over 12,000. I'm getting better. 

SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS

Today for Spiritual Sundays I decided to post this unique perspective on the 23rd Psalm.

I hope you will click HERE to go to Spiritual Sundays for links to more spiritual/inspirational posts. Or you can click on the Spiritual Sundays link on my sidebar.

I received this in a recent e-mail from an old friend.

The Lord is my Shepherd = That's Relationship! 

I shall not want = That's Supply! 

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures = That's Rest! 

He leadeth me beside the still waters = That's Refreshment! 

He restoreth my soul = That's Healing! 

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness = That's Guidance! 

For His name sake = That's Purpose! 

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death = That's Testing! 

I will fear no evil = That's Protection! 

For Thou art with me = That's Faithfulness! 

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me = That's Discipline! 

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies = That's Hope! 

Thou annointest my head with oil = That's Consecration! 

My cup runneth over = That's Abundance! 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life = That's Blessing! 

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord = That's Security! 

Forever = That's Eternity! 

Face it, the Lord is crazy about you.

Note from me: Let's face it, doesn't that cover it all. What blessed assurance. That reminds me of the old hymn "Blessed Assurance". 

THANK YOU GINGER

I continue to find new things to be thankful for. Ginger surprised me with this wonderful gift that just came in the mail. She knows I love Thomas Kinkade, and I love this Kinkade mug. I can hardly wait to try the Pumpkin Spice coffee. I know I will like it. And isn't that a cute little card? It looks like a real cup of tea. Ginger is not only a relative, but a great blogging friend. Thank you so much, Ginger. 

DATES, PRUNES & FRESH BREAD

Today is Thankful Thursday. I've already done a post on my Charlotte's Weblog blog for Trim the Tree Thursdays, but we just got home from Sprouts and I was thinking to myself how thankful I am for all the good food that is available to us in the U.S. Specifically, I was eating a fresh sweet prune and thinking about doing a post for Thankful Thursday.  

I've always liked prunes, but I wasn't "in love" with them, but since I've discovered the soft fresh plump ones at Sprouts, I think I'm in love. I know I'm in love with their fresh Medjool dates. I did a post about them a while back. And, I love fresh baked french bread. Another favorite thing of ours is okra and Sprouts is about the only place I can always find it. Tonight we're having fried okra and left over goulash from last night - and french bread, of course.

Ginger of Enchanting Cottage asked me if I was blogging on both of my blogs now. I told her it was her fault that I was "hooked" on blogging. She's the one that got me started. Now she's taking a break from it and has not been posting except on her Sunday blog for Spiritual Sundays. I'll bet she doesn't take a very long break though, cause breaking the blogging habit isn't easy. 

Thanksgiving is just a week away. I have so much to be thankful for that I couldn't begin to list everything. So, right now, I'll just limit it to dates, prunes and french bread - and okra - and left over goulash.

Go visit Iris at Grace Alone for lots of links to Thankful Thursday posts.

TURKEY FACTS

How much do you know about turkeys? Here's a little fun test you can take to find out how much you really do know. I'll confess I didn't do too well. The questions are pretty hard. 

Here's the link: http://home.aristotle.net/Thanksgiving/trivia.asp

A NEW AWARD

I just received this lovely award from BP at Raindrops & Rainbows. Thank you, BP. I am honored that you chose me to receive this award. It's called Marie Antoinette ~ A Real Person Award. The rules for this award want you to reflect who awarded it to you, display the icon, and pass it along to seven (7)other bloggers.

BP regularly reads my blogs and comments on my posts. She is always an encouragement to me.

I just passed on another award on my Charlotte's Weblog blog and chose 5 people for that. So, I'm passing this award on to those same 5 people, Smiling Sally, Connie at Down on the Farm, Baba's Blog, Jeanette at Jen's Chronicles, Beverly at How Sweet the Sound and adding Ruthie at Just Ruthie, and BJ at Sweet Nothings.

SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS

I posted a Spiritual Sundays on my other blog yesterday, but this morning I read something that I also want to share so decided to post it on this blog. It's pretty neat actually - having two blogs - no actually three - no actually three and a half. I share half of the Spiritual Sundays with Ginger. 

Anyway, here's my new post. It was a blessing to me and I hope it will be to you.

Giddy as a Schoolgirl
with Captain Chris Plekenpol

"...your Father knows what you need
before you ask Him." (Matthew 6:8)

Constant battle can definitely wear on the soul. We long for a time
when we don't have to talk about IEDs (improvised explosive
devices), snipers, and RPGs (rocket propelled grenades).

In the wake of the death of my first soldier, SSG Vaillant, I was
longing for one of those moments. I had that faraway feeling that
comes when you've been beaten down emotionally. I prayed,
"Lord, give me someone to talk about You with. I'm dying
here."

I walked into my TOC (tactical operation center) and found another
captain there. I am situated in an old Royal Air Force base tower. It
was the control tower during the times that the British Air Force was
here in the early 1930's, and it provides the best line of sight
in the camp. So it also has the best communications range. The other
captain saw my Message Bible on the table and started reading it.
After a moment he asked, "Is this yours?"

