Thanksgiving thoughts and remember to be thankful for what you don’t have

November 21, 2017November 21, 2017 / kstrick7 / Leave a comment

Thanksgiving is two days away. As in TWO.DAYS. How many are feeling overwhelmed? I know that guy hangs around my door step a lot. Believe you me, there are times I feel more overwhelmed than anything else. What does this mean? Does it mean I am letting things of the world over take my faith in God? Does it mean I am not trusting in the Lord? Does it mean I have lots of responsibilities and I just keep adding more? Those are some things I want to address today. Because those of you who know me, know I am a fountain of got it together & follow through. Ha. LOL. OTFL. Or whatever hashtag these young’uns use now a days.

With all the things we have going on, cooking for the holidays, taking care of kids, running a household, trying to be the best version of you, health problems, money problems, & basically just problems, it’s no wonder we meet ourselves coming. When we feel like we can’t anymore, remember the Lord says we can:

Philippians 4:6-7 ⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.(NKJV)

Psalm 27:1 ⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.(NKJV)

Psalm 34:17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.(NKJV)

I Peter 5:7 ⁷casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.(NKJV)

The Lord wants to help the hurting & those that are needy, not the got it all togethers. If you are spending time in prayer, then you are have time well spent. Anytime you can have a conversation with the Lord, it’s not time wasted. There’s a beauty in the struggle that we don’t always realize. Within every problem, there is opportunity. Opportunity for change. Opportunity for seeing things a different way. Opportunity for learning. Don’t look at problems as the end of the world. Instead, see them as a lesson learned. See them as the Lord molding us into stronger, better people. Calm waters never make good sailors. Be thankful the Lord wants to equipt us for bigger things. And accept it. We, as people, want to tell God what is best for us. Instead of realizing God’s already got it all handled.

Here are some things that might help you keep it between the ditches:

Pray- Pray small prayers throughout the day. Or plan for prayer. Whether it be at the beginning of your day, at lunch, or when you go to bed. Just make sure you are keeping the conversation going with God. That in itself will help you more than you can ever imagine.
Make lists- I am a list person. If I don’t I get so easily overwhelmed. I have always heard the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. So, I try to break things down as I go. Knowing I am preparing Thanksgiving breakfast & dinner, I start out with a menu. Then, I make a list of what I will need to make everything. I also make a list of what we will need at the meal. I make a list of my groceries. I make a list of what I am going to prepare 1^st, 2^nd , 3^rd. Because that is easier to me than thinking I am responsible for making our Thanksgiving meals perfect & memorable for my dear family. See what I did there? Lists make me sane. The thought of high expectations overwhelm me.
Let people help you- Don’t think you have to do everything by yourself. If someone says, “What can I do to help?” Then by golly, have them something to do. Me & my sweetie handle the main Thanksgiving meal. The girls do the desserts. It just works out.
Read your Bible- What better way to feel peace & a calm about you, than to spend time in God’s Word? Prayer is talking to the Lord. That’s important. But letting God talk to you, through the Bible, is important, too.
Get away-Sometimes just getting away to clear your head makes all the difference in the world. If you can’t take a two week vacation to the Bahamas, you can get up, walk outside, and take a deep breath of fresh air. Changing your scenery by taking a drive or a walk always seems to put things in a better perspective.
Thank the Lord for what you don’t have. Sickness in your family, dealing with children that have lost their way, money problems, hungry mouths to feed and nothing to feed them, your own personal health problems, a car that won’t start, worn out tires, those are lots of terrible things to have to encounter. But what if you don’t have a sick child or your health is pretty good right now? Thanking the Lord for what you have is important. However, thanking Him for what you don’t have is just as crucial to having a thankful spirit.

I hope you all are doing good this TWO DAYS BEFORE THANKSGIVING. I know, I can’t get over it either. We have had some wonderful weather happening here in northeast Mississippi. The leaves are changing and the air is crisp. Just what the doctor ordered! Until next time I have to be going because I should be washing clothes.

photo credit- someecards, pinterest,

Thanksgiving surprise & who I love

November 10, 2015November 10, 2015 / kstrick7 / Leave a comment

Well, apparently it’s 2 weeks until Thanksgiving & nobody bothered to tell me. Even though I have been reminding everyone how it’s so many weeks until Christmas, Thanksgiving just left me this year. And by the way, I have been getting some terrible deer in the head light looks when the mere mention of Christmas is made. I suggested to my sweetie maybe this year we should start Christmas shopping & have all our gifts bought by Thanksgiving, (which obviously I thought was at another time). He laughed & explained to me I would never be able to do that, since it is my custom to lose my hair & run around like a crazy woman the weeks & days leading up to Christmas. Well, shut the front door, he was right. However, I have had some happy things going on here of late. Mainly in the name of kids, of course. Here are some highlights of my weekend.

This is what you look like when you have “Super Speed”.

