This Thanksgiving take time to pray and give gratitude to our Lord and King! We will take a break through the end of next week. But stay tuned for a few new things the week following. I pray a blessing of hope and the goodness of God over you, your ...
My friends, can I share today one thing in my Christian life that I hold very close as an important life rule? It burns in me, in fact.
It’s this:
God will guide our life journey and tell us where to go next, whether it’s a house move, a person, a church, a workplace, a place to serve, some money to give, a book to read .. or any other thing in fact; if we let him.
For we walk by faith, and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7, ESV)
How I love that verse!
It’s like God gives us a breadcrumb trail to follow. But it’s more tasty than that: I think of it as a jellybean trail. God puts a jellybean down a little way ahead of us. We head towards it, pick up the jellybean, stand there and savor it. ‘Is this really where you want me, Lord?’ Then after a while we look for the next jellybean.
For several years now, I’ve followed that lifestyle of watching out for the next jellybean while standing on the spot to which God has led me, eating the current one.
Here’s how it’s played out:
In 2017, I very clearly sensed God wanted me to offer my writing services to this SUM ministry. It was a scary thing to do at the time. Super-duper scary. Funny, it doesn’t feel scary at all anymore!
I wrote and wrote. It was a sweet experience. Then, in 2019 I sensed that I was to be put in leadership. Another scary-sweet jellybean.
And he said to me, ‘Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.’ Then I ate it; and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. (Ezekiel 3:3, NKJV)
The scroll of your life. Eat it. It can be scary but it can also be sweet.
In 2024 I sensed that my leadership was coming to an end, and this was very difficult because I did not want to let Lynn or you guys down. I resisted it for a long time, but it is actually very clear when God closes down a ministry season: You find you literally can’t do it anymore. His hand is on you to say ‘No, this thing has lifted off you now’.
Lynn sensed it too, and we duly made the shift. She moved back into leading the ministry as she felt God was calling her to it. We kept picking up the jellybeans.
Then came a bend on the jellybean trail that I hadn’t seen ahead. The bend came upon me like this:
I had a dream that I was retraining in something. In this dream I was saying to someone, ‘I’ll retrain. Then, when I graduate I’ll be 53, and I’ll have a full career ahead of me. I am not too old. There is no reason why I can’t do it.’ It was such a vivid dream that I woke feeling myself saying ‘YES!’, like it was some great epiphany.
After that, I held it for at least a year, asking ‘Am I to retrain, Lord? Am I to have a career again? But what in?’
…. Well, I got my answer on the Day of Atonement last year. I was lying on the couch and suddenly it hit me: Retrain as a psychologist! I had already done my first degree in Psychology, so it would be a two-year masters. I got up to tell Bryce this. His instant reaction was: ‘What a great idea!’ Encouraged, I then headed straight back to the couch, and there engraved on the coffee table in front of me was a symbol I had not seen before:
‘Is that not the Psychology symbol?’ I asked. It was scratched … etched … in my coffee table.
Quickly I grabbed my phone and googled ‘psychology symbol’. Indeed it was that:
I was blown away.
A few hours later Lynn wrote to me and said, ‘Girl, it’s the Day of Atonement. I think the Lord is going to reveal some things about your future. Ask him.’
Little did she know I already had.
More confirmations came; and, fast forward to today, I have just started my MSc in Coaching Psychology at the University of Leicester UK – distance learning — and am training to be a Coaching Psychologist. How about that!
Yes, I’ll indeed be in my early fifties when I finish. But in the Kingdom our spirits get younger, not older.
My friends, how about you: Have you ever been led to a new place of some sort by God?
Every year I share this post in November. I wrote it at 15 years of marriage. We are now married for more than 30 years. This tradition is priceless in our family. I pray all of you have one or will make one for your family this year!
Happy Thanksgiving! Love, Lynn
Tablecloth of Thanks
Many of you know that I am married to an unbeliever. This past March we celebrated 15 years of marriage. Our unequally yoked marriage has had its challenges to say the least. Over the years, however, our ingenious God has maneuvered us through many touchy issues.
Our disparity becomes more apparent during the holidays. Giving thanks to our Lord in November is a treasured time for me. I name my blessings one-by-one in prayer, thanking God for His lavish abundance poured into our lives.
Like most wives living in an unequally yoked marriage, I long for my spouse to understand there is a God. To know He is intricately involved in our lives and everything we have is provision of our creator. I have also learned that forcing God upon my husband is a surefire way to push him away. I am careful to respect my husband and simply trust Jesus to reach him in his perfect timing.
In spite of my husband’s unbelief, I discovered a unique way to draw him into the celebration of thanks, besides through his stomach. He loves turkey.
