Hangover?…

Thanksgiving Hangover?…Great!…Please read on…

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Turkey leftovers stored in fridge for turkey sandwiches later…

The “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing” sighs after the last bite of pecan pie have ushered us into the official hustle and bustle of the holiday race.

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Quick thank you’s have sped us into frenzied gift buying.

Is this really what it is all about?

Was our giving thanks only as deep as the ladle in the turkey gravy?

In 1621 an incredible first chapter for our country was written…

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The truth that all good things come from above and the recognition of this erupted into the first Thanksgiving.

Abraham Lincoln many years later in 1863 grounded us in the soil of this gratitude by declaring Thanksgiving a national holiday.

Where are we now?

Let us live a Hangover of Thanksgiving and Praise.

One heart at a time living a hangover of thanksgiving and praise can cause many to look upwards and beyond.

Want to transform the world?

Slow down and walk in thanksgiving and praise.

Paul knew the secret (Acts 16:23-34)…

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It was praise and thanksgiving that broke open the prison bars.

Please join me in living the Thanksgiving hangover.

“Enter the temple gates with praise, its courts with thanksgiving.  Give thanks to God, bless his name; good indeed is the Lord, whose love endures forever, whose faithfulness lasts through every age. ” Ps 100: 4-5

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One size fits all? Do it yourself?…

Struggling in a one- size- fits- all holiness?

Trying to put on Christ like your best friend, your spouse, your neighbor, some character in a book?

Are you a do it yourself-er?

Holiness isn’t about being like everyone else.

Cookie cutter people we are not….

“Do it yourself-er”, “I am the maker of me” people we are not!

You are a “once in a lifetime”, they “broke the mold” after you, unique gift of a person.

Created by Him who is Love, molded in His mighty grace.

It takes courage to be the real you…

But when we live our uniqueness clothed in Christ…

it gives permission for others around us to be real!

so……

Lions and tigers and bears in your life?

The Holy Spirit fills you with the courage…

to be who you are and be that well!

Surrender to His grace.

Be the best you today….God needs you!

“I have told you this so that you might have peace in Me.  In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world”. John 16:33

First Comes Thanksgiving…

“The day before He suffered He took bread in His sacred hands and looking up to heaven to You, His almighty Father He gave you thanks and praise. “

Thanksgiving prepared the way.

Thanksgiving preceded the Miracle.

 We too take the daily bread of our lives and through Him, with Him, in Him, look up to heaven and give thanks and praise.

Thanksgiving opens our heart to RECEIVE the miracle.

This  day let us take all that we are, and all that we have been given….

With Jesus give thanks to Our Father…

and BELIEVE in the miracle of transformation.

“In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”  1 Thes 5:18

He loves me…He loves me not….

Petal of a pelargonium - taken in the evening ...

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 He loves me….pick a petal, let it fall

He loves me not (negative thoughts)…pick a petal, let it fall

He loves me…pick a petal, let it fall

He loves me not (reluctance to act, to give, to love)…pick a petal, let it fall

He loves me…pick a petal let it fall

He loves me not (sinful actions, tendencies, brokenness)…pick a petal, let it fall

 And so on and so on and so on

Now disconnected petals in a heap encircling the stripped stem. Absent of the beauty.

Lord, pierce the “love me, love me not” thoughts. Hold back the hand inclined to “pick and let fall”.

Deliever from this temptation.

RECEIVE His Love into the who you are this day ….and be transformed. BELIEVE in His Love that sees the beauty of who you are this day and be set free. Live in the peace of His eternal “He loves me” LOVE. And pass on the glory.