I am thankful for so much this year - how about you?

Happy Thanksgiving, I know I am a day late and a dollar short!! We are having our Thanksgiving dinner tonight, so that my daughter Michelle could join us from Seattle.  We don't get to see her very often so it is going to be a treat.  I do hope that all of you had a wonderful dinner and gave thanks for the many blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon you and your family.

I know I have so much to be thankful for it's hard to begin.  But I will with the fact that no matter what comes my way I am so thankful that the Lord is with me to go through it.  No matter how disappointed I maybe about a situation, he is there with me.  That is so comforting to me.  Also thankful for my family that I love dearly, the grandkids all 9 of them, some I get to see often, others live far away.  But I lift them up to the Lord each and every day so I know they are in good hands - Praise God.  I have their photos in the front opening of my "Grandma Bible" that my dear friend Caroline gave me a few weeks ago, she is such a sweetie. There are prayers in the bible for each day to pray for your grandkids and their salvation, spiritual growth, talents, courage, etc.  It's very cool and I love it.

Thankful for my friends and sisters that love me and listen to me even when I am rattling off or go off key in one way or another, especially my friend Caroline. We have coffee every Tuesday and she is such a great listener and has so much wisdom it's hard to explain. She is truly an angel sent to me from God.  Thankful for my husband who loves me unconditionally, listens to me and just nods his head at times, and laughs when I do something really stupid.  He is my rock and I thank God for him each and every day.

Thankful for my daughter Michelle who is my friend and makes me laugh when I need a good one.  She is so witty and fun and is a blessing from God as well.  Thankful for my two sons, Sean and Jason and their wives, Krista and Mandy, respectively, who are such awesome caring and talented men.  The Lord has blessed them with such beautiful children who are all so talented, gifted and favored by God. 

The other thing I am grateful for is to have a part-time job this Christmas season for a little extra spending money.  I am working at "A Knot In Thyme" for the month of December in the gift shop.  It is such a fun and beautiful place to work, they sell beautiful Christmas Trees, Holly Wreaths and so many other items in the gift shop that include; candles, tea blends, dips, ornaments, ceramic birds, jewelry, handmade soaps, and so much more.  They are even carrying my handmade "Seashell Angels" this year. 

 

Noel Seashell Angel 

How to Listen to God the book by Dr. Charles Stanley

Greetings everyone, today I wanted to share some information from a book that I am reading called "How to Listen to God" by Dr. Charles Stanley.  He is one of my favorite authors and when I began this book I just could not put it down.  Ever have that happen to you?  When you are reading a book filled with so much "meat" if you will, you just cannot get enough, at least I can't.  Be sure to check out his book it is featured in the Amazon books section on the right hand side of my blog.

In this book Dr. Stanley gives us an insight as to the methods that God uses to communicate with us.  Some do not understand that just a feeling in your spirit sometimes, or a thought in your mind is and can be from God. Then the big question is what do we do when we hear those things, do we listen or do we just blow it off to - well, that can't be God.  I know because I have experienced that small voice numerous times in my life.  I now pray every day for the Holy Spirit to show me and help me to act upon what it is God is trying to do in my life in and through me. There have been many times when I acted and was so blessed by doing so, blessings came to the person God placed in my thoughts and to me in different ways later on.  I am connecting the dots now and can see how God works and it's so awesome!

There is a particular way that God gets our attention that we are not excited about and that is "tragedy". If you remember in Numbers 21:4 the Israelites were on their journey from Mt. Hor by the way of the Red Sea, they had to go around the land of Edom.  It was during this time they became very discouraged along the way.  They were so discouraged they began to speak against God and Moses, saying "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no food or water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of them died.  Then the people came to Moses and said: "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed.

We can't always view tragedy as a sign of God's disapproval, but it helps to take a closer look at each tragedy and situation through a spiritual filter.  That can be very difficult at times.  As in the case of a young lady named Joni Eareckson Tada.  She is living evidence of God's sovereign design in calamity.  When she was a teenager, full of God's vibrancy, Joni's life was radically altered one summer afternoon when she dove into a pool of shallow water.  In the twinkling of an eye she was introduced to the numb world of quadriplegics.  She was hospitalized for months on end with little hope for her now-shaky future.  We then ask the question: "How can God allow this?" I am sure she thought this over and over in her mind day and night.  Then slowly her faith in God began to surmount her anxious and sometimes bitter queries.

Later in years, she developed the remarkable capacity to paint with a brush gripped in her teeth. Her heart for God grew by leaps and bounds and a ministry to millions began.  A ministry birthed and nourished by tragedy.  Her books, movies, lectures, and special outreach to the handicapped have made her overcoming life a familiar story to most Christians worldwide.

If you walk with God every day and obey his teachings and His word we are assured that He is with us, through the good times and the bad.  He turns the bad into good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  But when a tragedy comes your way, that's a good time to examine our actions and our obedience to the God of the Universe who knows all things and loves us so very much.  I encourage you today to read this book and get a better insight as to how important it truly is to "Listen to God".

Be blessed!

Today I want to also introduce to you my hub where I share some of my favorite Mexican dishes that I grew up eating and loving.  They are chicken tamales, pumpkin empanadas and penoche.  Yummy, here is the link to the hub.  Enjoy and God Bless!