Thankfulness in everything

Take a few minutes each day to thank the Lord for something.

Here are some more entries. I do write daily but I don't always have the time to put them on the blog. May these posts encourage at least one person to be thankful daily.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Today is Mark’s birthday. I am extremely thankful for him He is a great husband and father. He is always there for me and our children. His grandchildren love their Papa and laugh at all his corny jokes. They look forward to “Papa time”.

I thank you, Lord, for his godly character and his willingness to share the gospel.

I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, Philemon 1:4

Friday, November 20, 2015

 O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Psalm 105:1

Today’s 5

1.God’s faithfulness

It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

2. God’s longsuffering

The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Numbers 14:18

3. God’s compassion

But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. Psalm 86:15

4. God’s mercy

For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. Psalm 100:5

5. God’s love

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. I John 4:10

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Today’s 5

1. Cape anniversary trip with Mark

2. Great weather

3. Walk at Cape Cod National Seashore

4. Dinner at Jake Rooney’s

5. Safety

Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. Psalm 150:6

Have a thankful day,
Donna

Thankful Entries

The days are speeding by, it seems like yesterday was the first day of summer. Where does the time go?

               I keep a thankful journal and try to write often. One of my goals this month is to write something daily, whether a list or a verse. I’d like to share my entries:

Sunday November 1, 2015

               A month of “thankful” verses, verses with thank in them or verse that have helped me and I’m thankful for.

               Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalm 100:4

Monday November 2, 2015

               Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. I Chronicles 16:8

Today’s 5:

1.      Light in the morning

2.      Walking

3.      Breathing

4.      Nice weather

5.      Ability to pay bills

Joy dare – 3 gifts worn:

1.      Comfy sweatshirt

2.      Slippers

3.      Warm jacket

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

               Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. Psalm 68:19

Each and every day –daily, God loads us up with wonderful blessings, the greatest being salvation.

Today’s list:

1.      Beautiful sunset on ride home yesterday

2.      Bible study at Whaler’s Cove

3.      Sunshine

4.      Great fall weather

5.      Warm oatmeal

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

               Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart ©. Psalm 32:11

               This verse makes me happy and thankful. Be glad means to “brighten up”. Rejoice means to “spin around” Shout for joy means  “to creak.. to shout..aloud for joy” .

               What a great way to start the day. Oh, Lord help me to meditate on this verse and keep my heart © “upright” in You.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

               That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.  Psalm 26:7

               O Lord, help me to proclaim your greatness and praise your wonderful Name.

Joy dare – 3 gifts acorn –small

               What a funny thing to be thankful for – small things, but there are many small things that hold large significance.

1.      Ants – we learn so much from an ant by just watching – hard workers – diligent – can carry 10-50 times body weight Proverbs 6:6

2.      Seeds – I have been “sprouting seeds” and it is amazing after 4-5 days that little seeds “sprout” to become part of my salad – miracle of God

3.      A grain of sand- everything God made

               Just trying to think of small things can be mind boggling, so many in the plant and animal kingdoms that are good. God’s perfect plan He made it all. Thank you Lord!

Friday, November 6, 2015

               This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

           
 Meanings of rejoice (spin around) and glad (brighten up) are the same as Psalm 32:11, Praise God!

               Put on a happy face (and really mean it) and be a blessing to someone. Help me Lord to do this each and every day!

Have a thankful day,
Donna

Action

1 A psalm of thanksgiving. Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. 3 Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.  Psalm 100 (NLT)

A Psalm of action, my part is to shout, worship, come, acknowledge, enter His gates, go into His courts, and give thanks. 

Why should I do this? The answer is in verse five. God is good, His unfailing love continues forever and His faithfulness continues to each generation. Praise God for His love and faithfulness to you (me)!!

Have a blessed day,
Donna

We Gather Together

I’ve always loved this hymn, having first learned it in Girl Scouts. Imagine the Girl Scouts teaching it today. I grew up in another time another era, an era where people were not afraid to teach about God. I learned the 23rd Psalm in the public school. Each and every morning my teacher would pray and read something from the Psalms.

As you gather together with family and friends take a minute or two or three to reflect on the goodness of God and all that He has blessed you with.

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing;
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be;
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Words & Music: This song of praise was originally written in 1597 to celebrate a Dutch victory. It appeared in Nederlandtsche Gedenckclanck, by Adrianus Valerus (Haarlem, Holland: 1626)

Arranged & translated from Dutch to Latin by Eduard Kremser in Sechs Altniederländische Volkslieder (Leipzig, Germany: 1877) