Friday, November 27, 2015

What Are You Thankful For

We were unable to go anywhere this year or have anyone over due to Harold's illness. You see when you have Rheumatoid Arthritis they give you all these medications to suppress your immune system because basically your immune system gets confused and it injures your joints. This leaves someone with no immune system so Harold got pneumonia and was wheezing. All this to say we were pretty much left to our own devices this year on Thanksgiving, which leads me to reflect upon our day.

It started off okay since we knew that we weren't going to be able to go anywhere which was real hard for Harold since we were looking forward to going to his daughters house for our Thanksgiving dinner. This was very special to him since he had never been invited to visit there before and was looking so forward to it.  As the day went on we only had one call from our kids (we have four) and that was the youngest one and her daughter who is 5 called to wish Papa and Nana a happy Thanksgiving. It was so sweet. She had been sick herself and we were so glad she was getting better and was able to go eat Thanksgiving with the family. 

Jill who is one of my many adopted kids called and brought us a wonderful turkey dinner and this was such a blessing. I had been sitting around feeling like these two old people no one wanted to call or even think about. I know that sounds terrible but it is what was going on in my mind.  I started thinking about my Mom and Dad and wondered if I ever neglected to think about them on any of the major Holidays because I was so wrapped up in my agenda and what I wanted to do. Did I forget to call them or acknowledge they were unable to attend a family function? I sure hope I didn't but when you have your own kids and lives it is sometimes hard to keep all the balls in the air when you have so many things pulling at you.  Then the 700 club came on and there were so many stories about being thankful for what you have and not dwelling on what you don't have. There was one particular story that made Harold and I look at each other and then we both expressed to each other how we had been feeling.  I even told Harold at one point, at least  people in nursing homes have nurse aids to give them turkey dinner even if it's ground up and feed to you with a straw. LOL

Well I got sick of the pity party and started thanking God for all He has given us and for me this turned our whole day around. I had been feeling or trying not to feel anything. I am blessed to have a wonderful husband who loves me and cares for me when I can't care for myself and that I am able to care for him when he needs it.  I started praying for Harold to be healed and not worrying about what anyone else did or didn't do.  I was blessed to have a wonderful dinner brought to us and then the door bell rang and a friend of mine who lost her husband a few years back showed up with more food for Harold and me.

God is so good to us. I just don't know how people go through life not acknowledging the love of the Father. What do they have when things don't go the way they think they should or bad things happen.  Where do they find their joy in bad situations? I know for me I desire to give glory in all situations to the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I really desire all my children and their children for generations come to know and accept the love that God has for them.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.

I'm not sure who has heard of John Bevere but he has this new book out called Good or God. I recommend that if you haven't gotten it and are reading it that you do. He has some good information in it.  It is like everything else pray over the information and search the scriptures for yourselves. This book gives you a good starting place to study and know the Word for yourself.  One thing he talks about in the book is that if  a soldier was going into a mind field and the soldier had a detailed map of where each bomb and booby trap was would he glance at it and then put it in his back pocket and proceed or would he try to look over and study it for a while and then put it into his back pack then proceed out into the mind field on his memory our would he  hold it in his hand and sturdy it as he walked through the mind field carefully watching every step he took with the map.  Well that's how we should look at the Word of God as our map through the mind field of the enemy's camp. So as I see it, the best place to keep the Word of the Lord is in our hands studying it so that we don't fall into a trap of the enemy. That's kind of how I started out the day yesterday on Thanksgiving with my map in my back pocket then once I realized it I took it out and started to study the ground I was treading on. Thank you God for Your grace and mercy which is new every morning.