Let's Make Everyday Thanksgiving Day!

         Thanksgiving

Oh precious Father, as we bow
Before Thy throne today,
We count the many blessings
Thou hast showered upon our way.

The comfort of our humble homes
Our health and happiness,
The strength provided for each day
To meet the strain and stress.

We thank Thee for Thy precious Son
Who brought salvation free,
And for this mighty land of ours,
A land of liberty!

So, Lord, help us to give Thee thanks
For all that we hold dear,
Not only on Thanksgiving Day
But each day of the year.
                                                ~Unknown

"We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks, for Your Name is near; men tell of Your wonderful deeds." Psalm 75:1
"Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song." Psalm 95:2
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:4-5 

This month, I have been posting on my Facebook page each day what I'm thankful for. I think it's so good for me to be intentional about thankfulness everyday. When we focus on having a thankful heart, we are less likely to complain, get upset, be discontent, or have a bad attitude. Try it :)!

Friday's Fave Five #32

It's time for another Friday's Fave Five (hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story).

My Fave Five this week:-
1. Relaxing Thanksgiving Day with our loved ones.  We had a blessed time.  Family, feast, and fun!

2. Triple Berries Cheesecake (strawberries, raspberries, & blueberries).  My mother-in-law made two yesterday...very yummy!

3. Congratulations to Alyssa (my 17 year old daughter) on winning the Tell Mom--Fun or Not? Contest! The prize is a $25 Amazon gift certificate. You can read her entry online here.

4. Consider: A Colonial Thanksgiving.  We indeed have so much to be thankful for.  Let's never forget to count our blessings and thank Whom our blessings come from!
Note: Please turn off my music playlist at the bottom of this page before starting the video.
 

5. The Mend Mark bracelet is a unique bracelet/wristband that resembles the holes of the nail driven into the wrists of Jesus during His crucifixion. It's a great witnessing tool and a beautiful reminder for us to live a life of love and to live for Christ. It makes a meaningful Christmas gift :).  Click here to read my review and enter the giveaway (which ends 11/30).

Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart

Note: Please turn off my music playlist at the bottom of this page before starting the video.

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High." Psalm 92:1
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." Ephesians 1:3
"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15
"Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20
"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 136:1

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, everyone!

Friday's Fave Five #29

It's time for another Friday's Fave Five (hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story).

My Fave Five this week:-
1. My boys and I had fun putting together 500 pieces of this cornucopia puzzle. We usually do this in November.

2. "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper (audio-book) is FREE in November at http://christianaudio.com/free . I highly recommend this book!

3. Free download of VeggieTales Christmas album: The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree.  I don't know how long this offer lasts.  My kids really enjoyed it.

4. Alyssa, my 17 yo daughter, is offering two e-books at great prices at Childlike Faith Publishing: Thanksgiving Stories for Children and Discovering Grace (see my sidebar).  Hope you will check them out and consider supporting my entrepreneur rookie :).

5. Alyssa entered the Always Ready Video Contest hosted by Creation Science Evangelism. Please go here to vote for her ("Why I Believe God Exists" video posted by Alyssa Liljequist). You can vote once a day from now to Nov. 28th. If you have trouble viewing the video on FB, please watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptV2kAH9C-0 and then go back to vote on the contest page. Thanks a bunch!

Book Review: This Little Prayer of Mine

Author: Anthony DeStefano

Illustrator: Mark Elliott
Summary: Author Anthony DeStefano’s adult books, The Prayers God Always Says Yes To and A Travel Guide to Heaven, have sold a quarter-million copies. Illustrator Mark Elliott’s cherished artwork has appeared in popular picture books and novels for young readers, including Gail Carson Levine’s ever-popular Princess Tales series.

Now, these acclaimed inspirational experts have come together to create This Little Prayer of Mine, a beautiful and alluring book designed to guide children into a very simple, real and expressive relationship with God.

Through engaging rhymes and alluring illustrations, This Little Prayer of Mine shows children—and their parents and grandparents—that complete dependence on God is what brings peace and fulfillment. It invites children to know and believe that God is always just a simple prayer away and that He longs to respond to them with a resounding, “Yes!”

Easy-reader format allows children to read alone, or with someone older, and encourages them to openly express their fears, thanks, and needs directly to God.

Author and Illustrator Bio:
Anthony DeStefano is the author of The Prayers God Always Says Yes To and A Travel Guide to Heaven. He has received prestigious awards from religious organizations worldwide for his efforts to advance Christian beliefs in modern culture.

Mark Elliott’s brilliant illustrations have appeared in popular picture books and novels for young readers, including Gail Carson Levine’s Princess Tales series. His acclaimed artwork delivers inspiration, wonder, and timeless beauty on every page.

My thoughts and review:
This is a sweet book that helps children see prayer as it should be: natural, relational communication with God. The rhyming poem is fun to read and easy to understand. The illustrations are remarkable. I’m glad to see that the author includes thanksgiving as part of prayer, not just asking God to do this and that for us. The book also teaches children to pour their hearts out to God (tell Him how they feel) and to trust in Him and His plan. It's a great book for parents or grandparents to read to young kids and encourage them to pray. Childlike faith is truly beautiful and pleasing to the Lord. This Little Prayer of Mine delightfully portrays childlike faith and the accessibility of our God. He always hears our prayers and He cares about every detail of our lives!

~This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

What Do You Smell Like?

