Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!

Today is a good day and I am thankful that I get to have a relationship with my Lord, I’m thankful I got to hug my children this morning, and I am thankful that I have this opportunity to sit here and write to you. Today hasn’t been near as hard as I thought it would be. . . . but it hasn’t been easy. I’m spending Thanksgiving alone. It’s okay, I don’t need a plate full of food or house full of people to be thankful; I’m already thankful. But I’m still sad to be here by myself.

Life sure is a messy thing.

You know what I miss most about being surrounded by people you love during the holidays? The hugs.

Hugs are my favorite. I get that we all have personal bubbles that we like to stay in but hugs are my f-a-v-o-r-i-t-e!

Also.

Chocolate. Now that’s just sad. There is no chocolate in this house. I looked. Twice. Or seven times, but who’s counting, right?!? Why can’t there just be some chocolate in this house today? Of all days. For the love. Just for today. This one day I would very much appreciate some chocolate. I would take anything sweet right now, but … alas, no! Somebody bring me some chocolate, please! If you need to try these best, get it here. You’re welcome.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I would write about today. I knew I wanted to write about something other than self-pity which I partly felt inclined towards drowning in this morning whenever I woke up. As I asked the Lord to give me a topic and as I read and prayed out Psalm 100 the Lord pulled my head above the water and I got realigned with thanksgiving. If you’re not feeling it, you’re going to have to ask for it, and trust me – when I woke up I was feeling like a child (and not the good “child like faith”) I was frustrated.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” Hebrews 13:15

Finally feeling content and peaceful I made some coffee and kissed my children before they headed off with their dad to go have Thanksgiving dinner out of town with his family.  I thought I’d come in and watch a movie I’d rented last night and maybe clean up around the house. I had resolved to make a short and simple blog post simply stating that I hoped everyone had a wonderful day with their families attached to a Bible verse of thanksgiving (Psalm 100:4). Except, no. The enemy has been hard at work. I quickly became upset when I grabbed my phone, which had been on silent, to find that it had nearly 20 text messages on it. I wasn’t upset about seeing that many texts, it was the content within. My neighbors had me in a group text that included some videos from their surveillance cameras. I soon learned that our neighborhood fell victim to many cases of theft throughout the night last night. Several cars were opened (if they had been left unlocked) and things were rummaged through and items stolen, including garage door openers. Other cars that had been locked had been broken into. Two of the surrounding neighborhoods closest to us were victims of theft as well. My neighbors surveillance camera show a vehicle down our street at some point and then one of the men on my property, he can be seen walking very quickly off my property from my driveway, which is next to my porch. We do lock our car doors at night, along with our house, and we set our alarms. What upsets me the most about this is that we don’t have a privacy fence up right now. That’s not completely accurate. Most of our fence is up, the part in the backyard is up, but the part facing the street is down. We need a few panels and a few posts in order to fix it and we simply don’t have the money to fix it and I’m not sure when we will. It’s been down for a few months now, it happened during a bad storm in August. I was okay with it for a while, other than it being a terrible eye sore. Then I insisted, and I mean insisted, that it stay down because my husband was out there digging up the posts and breaking his back every day trying to get them and the cement out of the ground. He refused to ask anyone for help with it and it really upset me so I wanted him to just leave it alone altogether. Eventually he got up the posts and the old broken panels got torn down and taken apart and thrown to the curb for big trash day. Whenever I watched that video my blood could’ve boiled, I was so mad just thinking about them being there and thinking about someone walking around on our property, mostly because I feel particularly vulnerable with our privacy fence down. Mostly I was upset thinking about my children asleep inside while trespassers walked next to the windows where they slept and it just made me so mad. I was ticked off.

Back to praying.

 ^“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”  James 1:19-20

Don’t let me try to fool you. I’m not happy about this whole ordeal my neighborhood has went through, I’m still upset that it happened, I wish I could fix my fence today, and I wish that I could say I wasn’t upset at all about it but I am. That’s a fantasy – I’m not going to not be bothered by it. I’m just not angry like I was at first. The Holy Spirit can do things in and through you whenever you’ve given your life over to the Lord. I would have been fueled by the fire of rage about people coming onto my property with ill intent if I didn’t have the Holy Spirit in me to guide me. I am upset about having people trespassing on my property b/c I’m a human being but I was able to leave that hateful feeling I initially had when I asked the Lord to take it and help me. We’re suppose to be slow to anger, James 1:19-20 tell us this, but I falter. This really isn’t that bad …. you should see me behind the wheel during rush hour. I have what they call “road rage” issues I think. What? Remember the part about I’m a sinner?! I’m flawed. Moving on.

The Lord opened my eyes to what I was feeling and prompted me to consider my feelings again. I begin to think …. yes, someone is trespassing on my property and that upsets me but I am called to love my neighbor.  They may not be my neighbor, but have I forgotten who my neighbor is?

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

The Lord reminded me that even if they took any of my belongings from me that had they just come and asked for the things that they had taken, we would have freely given those things. I’d give someone the clothes that I was wearing if they needed it and we give our gently used items to others who can use them all the time. I’ve never seen anything in my life that I wanted bad enough that I’d steal for it so I can’t understand, but maybe I haven’t been in their shoes and I am being tested in forgiveness I feel. Just 2 weeks ago we had a car seat stolen off of our porch that hadn’t been there for more than 20 minutes. The Lord is prompting be to pray for others.

“Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”  Matthew 5:42

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” Ephesians 4:32

“But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:15

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”  Luke 6:27

The enemy intended to use a day where we focus on thanksgiving to take my focus off of the One I’m thankful for and give me things to be upset with and these few things I’ve listed are just the two at the top of the list, there are so many little things that have been going on that make me want to push the FWD on today’s button so tomorrow can be here already. But that’s the way it goes. But the Lord took the enemies plans for evil and upset and prompted me to use it for good. Today I am focusing on loving others. Love is liberation.

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20

 ^“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”.  John 10:27

I think back over the years and how much I’ve changed and grown year after year. I think about my childhood and teen years in comparison to my adult years; and I didn’t know how unhappy I was until I was saved.  If you’re struggling today with feelings of emptiness or feel there’s something missing in your life and you don’t have a relationship with God; He does love you. He’s waiting for you.

Thank you, God. And thank you for this day. I am thankful for the opportunity to drink my coffee while it’s still hot. I’m thankful for the opportunity to read scripture without the usual distractions I’d impose on myself. I’m thankful for the peanut butter sandwich on my kitchen table reminding me of a filling meal to eat. Thank you, God, for allowing me to have a personal relationship with you. Thank you for my eternal salvation; for the forgiveness I couldn’t earn and don’t deserve. Thank you for loving me, despite my sinful nature, and thank you for my daily provisions. Thank you for Jesus.

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. Shout for the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100