Thanksgiving Day Black Friday Shopping?!

One might ask themselves how our nation could get to this point?! What happened to a day of Thanks GIVING? How can whole families forget to have thanksgiving and instead rush to the stores to get the newest greatest deal? How could we get to this point in America? Well, there are several reasons why we are at this point but the main one is that Thanks GIVING is a time to GIVE thanks but that begs the questions to Who or is it Whom? (I have never been very good at English.) Think about it . . . if you don't have God in your life in a real and personal way, you might feel kind of silly sitting at the dinner table telling the table thank you for all the food. You might thank the person who prepared the food but more often that not that is the wait staff at Bob Evans or Cracker Barrel and mom just comes home and opens it up!  (We just don't know how to cook anymore! But that's another topic for another day!) We live in a nation where complaining abounds and thankfulness is very little. It would behoove us to remember when Thanksgiving Day was instituted. After the Pilgrims had come and nearly died because they tried a community garden and everyone working and everyone taking the same amount. Some worked more than others and some none at all, but all received the same from the storehouse. Pretty soon, the ones who were hard workers felt discouraged from carrying the load for those who weren't working and the store house didn't have quite as much in it. Yes the Wampanoag Indians came along and taught them how to better plant and better hunt but it was the leader of the compound who said that each family would get their own garden and be responsible for their own food. When that happened those who were hard workers again felt like their work wasn't in vain. Those who were not hard workers realized that they were going to starve unless they worked. That year they flourished. They were so grateful for God's provision that the Pilgrims decided to have a Feast and offer Thanksgiving to GOD! (The first "welfare" system in America failed miserably. Why do we think on a larger scale with a much more corrupt government it is going to work today? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping the poor, but not enabling the lazy. Again I digress, another topic for another day!) So these Pilgrims hold this feast for three days. After that in the New England States, several families had a time of thanksgiving but as our nation grew it started to fall away. The Southern states didn't remember the day and Thanksgiving was in danger of becoming a distant memory. A lady by the name of Sarah Hale recognized this and said, This can't be. She started petitioning congress and the sitting president to have a national day of thanksgiving. Several states got on board and had this holiday but Sarah Hale realized to make this permanent, a day where we give thanks to GOD, we needed to have it be a national holiday. She petitioned president after president and not just one time, thousands of letters, many visits and all to no avail. She worked for 38 years trying to get a national day of Thanksgiving and time after time, president after president, they all said no. Then something tragic happened. War broke out. We were not fighting an enemy across the sea, we weren't fighting for our freedom, or to expand our nation, we were fighting each other. Brother against brother, father against son, family against family. Civil War raged on. Sarah Hale decided in 1863 to try one last time to petition for a National Day of Thanksgiving. She wrote a christian man by the name of Abraham Lincoln. In the midst of this terrible war President Lincoln read her letter. I think if I was president I would say "I couldn't be bothered by some little woman and her silly ideas, I have a war to win", but President Lincoln didn't think that, he didn't say that. No He said that in such a time as this Thankfulness was exactly what we needed. WHAT?! At the lowest point in our nation's history President Lincoln said we need to take time and Thank God for what He has provided. I believe that when that happened God looked down and decided that was the turning point of the war. I can't prove that but I just bet it is true!

The Bible tells us that in the last days there is going to be a lot of wicked and horrible things. He actually gives a whole list and right smack in the middle of that list in II Timothy 3 He says in verse 2 that people were going to be disobedient to parents, and unthankful! I used to work in a day care about 5 years ago and I can tell you that is true, but now disobedience to parents ABOUNDS in our christian circles. People, get your children under control and teach them to be thankful!!!! To teach our children to be thankful we must be thankful. Stop complaining and start thanking God. I hear people say something they are thankful for and they qualify it with a complaint!!! THAT. DOES. NOT. BRING. GLORY. TO. GOD!!!!! I don't even think it makes him happy. I don't even think he sees what you are thankful for! Basically you wasted your time and breath being thankful and then qualifying it, and I bet you didn't feel all that much better afterwards either! I know when I am truly thankful and things are going bad it can totally change my attitude making the situation so much better! We need to offer thanksgiving to God. The bible has a LOT to say about being thankful, thanking, and thanksgiving. In Colossians 2:7 is says, "Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." Chapter 3 and verse 15 of the same book says, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." And 4:2 says to "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;" Let's look at each of these verses.