I nodded. Then he became giddy as a schoolgirl and talked about how he
had never seen anything like it. He went on to explain that his wife
had just given birth to his first son and it forced him to think about
some sobering realities. We then talked for about an hour about what
it meant to figure out God's will. What an incredible
conversation.

As he was talking, I could just feel God. I actually had to hold back
the tears. Why was I crying over a conversation about God's
will? I was emotionally and spiritually starving, and He fed me. I had
been used to feasting in a Christian environment, but now I was in a
place where not everyone automatically voiced their love for Jesus. I
found my soul very hungry. So in one conversation, God reminded me
that He is capable of providing for my needs. I love that.

When I am running on empty, God always comes through. David wrote:
"God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what
I'm thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back;
I'm never out of your sight. You know everything I'm going
to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and
you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too your
reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful
I can't take it all in!" (Psalm 139: 1-6, The Message)

What a powerful thing it is to know that God knows when I am hurting.
He knows when I am at my limit and I just need a little grace.

Grace. So perfect. So pure. So God. That is what He delivers. Often in
life we are running on fumes. No matter how much we desire godliness,
we can find ourselves in a rut...or even a desert. Even though all
we want is His closeness, we wonder if He hears our cries.

The truth is, He does hear you! He knows what you need. He's
more than willing to help. Just ask Him. Where are you? Are you
feeling low, beat down by an unending series of crises? Do you find
yourself reeling emotionally and spiritually? Do you feel as though
God is not there, or not paying attention? Do you know that Jesus has
experienced those same feelings? Did you know all He wants from you is
for you to ask Him for help with an honest heart that acknowledges its
weaknesses and need of a Savior?

Remember: God loves the honest heart.

This Week
"Pour your heart out to the Lord and ask for His help."

Prayer
"Lord, I need Your help! My heart hurts. My feelings are telling
me many things, but You promise to stay with me always. You know
what's going on in my life. Nothing I'm dealing with is a
surprise to You. Please help me, and help me see Your help.
Amen."


Adapted from "Faith in the Fog of War: Stories of Triumph and Tragedy
in the Midst of War" by Captain Chris Plekenpol, during his 2004 tour
of duty in Iraq as a tank company team commander. Hear Capt.
Plekenpol's stories on LIFE TODAY this Veteran's D, Tuesday November 11.

If you haven't read my other Spiritual Sundays post, you can click HERE to go there. Have a wonderful Spiritual Sunday.  -  Charlotte

THE POWER OF PRAYER

I have a recommendation. I just went to Katherine's blog Power of Prayer to read her most recent post in response to the recent election. I agree with it 100% and wanted to let you know about it. You can click HERE to go to that blog. 

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

I was reading a post on Joel Rosenberg's blog. He said some things that I have been thinking but didn't know how to put it into words. He wrote this a few days ago after the financial meltdown was at its worst. Here is what he had to say. I think he said it well.

1. Are there prophetic implications of this financial crisis? It is hard to be definitive. The U.S. does not show up specifically in any end times Bible prophecies. But this fact alone raises a sobering question: If we are really in what the Bible describes as “the last days” before the return of Jesus Christ, then how is it possible that the United States of America — the wealthiest and most powerful nation on the face of the planet in the history of mankind — does not play a significant, notable role in Biblical end times events? The honest answer: I don’t know for certain. But here’s what I wrote in Dead Heat (p. 154): “What Bennett had never really considered carefully until now was the possibility that something else might devastate the American people, rendering them ineffective heading into the last of the last days. A financial downturn on Wall Street. The sudden collapse of the dollar. The beginning of another Great Depression. A series of devastating earthquakes. Or hurricanes. Or other natural disasters, like a tsunami. [Or ] the most cataclysmic terrorist attack of all time — five nuclear warheads. And there might be more to come. None of it was clearly prophesied in the Scriptures. Not that he could find. But perhaps he should have foreseen the neutralization of America by more carefully reading between the lines. If so, what else was he missing? What exactly was coming next?”
2. Finally, let us consider the possibility that the Lord is allowing this economic meltdown in part to shake our confidence in anything but a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Is it possible that God is trying to shake us loose from trusting in our wealth, from trusting in our political leaders, from trusting in our own ingenuity and our own hard work? Is it possible that He is trying to get us to shift our focus from worldly, materialistic things to how much He loves us, and the truth that the only person we can truly trust in life to never leave us or forsake us is Jesus Christ? Is it possible that He is trying to get us to read the Bible more, and the stock tickers less? To pray more, and to worry less? To store up our treasures in heaven, and not concentrate so much on our treasures on earth? Anyone who is feeling fearful during this turbulent economic times would do well to meditate on the words Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 6:19-33, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also….No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth. For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Perhaps one of the things God is showing us is that we need to depend on him more. We can't depend on the government. Actually we can't depend on anything or anybody in the final analysis except HIM.

