Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!! And we all have so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for answered prayer (my brakes continue to work without noise). I'm thankful for my sister who makes Christmas happen every year in our household. And I'm thankful for my hubby who's been busy in the kitchen since my alarm went off at 8:30. I woke up at 7:00 and thought about getting up. But thinking's as far as I got that early in the morning. Michael always cooks the stuffing (he's convinced that no one in the entire world makes stuffing as good as his), the bird, and the potatoes. I cook the gravy (and no one makes gravy like mine) [we're sure full of ourselves, aren't we?], and the side veggies. When we cook for just the two of us we concentrate on the things we love and skip everything else. I'm not even sure I'm going to cook a side veggie for us today.

Football is blaring in my ear (yes, I enjoy football but the noise drives me crazy!!!) and I just started my eggs boiling so I'd have them for the gravy (yes I put hard boiled eggs in my gravy along with a little "cooked" dressing [it must be cooked or it won't work right] and lots and lots of garlic)! [I told you no one makes gravy like mine.] But it's out of this world. Guess I may as well go put the giblets on to cook. They have to cook and then cool so I can cut them up for the gravy. Be right back. Okay, got that done [who says I can't do more than one thing at a time???].

Guess you've figured out by now that I'm not going to do a devotional today. My next devotional is on something too good to miss so I don't want to take the chance on people not calling up my blog today, being as how it's Thanksgiving and all. People are apt to be too busy for blogs today.

Tomorrow marks the official start for the Christmas shoppers. I saw Mervyn's and Kohl's are both opening at 4:00 (as in 4:00 A.M.). Will people really get up that early to start their holiday shopping? Why bother to even go to bed? If I were crazy enough to go shopping at 4:00 in the morning, I'd be crazy enough to stay up all night! Of course I can't stay up all night the way I did when I was younger, but we won't get into that.

Kathleen (my Heart at church) invited us over for Thanksgiving but by that time Michael and I had already bought our turkey and were in the process of slowly thawing it out and we were looking forward to a nice dinner with just the two of us. I know Kathleen is a great cook!!! and I probably missed the opportunity of a lifetime but we already had plans by time she asked. It's a shame. I've heard so much about her cooking! And it was such a generous offer. I really hated to say no, but I know Michael would probably have been upset if I'd have accepted her offer. Was that correct English? I think it was probably correct just not the best use of the English language but I'm going to let it ride since I'm being casual today.

I am so thankful for my family. I love them all so much and I want them all to have long, happy lives and be successful at everything they set out to do. But more than anything else, I want them to have strong, healthy, and fulfilling relationships with God. I know He fills that void in my life that only He can fill and I'm so happy about that. Yes, I have lots of things to be thankful for but today I'm mostly thankful for my relationship with the Lord and my own family. I became a Christian 19 years ago and in one sense it feels like it's only been 19 months while at the same time it feels like I've always been a Christian. Like there was no life before the Lord. I guess in a sense, there wasn't life before God. There isn't life without God. My heart breaks that Michael has let his relationship grow cold and stagnant over the last several years. He's missing out on so many blessings and opportunities. Every minute away from the Lord is a moment lost. Wasted. Totally wasted. I look back on my life and wish I hadn't wasted so many years before coming to the Lord. All those years as a JW. Wasted. All those years of self-righteousness and struggle only to find out they were wasted. No, I take that back. They weren't wasted. They made the perfect backdrop for the truth that sets us free. Our salvation is a gift from God and no matter what we accomplish in this life, we never deserve our salvation. No amount of rule-keeping and doctrine can do what a submissive heart filled with thankfulness will accomplish with God. Salvation was never meant to be earned or bought with good works. From before time began, God had it all planned as a free gift to make us like His Son. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, God blesses us with every spiritual blessing that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yes, He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight (Ephesians 1:3-4). What a great God we have. So loving. So caring. So holy!! Who can know the mind of God but the Spirit of God? This very same Spirit resides in each one of us and it is His joy to teach us all we need to know to be blessed forever. This very same Spirit guides and directs us in everything we do. This is the very same Spirit, by the way, that brought Jesus back from the dead. He lives in you! He lives in me! What an awesome God!!!

Have the best Thanksgiving you've ever had ...