The Morning After Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well...the turkey is in shreds, there are 85 plastic containers in my fridge, and the pumpkin pie is almost gone. The Tiramisu surprise dessert was a hit. (if you want the recipe, just ask) It's the day after Thanksgiving. It's early Friday morning and I am so thankful to my amazing God!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at our house and it was a challenge to get nine folks around a table that only comfortably seats six. But we did it. Every year our family grows a little bit more. And I am so thankful to my amazing God!

I give thanks for my Savior King, the Lord Jesus Christ, without Whom I would be nothing and could do nothing. I am thankful for the agony of His Cross and the forgiveness of my sins and for every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. I give thanks for a man that loves me as close to Christ as any human being ever could. I give thanks for each and every one of my children who are unique in their own individual ways and bless my socks off! And I have no greater joy than to know that my children are walking in the truth. I am thankful for the men in my daughter's lives who love them and care for them and provide for them. They are now a part of our family and our hearts. And Miss Ashton...well...I am thankful for the most beautiful granddaughter EVER!!

I give thanks for friends that I cherish, friends that I have lost but who made a marked impact on my life, friends like you for your support, encouragement and participation in the ministries God has placed in my hands, for blessings abundant in this past year, both material and spiritual. For life and love and peace and joy and mercies that have been new every single morning even in the hard times. "...were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare." (Psalm 40: 5)

I pray that you, my dear friends, have also found your own reasons to be thankful. I understand that we live in some very hard and desperate times. Many of you are struggling with real and significant situations in your lives. The enemy would love it, love it, if you would focus your mind on that pain and he will whisper in your ear that you have not one thing to be grateful for. But you do, dear one, you do. Take some time today to just get to a quiet place and think on God. Meditate on Him. Remember His goodness and His grace. In the midst of whatever you're going through. Let His Spirit remind you that He's been there all along and He cares so deeply for you. And He is enough.

Let me share this quote: "Thank God there is enough. In God there is enough love to cover any mistake, enough light to brighten the darkest hour, enough power to meet every need."

I have started to pray this Scripture from Ephesians 3: 16-19 over those that I love in recent days and since all of you are so, so dear to me, I pray this over you today: "I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Be amazed at your amazing God. Be filled to overflowing. He is enough. Happy Thanksgiving!

Until next time...

What a Week!

Wow, what a week this has been! Anybody?? Let me share some thoughts ...

* On Tuesday, we elected a new President of the United States. I have to say that a lot of my rejoicing comes from knowing that I won't have to receive another campaign phone call, email, text message, or see another commercial about who I should vote for. For some things I am forever grateful. No matter who you cast your ballot for on November 4th, may I urge you from the bottom of my heart to: (1) Pray for President-Elect Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and their daughters. Scripture commands that we do. (1 Timothy 2: 1-2) Pray that God will rain down His wisdom from above, and give our new President all manner of guidance and strength. (2) Do not send disparaging e-mails, text messages, or jokes about the President-Elect. Kindly but firmly let others know that you don't want to be a part of tearing him down. We can't pray for someone and then rip them apart with our words. Can anyone say, "forked tongue"? (3)Please, please, have nothing to do with prejudice of any kind. I implore you to ask God to pull out any bitter root of prejudice that has been planted there by upbringing, circumstance or otherwise. Black, white, brown, or yellow, let us stand together side by side and not be ignorant of the enemy's plan to divide and conquer. (4)Whether you checked his name on the ballot or not, remember the words of Proverbs 16: 33: "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord." Nothing happens in this life without the express permission of our Sovereign, Almighty God. Everything, I repeat, Everything, passes first through His nail-scarred hands.