DISAPPOINTING TIMES FOR ME

The final count is not in as I write this, but I am very disappointed with what looks like the inevitable outcome of the election. I think that a large majority of people did not really know what they were voting for. They were just mesmerized by a smooth talking politician.

God doesn't always answer our prayers the way we want him to. He looks ahead at the big picture that we can't see. We know by reading the Bible, that many times he lets his people be defeated and even taken into captivity because of their actions and their attitude toward him and his laws.

One of the things that comes to my mind is that I have to be reminded that our time on earth is temporary and Jesus said that his kingdom is not of this world. I don't know what is ahead for America. I just pray that the liberal left will not be allowed to take more of our religious liberties from us. They have already taken God out of our schools to the detriment to our students and our country. Abortion is allowed and approved by our government. I'm not sure we can expect God to bless us as a nation any longer.

I like what Edward Fudge wrote in an e-mail that just came in a few minutes ago. He writes a daily column that he calls gracEmail. Here is a quote from him:

We live during an interim on God's calendar, a defined but unknown period of time that began with a significant event and that will end when Jesus comes again. This is the period of God's conquests, which began when Jesus was enthroned at God's right hand in heaven and will continue until the last enemy, death, has been destroyed (Psalm 110:1). It is simultaneously the period of heaven's reception of Jesus, which will end with the redemptive restoration of all things spoken by the ancient prophets (Acts 3:20-21). In both respects, we live between the Already and the Not Yet.

Because the exact time of the End is unknown, we fully engage the world in which we live. But because the End can arrive any day, we hold all earthly things lightly rather than tightly. Paul once expressed it like this: "This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away" (1 Cor. 7:29-31, ESV).

God calls us out of the world to go back into the world for the sake of the world. We believers are God's salt-and-light brigade, not his society of separated hermits. But we are like firefighters in the station house -- sleeping, working, eating, yet ready every moment to respond immediately to the call. This does not mean that we live inauthentic lives, merely going through the motions with our minds and hearts elsewhere. It does mean that every earthly circumstance, relationship and event is transitory, and that we keep that in mind lest we become so attached to anything that leaving it when the time comes causes unbearable pain. Nothing here is permanent. Nothing now is ultimate. Yet, for God's sake, every occasion is significant and ever person is important. You can click HERE to go to Edward Fudge's website.

I wish every person in America had seen the video below before they voted. It might have made some stop and think instead of blindly following their "new messiah". We need to pray for our country like we've never prayed before.

SO GOOD I HAD TO SHARE IT

Only in America would you find a totally biased press focus on Palin's so-called $150,000 wardrobe but totally ignore Barack Obama's spending more than $600,000,000 trying to get elected.

Only in America could Barack Obama, the leading candidate in the Presidential election, sit in a racist, radical church for more than 20 years and never hear the rantings of his lunatic Pastor, yet still be considered "brilliant" by the liberal press and public.

Only in America can a Presidential candidate (Barack Hussein Obama) SAY he is Christian, yet chose a MUSLIM name for himself as a grown man in college.

Only in America (while we remain in a contracted war with Islamic terrorism and have lost close to 10,000 lives in the war and terrorist attacks over the last 20 years) can a man even carry the name of BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA and still be considered a legitimate candidate for President.

Only in America can a man who began his political career in the home of a known domestic terrorist, (who also bombed the White House and Pentagon and says he wished he would have done more) be considered a good candidate for President because he is "articulate" and "charismatic".

Only in America can one candidate (Palin) who is the Governor of the largest state in the U.S. be called "inexperienced", but the opposing candidate for President (Obama) be called "ready for the job" with one term in the U.S. Senate.

Only in America can a leading candidate for President (Obama) promise to lower taxes for 95% of the population when only 60-70% pay taxes in the first place, yet still go unchallenged with his rhetoric and actually be believed by a portion of the voting public.

Only in America can a candidate who is favored by the Islamic states, Farrakhan, Chavez, Castro, Iran, Korea, Colombia and other terroristic nations be considered a legitimate choice for President.

Only in America can a candidate (Obama) be rated the most liberal Senator in the U.S. , claim to be "moderate" while he is running for President, and yet still go unchallenged by the so-called U.S. media.

Only in America can a radical, bigoted, hateful racist (Louis Farrakhan) who has likened White people to "the Devil" and embraces a religion which says that whites are "descendants of the devil", call Obama "the Messiah" and a "great hope" without people abandoning their support in droves.

Only in America can a Presidential candidate (Barack Obama) claim he is going to reduce the income tax (1 TAX) on people who make less than $250,000 a year, then raise 8-10 OTHER TAXES we all pay, either in direct taxes or taxes that are passed on in the increased cost of goods and services resulting from theses increased taxes, and still be considered trying to help the "middle income" families of America.

Only in America can a man who is not even constitutionally eligible to hold office be so close to winning the Presidency. Barack Obama's father was not an American and his mother was not a legal resident long enough before he was born to qualify him as eligible for the Presidency. Where is the so-called "Press" of this country?

Only in America can a man who is not eligible for selection to the FBI because of his past terrorist associations be close to winning the White House.