Thankful Thursday! After attempting to write about this 4 different times today, I see that I am still to remain silent, mostly….but I can’t wait to share with you the story behind this note. Just not today 🙂
Following the Holy Spirt…following peace…THANKFUL!
~Julia
My friend, Mrs. Marilon, sent me a message asking where my THANKFUL THURSDAY WAS!?! 😀 I wrote this earlier today, but had decided not to share it…but I will for her…
It’s that day again isn’t it?
Thankful Thursday!
Woohoo!
I’m thankful for
….the right to remain silent.
Just Kidding(kind of).
So many thoughts in my head.
I just don’t feel like sharing them today.
….but it IS Thursday…and I am truly thankful!
~Julia
I heard this song last night & it reminded me of this blog I began around Thanksgiving Day, but never finished. I came home & finished it last night & I would like to share it today, on this Thankful Thursday:
Have you ever had one of THOSE days!?! In this case…it’s one of those days where you KNOW God is working in your life. He directs your steps & YOU really can hear from God!
Well…yesterday was “just one of THOSE days”. 🙂
I am so thankful & would like to share it with you.
I was listening to the radio after dropping the girls off at school & had the thought…”You should put one of those praise & worship CD’s in that Matt made you a long time ago.” I really didn’t want to, but when the thought didn’t go away I decided to anyway. I just reached in the console & pulled out a random CD & popped it in. It only had 3 songs on it, but two of them were some of my favorites! “Your Love is Unconditional” & “When I Think about the Lord”, both by Christ for the Nations. When the second song played it just got stuck in my spirit. I played it the rest of the way home. In fact, I played it ALL DAY long! When Emily got home from school I was still playing it, and kept saying “I’m just going to play it one more time”. She caught me later STILL playing it, BUT I had turned it down very low so not to annoy her. This is the song:
That evening we had a special Thanksgiving service at church. Of course I snuck my song in a few more times on the drive there. Emily just smiled & shook her head at me. As praise & worship began the words to the song flashed on the screen at the front of the sanctuary. Emily said, “Oh my goodness…I think I just saw the words to your song!” I laughed and said, “I doubt it!” Well…it WAS! Not only that, after we sang it once…they decided to sing it AGAIN!!!
That is all I had written. Here is the rest of the story:
Being a special Thanksgiving service, the rest of the evening was spent with people sharing what they were Thankful for. As each person took their turn, it quickly turned into an evening of people sharing their personal testimony, of how the Lord did just what the words of the song stated. “How He picked me up and turned me around How He placed my feet, on solid ground…”
WOW. It was a beautiful time of remembering the faithfulness of God to each of us. There were stories of VICTORY over alcoholism, abuse, lack, job situations, expectations of others, great loss…many things we didn’t know about each other. Different situations, same devil. Same feelings of utter hopelesness. Same God who restores(just as if I’d never missed it), fills us(with His presence, peace, love), heals us(to the uttermost…even better than our own dreams for our lives)! It was a blessing to us to reflect, and in turn gave hope to those currently in those situations who thought they were alone in their struggles.
Then there was that couple who’s testimony I’ll never forget. I should have written my thoughts that night, but this is the best I can remember.
The wife:
She was thankful to be part of a crying church. A place where it is common to see people cry. In some places of worship, people might think there is something terribly wrong. At our church, it most likely means the Lord is really working & blessing you. She said there was a time about 8 years ago when all she could do was come to church & cry. Not because she felt the presence of the Lord…but just because that’s where she was in life. AND SHE WAS THE YOUTH PASTOR’S WIFE! It truly was a “sacrifice of praise”. To make herself utter the words of praise, when all her senses told her not to. She thought it was pointless….a feeling of hopelesness.
She was thankful that the Lord loved her & as she allowed Him to…in his sometimes unusual & creative ways…the Lord was faithful to wake her up & bring her out of the darkness. All these years later, as she stood in the back of the church the last week…doing a job she DOESN’T LIKE, but KNOWS it’s importance(greeting people as they come in the door)…she was able to witness a beautiful sight. Her church family praising the Lord from the heart…each in their own way.
As she stood there, she realized the Lord had replaced the heaviness with HIS joy & she was able to enter into praise with a happy heart. Her point? Keep doing what God is telling you, what you know is right, even when you don’t feel it. You do your part, God does the rest. He is faithful.
The husband:
There was a time when he had experienced great loss. Some from his own poor choices, some from things beyond his control. The whole time he was serving the Lord & doing what He thought the Lord was leading him to do. He felt that he had let his wife, kids & GOD down. The devil tried to tell him he was a failure & just to end it all…that everyone would be better off without him.
God sent a missionary to his church, who simply said something like this(the Julia translation), “You are God’s son, He loves you & there is nothing you have to DO to be well pleasing to him. You please him, just because you are his kid.” The husband’s message that night was, “Don’t quit. Don’t listen to the lies from the devil. What does God’s Word say about you & your situation? That can be the only standard for your life. God says you are a winner!” He went on to say, that as he continued to follow God, the Lord has & is restoring what the devil stole. While it wasn’t/isn’t always easy or fun…You do your part, God does the rest. He is faithful.
Of course, I’ll never forget that couples testimony, because it was mine & Matt’s.
