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Greetings, Ripplemakers |
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Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the US who are
celebrating this week. Enjoy that turkey and dressing
tomorrow. Bob |
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Story of Thanksgiving
by
Jenny Scott
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We don't have a Thanksgiving Holiday here in Australia. I
think it is a wonderful idea and I truly wish we had one.
But despite that, I have learned over the years to be
thankful whenever I feel a bit down. I voice my thanks to
God and soon my mood lifts. I think this could have even
started in my childhood from reading Pollyanna books.
When I became a Christian I was very concerned about my two
teenaged children who weren't really interested in God. I
tried to co-erce them into coming to Church with me but they
were so reluctant. It was important to me because our
husband and father had deserted us a couple of years before
that, and I was trying to keep the household on an even
keel. I hoped that the positive input of the Christian youth
group would help my
own kids. They had been so badly torn apart when their Dad
left for another woman.
My daughter was angry and also had suicidal thoughts. This
was very worrying. I prayed a lot for her. My son was just
plain deeply depressed and spent most of his hours at home
sitting in a corner of his bedroom under a table as if to
shut out the world. I didn't know what to do, so I asked the
Lord. My daughter had become very aggressive towards me as
if she had to vent her anger on someone. I sensed the still
small voice of
the Holy Spirit saying, "Thank me for her. Thank me every
time she curses you or throws things at you, or every time
she slams the door."
I was taken aback but I remembered the Bible verses about
"Counting it all joy, when you fall into many temptations."
And we know that the Lord inhabits our praises, so it makes
sense to thank Him for anything that we would like His
presence to be in.
And I sure wanted His presence in my daughter's life! For
two weeks I silently mouthed my thanks and praise each day,
many times a day sometimes. I found myself really rejoicing
around the house at times, totally meaning it too. Because I
loved her
so much and even if she was throwing things around and even
at me, I could see that the hurt was finding expression
rather than her bottling it up.
If Jesus could bear with me and take all my sins, the least
I could do was bear her anger. So there I was on a Sunday
morning, getting ready for church. She was kind of in the
way as she was ironing a skirt of hers and I was almost
running late. I was a bit sharp in telling her to hurry up
as I needed to press my shirt. She bit back with "Alright,
I'm just ironing this because I am GOING TO CHURCH with you
this morning."
Well, Joy reigned in our household that day. She was
thoroughly saved, baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit and
soon married the Pastor's son! ( a year later) My son on the
other hand was a different kettle of fish! The Lord told me
simply to stay home
with him more and not go to so many different meetings,
Bible studies, midweek fellowship meetings, two services on
Sundays and he didn't come to any of them.
I realized I had neglected him and he had become such a
recluse with no one to talk to. So I stayed home. I tried to
make our home a place where we could find laughter and light
again. I'd found it at Church but he needed to laugh again
too. In all this, I kept thanking the Lord. I am so grateful
today that my children, now grown up are stable and able,
for the most part, to cope with whatever life throws their
way. I have 6 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren now.
There are Many things to be so thankful for. Thanksgiving is
so important because our children copy us. If we truly mean
what we say and they know it...they will copy us. Proverbs
22:6 states " Train up a child in the way he should go: and
when he is old he
will not depart from it."
(c) 2003 Jenny Scott
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May you be blessed today
Bob Johnston
Editor / Publisher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May you be blessed today
Bob Johnston
Editor / Publisher
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