Gratitude
As we prepare for Thanksgiving on Thursday this week, let’s take a moment to truly focus on gratitude. In doing so, we bring many benefits to our lives and those around us. It’s been proven that gratitude will boost your mental health and sense of well being. It provides hope and more satisfaction in our daily lives.
A popular thing every year on Facebook is where you state every day up until Thanksgiving what you are thankful for. I participated in years past, and the memories pop up in Facebook to remind me of the beautiful blessings I have had. We truly have so much to be thankful and grateful for in this life. It’s a shame we only think to “give thanks” and be truly “grateful” or have a “heart of gratitude” during the month of November.
The world seems to scream at you daily how unimportant you are to many. With people blowing the horn at you when you are driving down the road minding your own business, they shake their fists at you as they drive by. For what? When you’re doing the speed limit, haven’t pulled out in front of anyone, and didn’t do any illegal lane changes, they are so full of themselves to think they can blare their horn at you. So, what do you do? You thank GOD you aren’t them! Further, you thank God that you don’t behave in this fashion. AND most importantly, you smile, wave, and pray for them so they will hopefully be kinder to others they cross paths with.
Seriously, as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, please take time to really express your gratitude to God for bringing you this far in life. He continues to walk with you daily and provides for you and your family. Nothing you have is because of yourself. It is all because of God and how He works in your life. He is worthy to be praised.
Let’s take time to express with ourselves and our families what we are truly thankful for this holiday season. One way my family and I do this is by going around the dinner table when we say the blessing before the meal. Each one of us takes a few moments to say what is on our hearts. It’s something that may make some feel awkward and uncomfortable if they aren’t used to praying out loud in front of others. Others delight in having their opportunity to speak and share their hearts. If this practice is new to you, experiment with it with your own family this holiday season. Even if you choose to only speak in private, please give thanks to God for all of your many blessings, as we have so much to be thankful for. Even in dark and bleak times when the world seems to have gone crazy with worrying about viruses, cost of living going up without our paychecks increasing as well, or the price of gas, groceries, and a variety of other things. Even still, we have so much to be thankful for. Take time and be intentional as you list your blessings and give thanks to God with a truly grateful heart.
May God bless and keep you and your family this holiday season and beyond.
Seasons of Change
With Daylight Savings comes a variety of changes, not just those on the hands of a clock. We “fell backwards” this past weekend, and in doing so, there is less light for us to enjoy in the evening. It feels like we’re purged into total darkness as if it were the midnight hour, and yet it is only 6:00 p.m.
Sadness falls upon us.
There is a direct correlation in sadness that worsens as Winter approaches. Depression sets in if we don’t fight it with all of our might. Here in the south our Winters are mild, which I am truly thankful for. I could not imagine losing daylight so early in the evening and being surrounded by freezing temperatures with snow on the ground. I imagine it’s exciting your first Winter as snow begins to fall, but shoveling snow would add to the dread as you start your day bundled up to face the chore at hand. Here in the south, we are delighted with a light dusting of snow, and everyone hurries to the store for milk and bread. It is short lived, and then we return to mild temperatures yet again.
People don’t often speak of things that are troubling them. Maybe they have been betrayed in the past or something they told someone was later used against them so they keep to themselves now to avoid anything of the sort happening again. We never truly know the depths of someone’s hurt and pain. We know not what they keep hidden in their heart.
Right now a man lays near death struggling to breathe as his soon-to-be widow puts on a brave face in front of others. She tries hard to be strong, yet she, too, is barely holding on with the help of anti depressants and family that takes turns sitting with her in the final days. We look on offering prayer and asking God to comfort as only He can at a time like this.
A friend’s message appears, and she is obviously consumed with the stress she has been under for so long. Her husband, a double transplant patient, returns to the hospital facing yet another surgery. She cries out, begging for assistance from someone, anyone who might be able to join her in prayer and relieve her worried mind.
We face our own mortality with medical tests and procedures. We pray for good results and hope for the best claiming faith over fear. Sometimes that fear does a number on us, and we withdraw because of the unknown or we lash out because we’re scared of what’s to come. Feelings aren’t right or wrong, they just are … and the way we cope with things will vary from the next person. Maybe that’s all we know and are struggling although those words never pass through our lips. This was true once again in my own life last week as I faced what is usually a routine imaging procedure, yet each time I walk through the hospital doors I’m reminded of my family’s medical history and how it could affect me in the same way. I pray against it, and it feels as if I’m on pins and needles with the mental and emotional anguish until the results come in. Whew. Relief washes over me, and my nerves which felt as if they were once residing on the outside of my body can now sink back inside my skin as the perceived threat has passed for the moment.
What is one truly to do amidst the seasons of change? Pray and hope for the best? Pray and give it over to God only to take it back from Him moments later to worry over it some more? That’s what we do as emotional beings. We try hard, but we fall short. We’re reminded that worrying is a sin, but alas we’re human.