Many times in life the devil would have us to believe it’s the end & leave us in utter hopelesness. I marvel at the extreme measures the Lord goes through to help us all, His children. I am so thankful for the people, places & events that He puts in our paths to encourage us in our journey…but that’s a whole other blog!
The devil is a liar, pants on fire….
GOD IS FAITHFUL! There’s so much more! God always has a “NEXT” for you.
Don’t forget it!
….and I’m thankful that I had “Just one of THOSE days!” I love it when God does things like that, don’t you?
From my heart, filled with love & thankfulness….
~Julia
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” -Ephesians 3:20-21
“When I think about the Lord, How He saved me, How He raised me
How He filled me, With the Holy Ghost How He healed me, to the utter most
When I think about the Lord,
How He picked me up and turned me around
How He placed my feet, on solid ground
It makes me wanna shout Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus
Lord You’re worthy Of all the Glory, and all the Honor And all the praise”
This scene from the 1998 movie “Patch Adams” has been on my mind lately. It must have had some impact on my life, it’s one of those moments in time that are “stuck” in my brain for some reason. I actually forgot about it for a few dark years…but I’m glad to be reminded of it now.
I believe Oprah would call this one of my life’s “aha! moments” http://www.oprah.com/packages/aha-moments.html
Go ahead…try it! It really works! You’ll see “8 fingers” too!
There’s so much more to someone’s story than what they have shared with you…look beyond their actions…see the real them.
AND
There’s so much more to life than what we can see with our human eyes…look beyond the now…FOCUS ON THE SOLUTION.
Look beyond the immediate problem. It’s only temporary. This too shall pass.
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thankful thursday…Happy New Year?
No ball drop,
no count down,
no “Auld Lang Syne”
nothing…
just me aggravating my family because they couldn’t wake me.
Seriously…WHO ACCIDENTALY SLEEPS THROUGH NEW YEARS!?!
I’m thankful that even if I missed the festivities….it truly has no bearing on my future. Nothing magically transforms our lives at the stroke of midnight, propelling us to our destiny. Each day we awake is a day of new opportunities.
Your future = your choice
…each & every day of the year.
You know you need to take a break from Facebook when….
-You think of your life in the form of status updates.
-You are introduced to a “friend of a friend” in REAL LIFE….and you already recognize them AND know their complete name(including their maiden name).
-Your “just a few minutes on FB” before you go for a run, turns into an hour…as you sit in front of your computer with your running shoes on. No time for running today.
–You repeatedly think that multiple people are referring to you in their status updates.
-You “justify”…make excuses…to tell yourself the precious time wasted is OK.
-You feel that you “have to” post a status once a day…as if it is your job or responsiblity.
-Your 5 year old says, “Momma…please don’t put that on FB.”
or
She asks you to make her a snack & you find yourself saying, “Sure…in just a minute.” Many times in one week.
-You think that somehow the world will stop, people will be disappointed, or that they need you to be there. It’s not going to….they won’t hardly even notice….and the only one they need is JESUS!
-2012 is going to be your “FINISH YEAR”….it’s December 31st. You have no plan. You haven’t even picked out a scripture for the 1st week. So you consider asking your FB friends what THEIR favorite scripture is so that you can just pick one of those.
-AND…now that you’ve completed this blog post…you imagine what their comments might have been as you resist the urge to “SHARE” it on your wall!
….I think it’s safe to say…my first step to a successful FINISH YEAR is taking a FB break…
~JuliaFinishWhatSheStartsin2012Davis 🙂
This was my original post…but then I thought of so many other things I wanted to add:
THANKFUL THURSDAY!
Never underestimate the # of lives that would be devastated
if you were not alive & breathing today.
Today I am thankful for the gift of life
& that I did not hit the lady that stepped in front of my car yesterday.
I DIDN’T EVEN SEE HER…until it was almost too late!
Choose to live…
Life is a blessing to you & all those you come into contact with.
and
USE THE CROSSWALK PLEASE! They are there for a purpose!
Thankful Thursday!
So many things, so little time. Here’s a quick list.
I’m thankful for:
– Meaningful family traditions to celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ during the Christmas season. Santa’s not a part of ours, but so many others take his place.
– Opportunities to be a blessing.
– Opportunities to be blessed.
– Smiles of my children as they opened their gifts from God on Christmas Day.
– That my dishwasher is FINALLY FIXED!
– A new couch for the girls playroom from a friend. It’s perfect!
– Listening to Matt teach Emily how to play the drums…we really should have named her Mattie(cause she’s just like her daddy).
– That I didn’t hit the pedestrian that stepped in front of my car. I didn’t see her AT ALL, until it was almost too late! That would have been devastating to so many. Please use the CROSSWALK! They were invented for a reason!
– Time with Matt yesterday…even if we were working…
– Time with him tomorrow…on a DATE!
– My girls. They fill my life with joy…such blessings!
“….but God…”
I love that statement.
In the great joy & smiles of the holidays…
it is often a time of remembering and grieving as well.
To my friends experiencing both emotions at this time,
I would say, “You are normal, you are not alone.
Grief is a personal thing.
There is no time frame & it is expressed in many ways,
grief is real…
BUT GOD
is much bigger.
He is more than willing & able to fill the sadness
with His unmeasurable hope & peace
….and that is my prayer for you today.”
The Journey is... 