Colossians 2:7 says, "Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." Abounding in thanksgiving . . . do you abound with thankfulness? Do you thank God for the good and the bad realizing He has a plan for your life and it is always good? I don't know what abounding means here. I don't' know if it means 2 times a day or 2 times a minute you are thanking God and being thankful, but think about it . . . which is more prevalent in your speech? Thankfulness or complaining? Which abounds? If it is complaining do you realize that for every negative comment it takes 9 to 17 positive comments to overcome it!!!! WOW! Maybe that's what abounding means. In the Psalms it says that my mouth is filled with His praise. When your mouth is filled with something good like praising God you are not going to have room in there for complaints and such! We need to be thankful people and not complaining people. This is a CHOICE. It is something we have to daily and even minute by minute be thinking of.

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." ~ Colossians 3:15. WOW! This verse makes me stop and really examine myself. As a woman I am so filled with needless worry and that often leads to complaining out of fear of the unknown but God says to let, did you catch that LET, you have to allow the peace of God to rule your heart! Hmmmm. I bet if we do that we would be happier, more thankful people! We are commanded at the end of this verse to be thankful! YOU, be thankful. We don't need a calling, when it is a command. A command is also not based on our circumstances. It is based upon God's word . . . so yes, that means when bad things happen, when co-workers are jerks, when our children drive us crazy, when our husbands don't listen, when we feel slighted or wronged we are to thank God! Every day, every moment! Thanking God! Because we are commanded to! SOmetimes it is hard to do what we know is right to do, but just like exercise and eating right, the longer we do it, the easier it becomes!

Colossians 4:2 says to "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;" I love that this verse doesn't say to qualify our prayers and it also suggests that even before the prayer is answered we are thanking God! Praying in faith and thanking God in advance for 1. Bringing this into our life and 2. How He is going to work it for our good and His glory!

I heard Jack Trieber says today that 22,000 children die EVERY DAY because of starvation and yet we complain about the food we have abounding in our life. I'll tell you this, if we don't point people to Christ and teach them to be thankful then we are going to lose what God is providing. We need to be thanking God every day and abounding in that thanksgiving! Let's learn from our history . . . don't forget to give God thanks and result in Civil War. We need to remember to give thanks and WHO or Whom to give thanks to and that is God! Also don't get sidetracked by the fact that we are forgetting thanksgiving for Black Friday Shopping. Point people to Christ and actively seek to win souls to Christ. IF we teach them the Bible, they will learn the importance of being thankful and a lot of things that are wrong in our nation will be made right!

The Ministry is truly bitterSWEET . . .

I heard a preacher in Toledo, OH tell me two things that have always stuck with me. Pastor Rick Sowell from Hope Baptist Church said once that "the ministry is truly bitter sweet. Thankfully the sweet far outweighs the bitter!" He also said, "Being in the ministry is like juggling pineapples, whether you do it right or whether you make mistakes it still hurts." It's funny the things people say that seem to be emblazen on your mind for years to come. He is right you know. Juggling pineapples, while it may be fun and neat looking, does occasionally hurt. The ministry is also bitter - people are mean, they are hateful, they try to destroy what you are spending your life to accomplish, they reject you and the truth you are offering them, they backbite all the while to your face saying how great you are, they don't do what you want them to do, they don't get saved when you want them to, they don't grow as quick as you want them to, they try to purposefully hurt you, but you know, the ministry is also SO SWEET! People do get saved and boy is that exciting when they do! They do grow and make right choices, and whole families are changed because one person make a right decision! They become more like Christ, they accept the truth God laid on your heart and heed the warnings from the bible. I am thankful the sweet far outweighs the bitter! 

