an exercise in thankfulness

Ah, November is finally here!  

I'm not a big fan of the end of October, so I am always happy to see November arrive and the focus shift to the happy things of fall.

This year, in preparation for Thanksgiving, I want to help my children really think about the things for which they are thankful.  In other words, I don't want them just to say the same things we talk about every year, I want them to dig deeper and see if they can expand their lists.

So, with that goal in mind, my plan is to read a different passage or passages from Psalms every day and then have the children write down something they are thankful for on a slip of paper.  We are going to collect the slips in a jar and then read them later this month.  Ideally, we would read them Thanksgiving Day, but I don't think that will work this year, so we'll just have to find another time.

Of course, the goal is to remind the kids ~ and myself ~ that we need to always be thankful for the abundant blessings God has showered on our family.  Ronnie and I try to live this out before them all year long, but I think we all need a solid, tangible reminder every once in a while.

I'd like to tell you that I'll blog something I am thankful for every day this month, but we all know that isn't going to happen.  Just know that I am adding my list to the kids' list and maybe I'll share some of the things from each of us later this month.

Happy Fall, Y'all!

an overdue thank you and an unexpected blessing

I have been referring to VBS in my last couple of posts and now that it is done, I realize that there is something I should have said that I haven't ... yet.

In my last post I mentioned that sometimes people save their hard work (on decorations) and share it with other churches.  We benefited from several of these churches this year, but there was one special person who helped my husband out tremendously by providing the stage decorations.  Not only did he allow us to use his hard work, he came out to the church twice to help Ronnie set it all up (or more accurately, for Ronnie to help him set it up!) and, now that we are done, he came back again and took it all down.

Some of you know him ... his wife is both a blogging and a real life friend of mine ... so Rie, please thank your "He's too good to me" for being so nice to us. 

We truly appreciate it! 

By the way, we'll try to come up with something else he can help us with, just so you can have Burger King! ;-)

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Now on to the unexpected blessing.  I am finding it hard to find words to express this one.  Last Thursday night, at the end of our VBS Family Night, our friend Brad informed Ronnie that he had a couple of presentations to make.  We knew about the first one.  Brad is our missions teacher and he gave a very cool prize to the children who brought the most supplies for the mission project ~ Operation Christmas Child. 

The second presentation was a complete shock to me and left my husband speechless ... which was apparently what they were going for.

All week during VBS, Brad quietly, with the help of our adult class, planned to honor Ronnie for the hard work he puts into VBS each year.  This is our 10th VBS at Crossview and though he hasn't been director for all of those years, he has always worked behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly.  It brought tears to my eyes to hear Brad express the appreciation of the church for his service, but what came next was the real shocker.  Brad handed Ronnie a certificate and an envelope and asked him to open the envelope and read what it said.  That in and of itself was a little unusual and the look on Ronnie's face told me that he was completely shocked by what he saw when he opened the envelope.

When Ronnie finally composed himself enough to speak, he read a gift certificate giving him an all expense paid trip on the mission trip to Kodiak, Alaska next year.  Wow!  He has always wanted to go and now he will be going.  What a blessing!

So, I know what Ronnie will be doing next year on Memorial Day ... I guess the kids and I will be looking for something to do with ourselves!

Thank you Brad (and Amy) for your part in this and even though I don't think any of you read this, thank you, Crossview, for blessing my husband (and me) in such an unexpected way!

the most wonderful time of the year

No, I am not talking about Christmas, per se.

I am talking about my favorite week of the year. Well, one of my favorite weeks anyway.

This week ~ the week before Thanksgiving ~ is always National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child. I have shared how much I love being involved with this ministry before, but now I want to share how it has impacted my life personally and the life of our church.

For the last five years, our church has been a relay center for OCC. In other words, people can come and drop off their boxes at our church and we will pack them in cartons and send them on to the next location. During these five years we have had the honor of receiving just over 10,000 shoeboxes. This is just a tiny drop in the bucket of the boxes that have been received, but I am so thankful that God has allowed us to be a small part of this process. We have been given the opportunity to add our prayers to the many others for each box. And we know that each box represents at least one (but probably many more) opportunity for the Gospel of Jesus to be shared with a child (and his or her family).

Just knowing that a child may be reached for Jesus is enough to keep us working each year to help as much as we can with this project. What an honor to be allowed to participate in this process.

I don't know exactly how to share with you what happens during collection week. I find that I am blessed by this week more than I can express. Perhaps it is because we know that we are part of something "bigger than ourselves" as our pastor mentioned the other night. I know that is true, but I also know that a large part of the blessing, for me anyway, comes from something that I believe is one of the most important functions of a true New Testament church ~ fellowship.

I know that in the Southern Baptist Church fellowship begins with a capital letter and generally involves casseroles. This kind of fellowship is great and we are pretty good at them in our church.

However, in this case I am talking about the kind of fellowship that goes deeper and truly impacts our lives. During these few hours, one week a year, I get a glimpse into the lives of the ladies who volunteer. I see their heart for hurting children that they will never meet. I hear them pray for those children and for those who have packed boxes and delivered them to us. I hear these ladies (and some men, too!) laugh and joke with each other. I see them willingly take extra time packing a carton so that they can let my children be a part of the process and learn how to serve. I see them welcome new people who come to volunteer from other churches and make them feel at home in ours. I see their love for God expressed in more ways than I can count.

I see all these things, and I am blessed beyond measure.

The ministry of Operation Christmas Child is only one of the many things that I am thankful for during this season of the year. I am often amazed that God has allowed me to be a part of this ministry. I started out hoping to be a blessing to someone else, but the truth is that God has blessed me more than I can ever hope to give.

Isn't God good?

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8

This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible, but I can't say that I have been living this way lately.

I have been struggling with circumstances that I cannot control and they have truly dominated my thoughts over the last few weeks. Sadly, the only thing I have to show for this time is chaos in circumstances that I could have controlled. Now, I am frustrated with everything and feeling guilty for the wasted time.

Now, I am declaring NO MORE! I do not believe that God intends for me to be wallowing in my circumstances. So tonight, as I prepare for our church services tomorrow, I will go to bed counting my blessings and leaving the circumstances in HIS capable hands.