We had our Thanksgiving service today at church. It truly was a worship-filled, celebratory experience.

Part of the service centered around offering up our “Ebenezer.” This term comes from 1 Samuel 7:11-13 in which the Israelites are pursuing the Philistines. Samuel set up a stone and named it Ebenezer saying, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” (v. 12) Ebenezer literally means “stone of help.”

We had been asked last Sunday to mediate this past week on what had been our Ebenezer over the past year. It could be an object or even a verse of scripture. We were to bring the object or scripture with us today where there was then a time during the service in which we were to approach a table at the altar and lay our Ebenezer down as an offering to the Lord.

My immediate thought was how God had provided for us concerning my husband, Richard’s, job during the past year. Last year, less than two weeks before Thanksgiving, we found out that he would no longer have a job after December 31, 2007. This was a shock to say the least. The employees in his department had packed up their offices, had a final lunch together and prepared to leave for the last time when they were told at the 11th hour that it had been decided they would be kept until June 30, 2008. Reprieve No. 1.

Richard and his co-workers drifted along for several months with this knowledge hanging over their heads but trying to carry on as if it was business as usual. Co-workers left for other jobs. He was sending out resumes. Add to this the fact that we had discovered he would most likely see a significant reduction in his salary should he find a new job.

June 30th loomed ever closer and still things had not changed. It was a couple of weeks before the deadline, and FINALLY, the employees who were still there were told they were being kept permanently. Reprieve No. 2.

While we were thankful Richard was still employed, things were tough nonetheless. The job he had always done was no more. He was very unhappy with the direction his duties had taken and continued to search for a position with another company.

Finally, my piano teacher suggested Richard send his resume to her husband who could forward it on to the right people. I will spare you the details, but it was such a God-thing. Richard was not only offered a job with this company doing the job he had always done, but he didn’t have to take a pay-cut either! The benefits were comparable, and the company would even recognize his time of service with his previous employer. So, after one year with the new company, he will even be back to the same amount of vacation he had when he left his old company! Reprieve No. 3.

This is, obviously, a big way in which God has helped and provided for us over the past year. There are so many others, but for the sake of the service today, this was certainly a biggie.

I’m so thankful to God. He gave me such peace during the whole entire situation. I didn’t know how God was going to work things out, but I knew that He would. I’m not just thankful for how He provided; I am thankful for the way He made His presence known to me in the midst of a difficult and trying time.

And in case you were wondering, my Ebenezer was a computer mouse. How about you? What has God done for you over the past year, and what would you use to represent your “stone of help?”

Blessings,

Today was a wonderful day spent with family. We began by cooking breakfast together. Homemade biscuits with honey and molasses from our local farmer’s market and scrambled eggs with melted cheese. Ummm, I could get hungry again just thinking about it.

We turned on the Christmas music station on satellite, and gathered our Christmas lights from the attic. A good part of the morning was filled with testing of the lights and replacing of old bulbs. What could have been an onerous task was made enjoyable by the fact that we were all working together as a family and just enjoying spending time with one another. It didn’t matter really what we were doing, only that we were together while doing it.

My in-law’s came by, and we made the trip over to our local mega mall. This, too, was enjoyable. Yes, the place was quite packed with people, but the sights and sounds were just fun. The beautiful decorations and music were a veritable treat.

Dinner at a local restaurant on the way home, and I now sit here in front of my computer feeling tired but quite contented.

It truly is the little things sometimes.

It is my prayer for myself as well as each of you reading this that there will be many more days like this during the busy holiday season rather than the stress that can so easily overcome us this time of year.

And no, I haven’t forgotten that we haven’t celebrated Thanksgiving yet. More on that tomorrow.

Blessings,

This morning as I stood in our bathroom listening to the gentle sound of rain falling on the skylight, I felt that “gentle nudge” to go downstairs. I wasn’t really sure why. I hadn’t finished getting ready, and there was still some time before I had to wake my husband and daughter up to get ready for work and school. Still, the Voice was insistent, so I obediently went downstairs wondering what I would find.

Daylight was just beginning to break, and I could see that the sound I had heard on my skylight upstairs was actually the sound of sleet mixed with a few snow flurries, an unusual sight here in North Carolina to be sure. The sleet had begun to accumulate on my back deck, but, to be honest, the sight wasn’t much to behold. Still, I stood there watching.

After about a minute, the sleet became less, and suddenly, it was snowing! I watched in amazement as the flakes became larger.

My house backs up to woods, and right now, they are a tangled mess of brambles and brown, dead leaves. Certainly not particularly appealing to look at.

But as I sat and watched the snow fall against the backdrop of those seemingly unsightly woods, my perspective began to change. Seeing those woods with the beautiful snow falling all around them somehow had made them look beautiful as well.

As I watched this glorious sight, I began to realize this is exactly what God does for us. It is why He sent His Son to die for us.

Our hearts are brown and dead on the inside just as those woods are from the sin that fills us. But just as that snow falling changed the way those woods looked, so does God’s view of our hearts change at that moment when we ask for forgiveness of our sins and that Jesus come in to live and wash our hearts as white as snow.

My heart was so full as I thought about this this morning. I sat there thanking God for loving me, for sending Jesus to save me, and for sending me downstairs that I might share this special moment with Him.

It was such a beautiful time spent with Him alone before the hustle and bustle of the day began, and it set the tone for my entire day. What a wonderful God we serve!

Sweet Blessings,