You see God working in miraculous ways. You see him doing amazing things! I am a optimistic kind of person, sure the glass is half empty but honestly aren't you glad there's something in the glass and that glass, isn't it pretty? Aren't you glad you have a glass? I could go on, but you get my point. Being in the ministry is fun! I wouldn't trade it for the world! I wouldn't trade it for nice vacations, a big house, designer clothes for my family! I wouldn't even trade it for those pairs of boots I really want from khols! 

This past week I was presented with a bitter part of the ministry. I won't go into the details because honestly they don't bear repeating but someone did something terrible to our church. Someone did something awful to our people! Someone who had once said they loved our church and had given their life to serve our church is now trying to destroy it. I was sad for my people. I was mad at this wicked person. I was angry that he was allowed to do this! I was indignant that he would treat the bride of Christ this way! I was scared that it might affect our church and cause people to become so discouraged they leave! I was terrified that the whole thing might fall apart. I had a lack of faith and Satan capitalized on that! He caused me to doubt and worry and be even more scared! Then in the midst of all these thoughts raging through my mind God asked me, in a still small voice if I was going to thank God for this horrible man and this wicked act he has done against our church. I was aghast! Me, thank God for THIS man!?! I quickly reminded God how terrible this man was and God reminded me of the verse that says "in everything give thanks". "EVEN FOR THIS?!?" I silently yelled to God. He quietly said Yes. Then God reminded me that I was able to thank him just moments after breaking my foot for breaking my foot even though I did not know how God was going to take care of it! And God reminded me how thankful I was after all was said and done and how He got great glory and I was changed to be more like Him for breaking my foot! I continued to wrestle with God and didn't really want to thank Him for this terribly horrible person and their wicked deed. Then I bowed my head and with tears streaming down my face I prayed and asked God to forgive me for my bad attitude. For not trusting Him. I thanked God for this person and their deed. I knew that when God got the victory I was going to thank God then so I knew I needed to start thanking God now. I was amazed when I felt such peace wash over me. I was shocked that I felt so much better. I knew in my heart that it was going to be ok. I was reminded that God is in control. He created this person, He didn't kill this person before they could commit this terrible act therefore He allowed this to happen and he was going to take care of this! Oh I still pray every day that God will remember this man and his wicked deed, but I don't have hate in my heart toward him. I feel sorry for him. I have peace because I know God is in control and He is always right and He is always good and He is going to do something great! For crying out loud, he has done amazing things in our church lately and He is going to continue to do that! I know that even though this wicked man may think he is in control, he is not. I am reminded that my God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all I ask or can even think! I know that God is going to work something out and I'm not scared. Now because I've thanked him and gotten right with God, I'm not scared anymore, I'm actually excited about what God is going to do and how He is going to work! 

So what are you going through? God is in control. Sometimes we have to know what we know, because what we feel isn't what we know. Know that God is in control. As hard as it is, genuinely thank Him for the problem He allowed in your life. Ask Him to help you and to teach you! Ask Him to keep you close to Him! Ask Him to use this problem to make you more like Him! You will be glad you started out that way, then waiting till it was all done. 

Relaxing . . .

