Good Morning Thankful Friends! What are you thankful for ? For me it's God and all He has done and who He is and for my salvation and His mercy and grace that helps to renew my thinking and choices. I'm thankful for all of you! I'm thankful for how He has gathered, gifted and is using us to encourage each other and to grow His Kingdom. I'm very thankful for Karen, family (even in-laws! ) and friends! And I'm thankful what God did as over 45 gathered to worship, fellowship, commune and pray and some new people even showed up! Over half were not from our church! I'm thankful God has drawn some and is using us! What an awesome night! I'm also thankful as I pray for what He will do and . And I'm thankful that He uses a wretch like me to be His hands and feet. Thanks Daddy! I love you!
You know I've already discussed how the holidays are not always very joyful nor filled with for many who are lonely, grieving, sick and especially for those who are far from God. BUT GOD! He promises to be with the broken hearted, lonely, sick and dying, and to walk with us in those dark valleys and to restore our souls. PTL! When we get to the end of ourselves God is there and strong for us. When we grieve He promises to comfort and strengthen us. Thanks Lord! We need you! I need you! Thanks for being there always! and I visited and will visit some people on hospice and their families. I also visited some struggling physically and even prayed with some last evening. Life is hard and at times very hard. BUT GOD! He promises to shepherd us to all we need and the still refreshing waters and green pastures. Ask and receive with an open heart. Ask how He wants you to be His hands and feet the next few weeks and reach out in His love and comfort and be His shalom bringer. Choose joy as you try your best to trust and receive His help. Keep praying for the above and be still and know that He is God! Start with counting your many blessings. We sang that and it is part of Our Daily Bread devotional for . Meditate on that then spend some time with the Upper Room as you look for God showing up and even surprising you at times as you know He is with you and He is working all things together for good despite how they appear right now. And contemplate with God and your team as you engage with The Word for You 's reminder that God still heals and that miracles still happen and how He may choose to use you to bring them. Talk to Him and your team about what He's saying and where He is leading and then go and be Jesus and bring the Good News to those He is leading you to. Or be still and know He is God and reach out to someone to walk with you through this valley and be open to receive His loving, faithful presence and help and peace. Amen! I'm praying for you and for yours and for God to use us. Come Holy Spirit! Bring life and use me to bring life and love and Jesus alive and use me as your miracle worker too. Thank You for being with us always, hearing and answering our prayers and for using us--even creating us for such a time as this! Yes thanks and prepare me for and send me. Thanks! Amen!
So what are you thankful about? Who needs to hear that or be redirected to IN all things. Go! Love well! Amen!
ODB
Count Your Blessings
All the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord. Ezra 3:11
When I was a little girl, I loved the old hymn “Count Your Blessings.” The song encourages those who are “tempest-tossed” and “thinking all is lost” to “count your blessings, name them one by one.” Years later when my husband, Alan, was discouraged, he would often ask me to sing that simple song to him. Then I would help him to enumerate his blessings. Doing so took Alan’s focus off his struggles and self-doubt and centered his thoughts on God and his reasons for thankfulness.
The book of Ezra describes God’s people facing overwhelming challenges through focusing on God’s power and provision. After they’d endured decades of captivity in Babylon, King Cyrus allowed the Jewish exiles to return to Israel to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1-2). Only a fraction returned (2:64). Despite their “fear of the peoples around them” and the great task before them, they rebuilt the altar and laid the temple’s foundation (3:3, 10). Then “with praise and they sang to the Lord: ‘He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.’ And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord” (v. 11).
If you’re discouraged or facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles, turn your thoughts toward God. “Count your blessings . . . and it will surprise you what the Lord has done,” and continues to do, for those who love Him.
By Alyson Kieda
REFLECT & PRAY
How has counting your blessings helped you in a difficult situation? What are you thankful for?
Dear God, please help me to be grateful and praise You for who You are and for all You’ve done.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The celebration recorded in Ezra 3:10-11 is significant. After decades of captivity on foreign soil, God’s people were back in their homeland in fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy: “I will . . . bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you . . . and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile” (Jeremiah 29:14). Though the work ahead of them would be long and hard, the presence of the temple foundation (Ezra 3:10-13) was a visible reminder that God had kept His promise. When we’re discouraged and facing severe obstacles, we can pause and recognize what God has done. Gratitude for His faithfulness helps us gain momentum for the future.
Arthur Jackson
UR God's Surprises
I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. - Jeremiah 29:11 (NRSVUE)
Every summer, I look forward to planting a vegetable garden. My planning begins in early spring when I carefully select my seeds and plot where they will be sown. However, things don’t always grow as I anticipate. There are always plants that sprout and then wither before they can produce fruit. Often there are vegetables that flourish from seeds planted in the previous year or from seeds dropped by birds and other animals that share my yard. This year I reaped two large turnips which grew unexpectedly among my collard greens.
I’ve come to love these happy surprises. Often these rogue plants grow better and yield more at harvest time than the ones I’ve purposely planted and nurtured.
Throughout my life, I have carefully plotted and nurtured plans only to find that God has something else in store for me. After I was laid off from my long-term employment, a new career with more satisfying work emerged. After I was forced to leave the home I thought I would live in for the rest of my life, a more suitable home became available. When things don’t work out the way we plan, we can hold on to hope in God’s future for us and rejoice in God’s surprises.
's Prayer
All-knowing God, help us to follow where you lead. Together we will rejoice in the destination. Amen.
) and friends! And I'm thankful what God did 
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