And on a very related note, as you can see, this was at a local cell phone store where I was attempting to do some business. However, was having to constantly remind Mr. Sweetie Pants that the cell phone store was NOT specifically the place to be exhibiting this said “Super Speed”. WHEW! I was one tired Grand by the time I left. Thankfully, I had a helpful Miss Neenee with me.

It was Miss Neenee’s birthday & we were going to see Disney on Ice. Mr. Sweetie Pants was being sassy, so I asked him did he not want to go see Mickey Mouse? He promptly, let me know, he did not want to see anything. Please refer to the above photo.

So, this is why we go to see Disney on Ice each year. Mesmerized & happy faces. That’s what we have here.

Next, you have this one who obviously loves Disney just as well. I mean, crown him king Mickey, hello. Or maybe EA’s Prince Charming? Awww…..

Then, you have these faces, squished up against my face. Love.These.Faces.

I’m not sure if my son has some new leg warmers & back pack or if he was attacked by munchkins. Either way, they are all cute as can be.

And it was all because of this girl. Happy birthday Miss Neenee! More to come this weekend!

I am so very thankful for all these sweet people in my life. Since this month is Thanksgiving, (who would forget that?) I ran across this 30 day scripture reading plan. I know I’m a little late, but it’s still a wonderful exercise to commit to spend your time in God’s word.

I hope you all are having a good week. Now that I’ve realized it’s time for Thanksgiving, I will be making my menu for Thanksgiving dinner. What will you be making? Until next time, I have to go, because I should be washing clothes.

photo credits: Facebook

Why I like Thanksgiving & being thankful for what you already have

November 25, 2014November 25, 2014 / kstrick7 / Leave a comment

I Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

As everyone knows, that does not live under a rock, this Thursday is Thanksgiving. I have always liked Thanksgiving for many reasons. Here are a few:

1. I get to see my family that I love. Especially the ones from out of town. I am turning into my Mamaw. If it’s a holiday or Sunday dinner, my loved ones are required to be at my house. And if not, I just won’t ever understand what else could be so important that you could not have your feet under my table for that time. I just love them that much.

2. Thanksgiving is leisure time. Not like that other holiday that is coming up next month. Thanksgiving is cooking & eating & visiting. You are really not required to do anything except cook, eat, & visit. That’s easy. Oh & watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade & football games. Plus, we enjoy a little Just Dance, on the Wii, at our house as well. Miss Neenee’s usual response when I play is,

“Mama quit. You are embarrassing yourself.”

3. We eat our way through the whole holiday. I begin by hosting Thanksgiving breakfast. We fill our bellies full of biscuits, Mama’s breakfast casserole, quiche, homemade Danish, bacon, sausage, & various & asundry jellies, preserves, & whatever else I can come up with. Then, once that’s over, we go for the meal with the star of the show- the smoked turkey. There’s dressing(not stuffing), cranberry sauce, beans, corn, salads, shells & cheese, casseroles, rolls, so much I can’t name it all. And desserts that will make you want to slap yo’ mama & draw back at your daddy. **On a side note, speaking of which, my Daddy has already proclaimed his Thanksgiving day plans are to eat breakfast at my house, then, go back to one of the bedrooms & sleep until we wake him up for dinner. ** I love a well thought out plan.

4. Me & my sweetie get to cook together. It just all comes full circle. We love to eat. So, cooking together makes it just that much more fun.

5. No stressing out. I have my menu made weeks in advance. I get my groceries bought up. We plan when we are cooking what. We execute our plan. If anything goes amiss, it’s ok. It’s all family. They don’t care. Not like Christmas. My hair will be falling out before Christmas Eve. Seriously. It happens every year. You don’t have to worry about presents on Thanksgiving or making sure everything is just right. I leave that for next month.

So you see, I try my best, to celebrate Thanksgiving the way it should be. Being thankful for what the Lord has so graciously blessed us with. I read an article that has suggested showing gratitude is a lot more healthier for us than not being thankful- even for the everyday things. You can read 20 Mind Blowing things about Gratitude here. I do want to mention Bro. Brad preached an excellent sermon on Sunday- pinpointing being thankful. He said he had read a story about a preacher that was always thankful. He said one of the negative Nancy’s of the congregation came in thinking there was no way the preacher would find anything to be thankful for that day. It was nasty outside. Raining, wind blowing, terrible weather. When the preacher got up to pray, he said,

“Thank you, Lord, that not all days are like this.”

What a wonderful attitude of gratitude. There is always something to be thankful for. The blanket on our bed, that keeps us warm a night. The roof over our heads. Hot water. Shoes. Our sight. Things that oftentimes we take for granted. We as a society are so funny. Because you know what the day after Thanksgiving is- Black Friday.

Sad, but true.

I am glad you stopped by to visit with me today. I so hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Like every year, I will be so happy to be surrounded by friends & family. However, will be missing my Mama, too. She loved a celebration. No matter what it was for. Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll!! Until next time I will be going because I should be washing clothes.

photo credits: someecards.com, tilhecomes.org, thanksgiving scripture