I heard a podcast by some guy, I don't remember who, it was someone from Lancaster Baptist Church and probably was Cary Schmidt but I can't remember. It was a 1 1/2 hour long podcast and I listened to the whole thing and he said a lot of good things, I'm sure, but one thing, actually the only thing that stuck out to me is that no one can make you not take a day off except yourself, no one can make you neglect time with your family except yourself, no one can make you go too much except yourself. He said that even if you work for a pastor who requires you to work everyday that that is your choice. That is very true. He went on to say there is nothing spiritual in not taking a break. Think about it, even Jesus took a break, going out from the people into the wilderness and then coming back to the people. We have had a great month at Jackson Park Baptist Church, truly a harvest month in October! 20 people have gotten saved and several of them have gotten baptized and several of them are getting discipled! That is amazing! That is wonderful! But just as much as I need to take a break, the people need me to take a break! I wrote a post earlier about the amount of time I spend at church, photography, homeschooling, etc. But at the end of the day, I say to myself "She hath done what she could". I do what I can with what I have, but everyone needs a break. Don't get so spiritual that you won't take the time you need to relax, recharge, reenergize. If not for yourself, then for the precious people you have an opportunity to serve! Take some time for yourself. Get a hobby that enriches you as a person. Do something that is for just you! Take a walk or a run in God's creation, learn to sew, cook a new recipe, learn a new skill, listen to a new cd, get a massage, hair cut, nails done, etc. All of these things are good things. Now's the part where I'm to tell you not to go overboard. Things done in moderation, but you realize we usually say that about fun things, but rarely about work, serving in the church, etc. Have we forgotten that God ordained our walk with Him first, our relationship with our family second, our responsibility to our country third and our relationship/responsibility with our church last! Don't use this as an excuse to miss a regular service, but we need to maintain a balance in our life. This is going to help us a person trying to help other people. Balance is a tricky word. I heard a message that it is not balance but faith in God. When you think of the word balance in the idea of a tight rope walker you get the true picture of balance. A tightrope walker is constantly making adjustments as should we. This is not something that one schedule will fix. This is not something that one seminar is going to correct. This is daily living our lives asking God to lead us and sometimes, and as he did to Elijah after the victory on Mount Carmel he directs us to rest and that is NOT a bad thing! Even God rested on the 7th day! Hmmmmm . . . I think that tells us something about the importance of resting. Here God did this awesome, amazing, wonderful thing in creating the world and the last act of that was to rest?! I know that for about 3 weeks I was sleeping about 2 to 4 hours a night. The rest of the time my mind was racing so fast I couldn't slow down enough to sleep. Finally I crashed, over a period of 3 days it was a slow steady crash. After that I was able to get so much done. My body finally told my brain, "Fine, you're going to be stupid, we're not going to die with you." I have found the key to being able to sleep at night is to sleep at night! That may seem a little too simple but it is the truth. When I get 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night, I'm able to go to sleep the next night! Late nights and early mornings or late nights and late mornings don't get me the rest I need. Take care of your body. It is the temple of God! It was given to you by God to bring glory and pleasure to God but if it is in ill repair how much do you think you are going to be able to accomplish for Him? Every once in awhile it is ok to relax, take a day, half a day, and do something fun or nothing at all. Relax it'll be ok if you do!

Labels

I was with a dear lady in our church at our local hospital. They are always displaying art. Right now you see art displayed that represents different cultures. There is a piece of art for China, for India, for ASL, for Japan, and for many other different countries. Then there is a piece to represent the many different types of religion in our great city of Muncie! It represents, Christian, Muslims, Wicca, Jews, about 30 different religions. Then there is a piece of art with a great big rainbow balloon on it. Of course you know what that represents, LGBTIQ. That stands for Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersexual (whatever that means), and finally Queer and Questioning. For a country that wants equality and tolerance we sure have a lot of labels. What happened to just being people? I know we have different cultures but can we really call our "sexuality" a culture? Maybe I'm being too simple. People are people. People are sinners. Thankfully we had one Jesus who died for all of us, no matter our skin color, sexuality, how we pick our nose, what kind of food we eat, etc. You get the point, let's stop labeling people and just see them as God sees them, sinners in need of a Savior! We need to be telling people of this Jesus, no matter their culture, religion or sexuality. One thing that stuck with me from college all these years later is that we cannot tell the wrong person! Who have you told lately? Who can you tell? Write their name down and pray everyday that God will prepare their heart for the truth you want to share with them. Think about all the times we tell people things on purpose. Purpose to tell someone about Jesus today or this week! Pray about it and don't back down or get scared! You can do this! God will help you! Use a simple easy to remember plan of salvation. Make it your own, but keep it true. I use one taught in college with a few things picked up along the way. I no longer ask if they would like to know for sure if they died that they can go to heaven, because that is based on experience and who am I to tell you have or have not experienced something. I ask, "Has anyone ever taken God's word and shown you what it says about salvation?" I just introduced the bible as the authority, not my experience or theirs. Then I take them and show them God's word. I start with John 3:16 and show them how much God loves them. Then I take them Roman 3:23 and show them that there is a problem. We are all sinners and have come short of God's standard of holiness and glory. Then I take them to Romans 6:23 and show them that because of our sin, it has to be paid for with death. I tell them that we can pay for our sins . . . by dying and going to hell for eternity! I tell them that when I was younger I didn't want to pay that price. I tell them that I knew Romans 5:8 that God had died for my sins, but I had never accepted that free gift of salvation and a lady took me to Romans 10:9, 10, 13 and show me that if I prayed and accepted that gift of salvation God would save me! I bowed my head and asked Jesus to forgive me of my sin and accepted that I needed a Savior and asked Him to save me and boy did he! Now I have a new label, yeah I'm still a sinner, but I'm a sinner saved by grace! I think that's the best kind of label we can offer to anyone! This is so good we need to be telling people!!! Go offer some labels today! The kind that change lives for eternity!