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth!
These are more than mere words sang by Casting Crowns or quoted from the Bible. It’s TRUTH!
We can not do a single thing on our own in this life. We’re judged, ridiculed for the way we handle situations or stressors, and yet we’re doing the best that we can in that moment. It’s when we pray and reach out, hearts so overloaded with despair at times, knowing He will cradle us in His arms. He will see us through every storm in life. The raging storms of life threaten to take us to the depths of the ocean where we feel like we will surely drown on the ocean’s floor. But God lifts us out of the sea of chaos, with cares that once consumed us, and offers His strong arms as we cling to Him.
The way, the Truth, and the Life!
Vow Renewal Ceremony
At the end of October, we held our vow renewal ceremony in our backyard in front of this gazebo that once belonged to my husband’s parents. When his mom passed away five years ago, his father renovated their deck, eliminating the gazebo that had been in place for over 30 years. He asked if we had any use for it, and we jumped at the chance to have a piece of his mother’s memory in our backyard! We went to work on lining up transportation, which required a crane to lift it from where it sat in my father-in-law’s yard in another town, setting it on the truck, driving with caution through our town and ultimately to our house, then using the same crane to take it off the truck and place it beside our pool. As you can imagine, it was quite the undertaking, but we had several knowledgable men in charge who made it happen! Honestly, from the above picture, the gazebo looks like it was made just for that very spot!
Back to the vow renewal …
My husband and I just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary, and he asked me to marry him all over again. Imagine my surprise when our family was gathered around the Christmas tree last year when he presented me with a very special gift. My daughters and son-in-law knew exactly what was waiting behind the wrapping paper, even if I didn’t have a clue at that moment when I was holding it in my hands. With all eyes on me, I started slowly unwrapping the present to find a framed picture. When I turned it around, there was our picture from when we visited Hawaii in October of 2021 with sweet words requesting I marry him all over again. He joked that I may run and then joked that there was no way I was going to do THAT again. But I stood there with tears in my eyes holding the framed picture with the beautiful message regarding renewing our vows in front of family and friends.
If married couples are honest, there are trying times in every marriage, and ours has been no different. I won’t put on this fake image that our entire time together has been sunshine and roses, but I will be realistic in that we have struggled through sorrow and heartbreaking times. The loss of my sister early on when we were just beginning to date is one tragic event that immediately comes to mind, followed by my ruptured ectopic pregnancy which devastated us. We prayed for a baby, and not long after finding out we were pregnant, we went from being filled with excitement to being rushed to the emergency room and prepped for surgery. Although crushed beyond belief and so brokenhearted after losing the baby and one of my tubes, I didn’t know if I would ever be able to have another baby after this great loss which left me with only a fifty percent chance. Even still, I continued to pray through painful procedures, and God not only met me right where I was in a sobbing heap on the floor crying out in my brokenness, but He blessed me the very next year with a beautiful baby girl! Our hearts are forever grateful for her and her big sister!
So yes, we have endured trying and down right gut wrenching times. We experienced the passing of my grandfather three months after losing my sister, then my grandmother a few years after that, and we experienced losing his mother to colon and rectal cancer several years later.
There are other things in between that caused us great heartache, but we managed to prove that love does conquer all. Thank God for forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love.
This vow renewal was not like a typical wedding, of course, since I was already a bride 20 years ago. Instead of wearing a white gown, I decided for a full length navy blue evening gown with shimmers depending on what light I was in. My handsome groom wore a tux with a matching navy blue bow tie. My sweet mother was my matron of honor, and my two gorgeous daughters were my bridesmaids. My humble father walked me down the aisle again, just as he had done 20 years before. My father-in-law was my husband’s best man and stood beside him as our son-in-law officiated the ceremony. Our son-in-law is a praise and worship pastor, and as you can imagine, it was so moving to have him standing there speaking and conducting the service. My heart was so full at that very moment as I stood before my ever so handsome husband and placed my hands in his.
We did not choose the traditional songs either. We have to be different, so my husband, father-in-law, and son-in-law walked in to “Pledging My Love” by Elvis, while my mother and two daughters walked in to “Destiny” from Jim Brickman’s CD. My father and I walked in to “Love of My Life” also from Jim Brickman’s CD featuring Michael W. Smith as the vocalist. During the ceremony, “It’s Your Love” by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill played after our hands ceremony, and as we went to exit, Shania Twain’s “Still The One” declared what our hearts felt as well.
I know without a doubt the impact this ceremony had not just on my husband and I but others witnessing the exchange as well. My father was wiping his tears after the ceremony also. He has always been a strong man, but when he shows his soft side, it truly means something extra special.
I may share the actual written ceremony in the days to come so other couples may take from our ceremony what they feel will bless their lives and their union on their wedding day or vow renewal.
Twenty years and a lifetime still to go!
