Set Your Sights On Things Above
We so quickly get our eyes off God. Let's get back into
perspective.
perspective.
11/17/2014
What are we NOT grateful for?Welcome to the Christian Indie Authors Thanksgiving Blog Hop! Clicking on the image above will take you to links for the rest of the blogs for this hop. We'll be having all sorts of interesting things to say. And be sure to check out each blogger's site, as they are also great Christian authors. I bet you'll find something you'll like. So now, here's my little thoughts for the day: What are we NOT thankful for this year? I was thinking about it, and we list so many things that we most certainly supposed to be thankful for. Many of us even manage to thank God for things we aren't so sure about... The dog (who chews up our shoes and chair legs) The noise the kids make (because that means our house is full) I have a much harder time thanking God for the things I don't like. I mean in truth, I like the dog, I love my kids and husband, and our friends. What about the things I don't like? I mean really truly don't like. Not the things you say you dislike because it's funny to say it. The things that keep you up at night. The worries and fears. The tragedies. I know that's a tough one. Who wants to be thankful for a tragedy? For a heartache? None of us. But God says to give thanks in EVERYthing. That's not easy. I mean I can type it all day long, doesn't mean I can now fall down in gratitude over that thing I was crying about last night, or the ache in my heart that just won't go away because someone left a hole that no one else can fill. I mean really, we're supposed to GIVE thanks...that doesn't always mean we FEEL the thanks. So what do we do? How are we supposed to give thanks for the things that really are tough? The things that make it hard to get up in the morning? Those trials, tragedies, heartaches that we don't even want to look at because that would mean they exist? There's only one way I know how to do that. And that's to turn to God and ask Him to help us. It's when we're dealing with those impossibly difficult things that we can truly feel God's help in our lives in a concrete fashion. When we're grateful for something, we are forced to look at it. We're forced to analyze it, even if it's just a little. I think God wants us to ask Him for thankfulness. He wants us to rely on Him for even this - the ability to SAY thank you to Him, even if we don't yet FEEL grateful about it. While it's hard, and might be the hardest thing you've ever done, just try it. Just try saying thank you to God for something that's gut-wrenchingly difficult. I'm not saying it will be easy. But any time God asks us to do something hard, He promises He will make it worth the risk for us. Just through this season, let's try to be truly thankful for everything. I Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. My favorite Thanksgiving recipe: Apple Betty Pie (I always try to use a variety of different apples for the pie, as that gives it a nice blend.) The book linked below is a short story I wrote in order to share a piece my husband's great-grandmother wrote about 100 years ago. The author, Sherry Chamblee, is also the full-time caregiver for her husband's grandmother. His great-grandmother (Granny's mom - Rachel Clark Kennedy) was an aspiring author when she wasn't being a nurse. Back in the early 1900s she wrote books - lots of them. She had at least one full-length novel, wrapped and sealed and sent to herself in the mail. Since the family saw it last, they'd lost track of it. The author got it into her head to look for this manuscript. Back in February of this year (2014), we were looking for it (read 'searching frantically through an old shed') when we found a bin full of Granny's mother's things. In that bin was an old nurse's registration certificate belonging to Rachel Clark - Granny's mom. Paper-clipped to that certificate were several pages of typewriting paper - she'd written a short story, titled The Signal. Turns out it's about 3000 words long, but complete. The only complete story of hers that has been found, so far. The certificate is dated December 2, 1914. One hundred years ago. It's safe to assume the story paper-clipped to it was written in the same year, or very close to it. Her complete manuscript is included in 'Rachel's Story', just as she had it 100 years ago, in chapter 5, as it's being read to her own daughter. This is a very short story at only a little over 8,000 words. I have only edited the spelling in her part of this story, so as to keep her unique voice throughout. This is why readers may find a few grammatical errors in that chapter, and/or outdated words. This part was indeed written one hundred years ago, and is still an unpolished work, though still very enjoyable to read. All proceeds from this book will go to help in the care of Rachel's daughter, my husband's grandmother.
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AuthorI'm Sherry Chamblee, aspiring author of Christian fiction, mom of six, wife to a cool dude, and caregiver to his granny. Besides that, I am just little old me - it's just a phrase, I'm not really old, honest. Check out my new release!
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