Repercussions of Open House

One month to the date I'm writing again. I have know I need to write and then seeing that I only have 39 posts but over a 1,000 views, I realized I need to write more often but how do you write when you are so busy! God opened the windows of heaven and poured out a blessing!!!!! When Satan is working and you can see him working I am always encouraged. I know that's crazy sounding. When I was younger I read the book, by John Bunyan, Pilgrims Progress. I didn't understand the book at all the first 3 times I read it. Once in school and twice in college. It wasn't till I was in the ministry and read it a 4th and 5th time did I start to see people in the book for people in real life and then I was able to understand the book. I think it is worth reading and working to understand! I highly recommend the book for any christian but especially those preparing for or in the ministry. One of my favorite parts of the book was when they brought Christian into the house with the daughters. They showed him a fireplace. On one side of the fireplace was a fiend who was constantly pouring water on the fire but for some reason the fire wouldn't go out. Christian asked how these things could be so one of the daughters took him around to the other side and showed him another person. He was pouring oil on the fire. That word picture has always stood out in my mind and when the Devil seems to be working and sometimes seemingly winning, God is ALWAYS working! And God is always winning!

The day before Open House, I was preparing bread for the morning. I went and picked up a bowl and as I was trying to help a baby christian through a phone call, I told her that God was going to do something great because Satan was working so hard and Satan usually knows when the Lord is working so he starts working overtime to try and break our spirits, make us weary, and want to quit. As I was lifting this glass bowl down, and as I said those words, this bowl that was not around heat or anything sharp exploded in my hand. I had glass shards in my hair, on my clothes, everywhere! I had glass all over the counters, floor, stoves, etc.!

Sunday came, there was an excitement that had not been there before. We had several visitors. We had 30 Subway cards for every adult visitor. Through the course of the day we gave out 29. That doesn't include the children and teens. In the morning we saw a man and his cousin get saved. Oh, on my birthday I was able to lead a precious lady to the Lord! Best birthday gift EVER!!!! In the morning service I think we saw 3 people get saved. In the evening service we had just as many visitors! Two young men from our church had gotten saved the weeks previous and were getting baptized! They had brought a whole slew of people! It was great! We had one teen girl and a adult man get saved in the evening service!!!! That teen girl and her family kept coming, as did the man and his lovely wife! Through the last few weeks the entire family has come to know Jesus as their Savior and all of them are getting baptized this Sunday! One young man has brought another friend to church and he has gotten saved! The family is bringing people with them! The lady I had the privilege of leading to the Lord on my birthday was able to bring her boyfriend in and he got saved! It is very exciting! God is doing great things! I'm careful to remember to praise God during and for hard times, but I'm telling you what, this is a lot easier and so much more fun!

Since then Satan has fought. He has fought with people in the church. He has made misunderstandings turn from something innocent to something huge and out of proportion but he's angry. He knows he lost and he's not handling that very well! But despite his best efforts, God is ALWAYS working! And God is always winning! And I'm more excited for the future than ever before!