Four years ago, I threw a new, pristine-white tablecloth across our dinning room table two weeks prior to Thanksgiving. I purchased several colored pens and placed them on top. A new tradition was born, a Tablecloth of Thanks. It began with my daughter. I told her, “I WANT you to write on this tablecloth.” She looked at me with skepticism in her eyes, wondering if her mother had lost her mind.
“Really,” my smiled reassured. “Write down what you are most thankful for this year. Then write the year, 2004, near your name.”
She grinned and began to write using several different colors. I joined in and wrote my thanks directly on the beautiful tablecloth.
Later that evening my husband noticed the scribbles on the tablecloth. I watched as he walked over to read our words. I walked to his side and took his hand. I subtly asked him if he would also write down his thanks. He smiled and said maybe later.
Finally on the evening of Thanksgiving Day, my husband picked up a pen and wrote; I am thankful for my wonderful family, great friends, and a very happy life.
Wow! Was he giving thanks to our Lord? I am not sure. However, every year since he has continued to write a thankful list. Last year’s entry reads; I am thankful for all of my blessings…family, friends, and the dogs.
What? Did he use the word blessings? Small steps such as these lead to the Savior. I can’t wait to read his thankful list this year.
The Thankful Tablecloth is one of my most prized possessions. Everyone who visits our home during the Thanksgiving holiday contributes to this permanent memorial of thanks. It is a visible praise to the King displayed in our unequally yoked home each November.
One of my favorite thanks is this:
2006 I am thankful to be able to sit on the couch and have my people pet me. Peanut
Hmmmm, I wonder how the dog grew fingers and learned to write????
Psalm 69:30 (NIV) I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.
Lord God, I will name my blessings one-by-one….. Jesus… eternal life…. clean water to drink…..capacity to love…..empowerment to forgive….. just for a start…..
It is never too late to start a new tradition. If you want to start your Tablecloth of Thanks, I have a few helpful hints.
Place a sheet of butcher paper under your tablecloth. (I have a permanent smiley face on my dinning room table from the year 2005)
Use colorfast fabric pens.
Store your tablecloth in an airtight Ziploc bag.
Thank you my friends for sharing this Holiday treasure with me. I wish you were with me today and could share your thankful heart on the Tablecloth of Thanks.
Lynn here. I hope you are practicing Thanksgiving and are writing down your Three Thankfuls Every Day. Now, please turn over your paper and write down your prayer requests that you are binging before the Lord in this season. Write the date next to them.
Continue to write your Three Thankfuls daily. We are going to use this later.
Today, I want to encourage you. I know it can be difficult to walk out our faith especially when you are deeply disappointed. Disappointed that you don’t see change. Angry about your life circumstances. Sad that what you expected in marriage isn’t what you are living.
I do understand feeling brokenhearted. I truly have lived it out.
Let me mention a couple of things. Last week in prayer, when my husband was once again in the hospital with pneumonia, I sat at home overwhelmed with it all. The responsibility, the fear, dare I say the anger. And in that moment a single thought came into my conscious.
I thought to myself: I have served this one man all of my life! Hump!
The thought conveyed a since of loss, unfulfillment, anger…. Then resentment raised its head for a split second.
THEN, the Holy Spirit rushed in. I thought, I have served this one man all of my life! What a glorious realization that I’d given so much of myself to love this single, solitary soul. And then Jesus spoke to my heart, I would have died for you alone, Lynn. Is it too much to ask that you lived for one soul?
Gulp!
This is what was happening in the spiritual realm. I was exhausted physically, emotionally upset and feeling overwhelmed. That is when the tiny door opens, and an evil thought comes to mind. The single thought was intended to lead me down the path of resentment. That path travels like this. It’s always Him first. It’s always serve him. He doesn’t help me. He doesn’t ….. blah, blah, blah. This path travels very fast and you find yourself in the black camp of bitterness. The demonic will quickly slap on chains and you may remain there for years.
But in that moment, I was able to shut down the resentment and view any perceived sacrifices I made from the perspective of the Cross. The Cross will always realign entitlement, pride, and our pain.
Jesus can love you enough to serve and love others outside of what you think possible. Also, a good nights rest helps. grin.
Mike is still in the hospital as I write this but he is alive. I’m so thankful this Thanksgiving Season for life. AND the abundant life in Christ Jesus.
I’m not minimizing your pain and disappointment because I know it is real. I merely offer a moment to look at life’s circumstances from a Kingdom point of view. If you need help to overcome your pain and you need to hear from Jesus, please submit a prayer request. Or schedule a prayer appointment with me.
I love and bless you today with joy and hope. In Jesus name. AMEN
Jesus says: I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. – John 16:33
Read the entire chapter, it is very encouraging. Blessings and hugs, Lynn
