| "Give thanks to the LORD, for HE is good, HIS love endures forever." Psalm 107:1 "In everything give thanks for this is the will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS concerning you." I Thess. 5:18 Dear Praying Friends and Family, You all were in my prayers last night as i saunaed, and i hope and pray you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was hoping to send this out to you this morning, but to be honest, i have been "ill as a hornet today,"and haven't felt like writing. We had a wonderful gathering with Johnny's family on Weds. night, and my dear family gathered at our house yesterday for Thanksgiving. I ate some things i shouldn't have and my husband has paid for it today in my irritability. I haven't felt very thankful today which is what this whole email is about...maybe GOD wanted to give me the opportunity to "practice what i preach" when my feelings have been screaming otherwise. I can tell you, i have failed miserably today. So, without further ado, i wanted to share with you some quotes on thankfulness from other humans who fail miserably as i do. We all fail and GOD loves us, loves us, loves us. I am so thankful for my heavenly FATHER who loves me just as i am and forgives me, and picks me up out of the dust and sets my feet upon a rock again. HE loves me with an everlasting love, and HE loves me so much HE gave HIS SON for you and me, to pay for my sins...sins like lashing out at my husband and saying unkind words. HE loves you and me so much, that HE works all things together for good to those who love HIM and are called according to HIS purpose"...the little things and the big things that concern you and me. |
January
"Perhaps it's hard to find much to be thankful for today. Perhaps all you can see is what's wrong, what hurts, and what others are doing to you. But look above your circumstances, beyond your fears, and ask GOD to show you what HE's doing in the midst of them."
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS for you." (I Thess.5:18).
February
"When we choose the pathway of worship and giving thanks, especially in the midst of difficult circumstances, there is a fragrance, a radiance that issues forth out of our lives to bless the LORD and others."
"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to GOD acceptable worship, with reverence and awe." Heb. 12:28
March
"Undeniable guilt plus undeserved grace should equal unbridled gratitude. Is the gratitude that flows out of your life as abounding as the grace that has flowed into your life?"
"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for HE is good; for HIS steadfast love endures forever!" Psalm 118:1
April
"A significant degree of your emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, as well as the health and stability of your relationship with others, will be determined by your "gratitude quotient."
"Rooted and built up in HIM and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." Colossians 2:7
May
"A grateful man or woman will be a breath of fresh air in a world contaminated by bitterness and discontentment. And the person whose gratitude is a by-product of and a response to the redeeming grace of GOD will showcase the heart of the gospel in a way that is winsome and compelling."
"I thank my GOD through JESUS CHRIST for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world." Romans 1:8
June
"Gratitude is foundational. And it is transformational. A grateful spirit, rooted in the soil of GOD's goodness and grace, will radically impact how you view and respond to everything in your life."
"We give thanks to you, O GOD; we give thanks, for YOUR NAME is near. We recount YOUR wondrous deeds." Psalm 75:1
July
"True gratitude is not incidental ingredient. It is one of the chief ways that GOD infuses joy and resilience into the daily struggle of life."
"Let us come into HIS presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to HIM with songs of praise." Psalm 95:2
August
"When we give in to whining, murmuring, and complaining, we embark on a destructive slide that can take us down to depths we never could have imagined going. Truly, ingratitude is our first step away from GOD."
"For although they knew GOD, they did not honor HIM as GOD or give thanks to HIM, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." Romans 1:21
September
"As challenging as your situation or your season of life may be, your frame of mind likely has less to do with distressing circumstance than with your need to develop a thankful heart."
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to GOD." Philippians 4:6
October
"Few things are more becoming in a child of GOD than a grateful spirit. By the same token, there is probably nothing that makes a person more unattractive than the absence of a grateful spirit.
"Enter HIS gates with thanksgiving, and HIS courts with praise! Give thanks to HIM; bless HIS name! Psalm 100:4
November
"The grateful heart that springs forth in joy is not acquired in a moment; it is the fruit of a thousand choices. It is a godly habit and pattern that over time becomes a new muscle in our spiritual make-up."
"But thanks be to GOD, WHO gives us the victory through our LORD JESUS CHRIST." I Corinthians 15:57
December
"Gratitude is the unending anthem of heaven. Every time we express our thankfulness here on earth, we join our voices with the grand chorus of gratitude that wells up before the throne of GOD, and we prepare ourselves for what we'll be doing for all eternity."
"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our GOD forever and ever! Amen." Revelation 7:12
I know that some of you reading this have lost loved ones this past year, you're struggling in your job making ends meet, your marriage may have ended, you've been wronged by your employer...my prayer list is full of life's most difficult heartaches and burdens imaginable. JESUS promises in this world that we will have trials and tribulations, but HE also tells us to be of good courage for HE has overcome the world. One of the quotes i read from Hannah Hurnard this week, speaks of the power that comes to us to "overcome" when we praise HIM and thank HIM in faith.