Don't you just love the smells on Thanksgiving Day? The aromas of delicious food warm our heart and awaken our appetites. Our sense of smell gives us pleasure when we smell something wonderful like roast turkey, candied yams, fresh dinner rolls, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, etc. on Thanksgiving Day. On the other hand, our sense of smell can bring us much displeasure when we smell something horrible like skunk's spray or rotten food or dirty socks or sweaty passengers' arm pits/body odor in a super crowded bus with closed windows on an over 100 degrees day (I have personally experienced the last one in Thailand). Now have you ever thought about what you smell like? How we live our lives sends a fragrance out that other people can smell.

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the Word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God." 2 Corinthians 2:14-17

This coming Thursday, while we enjoy the aromas of fine food, I hope we'll be reminded that we are to live as the aroma of Christ; that our lives are to draw others to our Lord, not away from Him.

"Live in such a way that those who know you but don't know God, will come to know God because they know you." Anonymous

P.S. I'm hosting 2 giveaways right now.  You can win a poster print (to be made from one of your digital photos) and a rolled canvas.  Please scroll down and take a look.

~Please visit here for the links to other Spiritual Sundays posts. Thanks so much to Charlotte and Ginger for hosting Spiritual Sundays every week.  Have a blessed Thanksgiving, everyone!

Give Thanks

Note: Please turn off my music playlist at the bottom of this page before starting the video.

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done." 1 Chronicles 16:8

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  His love endures forever." Psalm 136:1

Let's all give thanks to the Lord for who He is and for what He has done!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving, everyone!

P.S. I am hosting 2 giveaways right now. You can win a poster print and a rolled canvas. Please scroll down and take a look :).

Previous Songs:
- When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
- He Knows My Name
- Oh Lord, You're Beautiful!
- What the Lord Has Done in Me
- I Surrender All
- Mighty To Save
- Could I Be Called a Christian?
- Cry Out to Jesus
- Jesus, Be the Center
- God of Justice
- Love That Will Not Let Me Go
- I Will Offer Up My Life
- When It's All Been Said and Done
- Knowing You, Jesus
- In Christ Alone
- Be Thou My Vision

To Grandma's House We Go

 

Every year (except maybe once or twice in the past 18 years), we celebrate our Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law's house.  It's where our kids get to see their cousins and their aunt.  The picture above was taken on Thanksgiving Day in 2000 before our third child was born (in 2001).  We all are looking forward to going to Grandma's house again this coming Thursday :).

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, everyone!

P.S. I am hosting 3 giveaways right now. You can win custom thank-you cards, a poster print, and a rolled canvas. Please scroll down and take a look :).

Previous Friday Photo Flashback:
- Best Brothers...Best Buddies
- Harvest Festival
- I Love Mommy & Daddy
- Corn Roast Festival
- A Taste of Thailand
- I Could Never Promise You
- In Father's Hands
- Thai Version of Wipe Out
- My Graduation Day in Thailand

A Heart Exam

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, I think a heart exam seems appropriate :) (no...not a warning about fat & cholesterol piled up during Thanksgiving feasts). What is our heart condition?  Do we have a thankful heart? Truly thankful? Not thankful only for material things...for worldly pleasures, but truly thankful to God for everything in all circumstances (or in spite of circumstances)... Do we daily thank God for who He is and what He has done? Or do we only thank Him when He answers our prayers the way we want, or only when we have been blessed with something big?

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done." 1 Chronicles 16:8

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:4-5

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

"Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." Colossians 2:6-7

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1Thessalonians 5:16-18

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire.'" Hebrews 12:28-29

"By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." Hebrews 13:15

"Thankfulness is the soil in which joy thrives." ~Unknown

"When thou hast thanked thy God for every blessing sent,
What time will then remain for murmurs or lament?" ~Unknown

A thankful heart not only produces a joyful heart but also gives us a right/pleasant attitude. The attitude of awe, admiration, reverence, and gratitude for the Almighty God! Other benefits include contentment, peace, complaint-free atmosphere, no envy, no covetousness, desire/eagerness to give and share, etc., besides doing God's will.

I will never forget what a dear friend of mine said when I visited her and her daughter at the hospital after a car accident that took her son's life and left her daughter in critical condition. I went there to encourage and comfort her but instead, her words touched me deeply. She said, "I'm so thankful that the Lord gave me all those years to homeschool my kids. I thank Him for all the time we spent together." She retained a thankful heart throughout the whole ordeal. Wow...isn't that a wonderful example of "giving thanks in all circumstances"?

A Simple Prayer of Thanksgiving by Helen Steiner Rice

I come not to ask, to plead or implore You,
I just come to tell You how much I adore You,
For to kneel in Your Presence makes me feel blest
For I know that You know all my needs best...

And it fills me with joy just to linger with You
As my soul You replenish and my heart You renew,
For prayer is much more than just asking for things--
It's the peace and contentment that quietness brings...

So thank You again for Your mercy and love
And for making me heir to YOUR KINGDOM ABOVE!

Father, We Thank Thee by Grenville Kleiser

Father, we thank Thee:
For peace within our favored land,
For plenty from Thy bounteous hand,
For means to give to those in need,
For grace to help in thought and deed,
For faith to walk, our hands in Thine,
For truth to know Thy law divine,
For strength to work with voice and pen,
For love to serve our fellow men,
For light to goal ahead to see,
For life to use alone for Thee,
Father, we thank Thee.

*I'm hosting 'Tis the Season to Be Thankful Giveaway.  Please click here to enter.
~Please visit here for the links to other Spiritual Sundays posts.  Thanks so much to Charlotte and Ginger for hosting Spiritual Sundays every week.