*On Wednesday, I lost one of my dearest friends, when the Lord called her home, after a battle with cancer. Phillis and I had only known each other a short time, but we had become sisters of the heart from the get-go. We kind of had an under-the- radar kind of friendship. Not many know how really close we were. After getting over our initial thoughts about each other (she thought I was snooty and used to call me "Pritzy"), we soon connected on a deep, deep level. My family knew that if I was on the phone with Phillis, they could count me out for three to four hours. We talked about Jesus, we talked about Heaven. She taught me about the mindset of the black woman, and I taught her what causes white women to do what we do. And we learned that though we were different in heritage and appearance, we both bleed red and have the same hopes and dreams and desires and the same Lord, Jesus Christ. We were the same at the foot of His cross. We celebrated our differences and always learned from one another. I have never been able to be that open and honest with any woman. And speaking of women, I would not be doing one iota of ministry to women if it weren't for Phillis. For real...One day when we didn't even know each other very well, she approached me (led by the Spirit, I'm sure) and said, "Do you have a heart for women?" Hadn't thought much about it, to be honest...but I sure did for quite sometime after she asked that question. And one day over soup and sandwiches at our local Applebees, Phillis was used by God to let me discover more of His plan and purpose for my life. I went from not really liking women very much to a sold out love for my sisters in Christ (and those who have not yet received Him). Nothing is dearer to my heart now than ministry to women who are walking with God, women who are not, women who are aching in their hearts to be loved by the Father who is aching in His heart to love them. And I have Phillis to thank for that. Besides my family, no one encouraged me, cheered me on, provided open doors of opportunity to me, like this dear sister. And by God's amazing grace, one week before she died I was able to share these deepest feelings of gratitude to her in a dark hospital room...just her and I. Stroking her hair above her brow, I thanked her from the bottom of my heart for the privilege of knowing her. The privilege of being her friend. And I let her know that she had touched so many lives, not just mine, and that I would be forever grateful for having known her. I knew no one who was more ready to see the face of Jesus than Phillis, and I know that she heard those words that we all long to hear when she opened her eyes in Glory, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." She was a good and faithful servant, she loved the Lord like none other, and the evidence is in the abundant fruit she bore in the lives of so many. She was the Ebony to my Ivory (that is the way we referred to one another). I wouldn't have missed her for the world!

* On Friday, I received the news that a dear brother in the Lord, Al Kuhnle passed away after a long and grueling battle with cancer. Al was one of the pastors at my old church who was a constant encourager and supporter when Chuck and I were doing outreach ministry. No one rooted for us like Al. He shared our hearts for those who were downtrodden and in need of tangible assistance and spiritual guidance. He was a champion for justice and mercy to the needy. He and his wife Anne encouraged us both in ministry and personally during some very dark days of our lives. Another "Well done" left the lips of our Savior yesterday when Al saw His beautiful face.

* I feel that the Lord is calling His people home. Enough said.

* Last but certainly not least, I must share something that touched me so deeply yesterday that I scarce can forget that I read it. I received a prayer request from a dear sister who is struggling so with personal issues, family problems and extreme feelings of loneliness and abandonment. One of her requests took my breath away: "To plant seeds of His works everywhere I breathe". Did you get that? To plant seeds of His works everywhere I breathe! In the midst of fractured emotions and deep need, this sister longs to be a living, breathing vessel poured out for her Christ. Doesn't that just get to you?!

So that's been my week...I'm sure you've had your own brand of week as well. It's an interesting world and an even more interesting time in which to breathe the air on planet Earth. Sometimes scary, sometimes downright threatening, but often exhilarating and ever filled with the mercies of God that are new every morning. He is faithful and it is in Him alone that we place our hope. Let us set our prayers before Him like incense and lift our hands to Him in praise.

And let us plant seeds of His works everywhere that we breathe!

I love you all deeply.

Okay, So It's Been Two Months...

I just looked at the date of my last post and it's been almost two months. Been so busy, didn't even notice how fast time flies. Looking forward to a breather day today to just relax a while after an intense week of Esther prep... and other things. I promise to write more about that over the weekend. I just can't resist sharing these new pictures with you.








She has got to be the sweetest pretty in pink I've ever seen! Couldn't you just eat her up with a spoon?! We had no idea the night that she was dressed as a pink poodle that she had a little virus. And that little virus turned into a nasty case of dehydration, landing her in the hospital ER for re-hydration. After moving her by ambulance from one ER to Children's Hospital, they were able to get her re-hydrated, on the mend, and home to sleep in her own bed. God is so good and so faithful!!