"A CHRISTian is one who reacts to everything with praise and thanksgiving and joy, and thereby receives power to bring good out of evil." Hannah Hurnard,
"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto THY name, O most HIGH." Psalm 92:1
In today's Daily Light reading, I was reminded of why we can trust and praise the LORD in the big trials and the little ones:
"The LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; HE has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted...to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion-to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit.-"Come to ME, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from ME, for I am gentle and lowly of heart. and you will find rest for your souls. For MY yoke is easy, and My burden is light. -"HE heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds." Isaiah 61:1-3, Matt. 11:28-30,Psalm 147:3
"The LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; HE has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted...to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion-to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit.-"Come to ME, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from ME, for I am gentle and lowly of heart. and you will find rest for your souls. For MY yoke is easy, and My burden is light. -"HE heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds." Isaiah 61:1-3, Matt. 11:28-30,Psalm 147:3
JESUS invites all who will, to "Come to ME, and I will give us rest," rest from laboring to be good enough to earn our salvation, rest from our trials and tribulations. HE takes our sin, and redeems us back from the bondage of sin when we come to HIM and repent of our sins. HE takes our ashes and the messes of our lives and gives us beauty for them... HE is"The Glorious Impossible." HE is why we are able to have a grateful heart and give thanks because HE is always good, HE is always for us, and HE always "works all things together for good to those who love HIM and are called according to HIS purpose." Romans 8:28
Hannah Beth is home this weekend for Thanksgiving break, and she shared a beautiful song with me called, "The Glorious Impossible." She had the opportunity to hear it sung at the "CHRISTmas Spectacular," the University of Mobile put on last week. As i was thinking about what to share this week, and about being grateful, the LORD brought this song to mind why we can choose to be grateful...because HE is "the Glorious Impossible." HE makes all things possible...just ask Auburn in their 28-27 comeback defeat of Alabama. Alabama was in front 24-0 and Auburn came back to win the game...it was an amazing comeback! What an example to us of not giving up when it looks like we are defeated but to keep on trusting the LORD, and "choosing gratitude" instead of grumbling and complaining and getting down on one another when the going gets tough. After the game, the Auburn coach gave GOD the glory, and spoke of the team's faith and "special chemistry." My friend Wanda just told me she read where the Auburn coach reads his Bible the whole time when the team travels by bus. This was just a football game, but there are life lessons we can learn from a hard fought battle and come from behind victory...and one is that GOD is "The Glorious Impossible" and so worthy of all our praise and trust. When things look the bleakest, HE is still at work and asks us to trust HIM that HE is going to take care of things and work things out for our good.
"The Glorious Impossible," by the Gaither Trio, is a beautiful and powerful song preparing our hearts to worship HIM for this upcoming CHRISTmas season and giving HIM thanks for all that HE does for us each and every day http://www.youtube.com/
I also included some quotes from one of my favorite authors and one of my "spiritual mothers," Elisabeth Elliot. When i was so sick when the kids were little, and we were homeschooling, GOD used her so mightily to encourage me to trust HIM, even when it didn't look like HE was at work. HE has been so very trustworthy through the years and I praise HIM, "the Glorious Impossible," for HIS faithfulness to me and my family. John Mac will be graduating from the University of Alabama in Huntsville a week from tomorrow Summa Cum Laude in Electrical Engineering. I praise GOD for all that HE has done in and through John Mac to bring him to this point in his life. HE is so trustworthy..."the GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLE."
Quotes from Elisabeth Elliot on Gratitude:
"Trust is the ground for our thanksgiving-no matter what happens. HE is still at work, even though it may not look as though HE is, and HE is the GOD of deliverance. The LORD is my strength and my song."
"Our heart shall rejoice in HIM, because we have trusted in HIS holy name." Psalm 33:21
"There is always plenty to complain about if your life is controlled by your feelings. But there is always much more to thank GOD for if your life is controlled by your dwelling on HIS faithfulness, HIS love and HIS mercy."
"I will worship toward YOUR holy temple, and praise YOUR name for YOUR lovingkindness and YOUR truth; for YOU have magnified YOUR word above all YOUR name." Psalm 138:2
"Thanksgiving requires the recognition of the SOURCE. It implies contentment with what is given, not complaint about what is not given."
"GODliness with contentment is great gain." I Timothy 6:6
"The secret of peace is prayer and thanksgiving. Ask what you will and be thankful, and peace will keep these poor, breaking, restless hearts and these weary, worrying minds of ours in CHRIST JESUS."
"Enter into HIS gates with thanksgiving and into HIS courts with praise." Be thankful to HIM, and bless HIS name." Psalm 100:4
"The true CHRISTian is thankful for all things. How is it possible to be thankful for all things? Because we trust HIM. Trust is the ground of our thanksgiving."
"In GOD we boast all day long, and praise YOUR name forever." Psalm 44:8
If like me, you have failed at being grateful for the circumstances the LORD allows in your life, whether it's difficult people GOD has allowed in your life, health issues, job situations, an unfaithful spouse, whatever, I encourage you today, to come to HIM, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and confess your grumbling and complaining against HIM. HE longs for us to come to HIM with a contrite and repentant heart, and forgive us for our lack of gratitude for what HE is and can orchestrate through our heartbreaks. HE is "The GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLE" and HE asks us to trust HIM for all that HE is doing, not only in our lives, but those our lives will touch for HIM for all eternity.
I love you, dear family and friends, and "I thank my GOD upon every remembrance of you." Phil. 1:3. I hope and pray you enjoy the rest of this Thanksgiving weekend, taking time to thank HIM for HIS love HE lavishes upon each of us, "exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think."
With all HIS love,
mitzi
P.S. Please remember HB for her five hour journey back to the University of Mobile on Sunday. Thank you so much...it is a great blessing having my children home for Thanksgiving!
Announcements:
https://www.samaritanspurse.
Tim Greene and Kim Greene Hopper will be at Union Hill FCM on Weds. Dec. 15...at 7:00 p.m. I'm pretty sure this is near Arab...contact me if you're interested and i'll try to give more specific directions when i find them out. Talk about "The Glorious Impossible," GOD has done "the glorious impossible" to bring healing to Tim Greene. What a blessing Tim is able to travel and sing again the praises of the LORD he loves so much.
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"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most HIGH shall abide under the shadow of the ALMIGHTY." Psalm 91:1
"When we live in the secret place of prayer it becomes impossible for us to doubt GOD. We become more sure of HIM than of anything else."
-Oswald Chambers
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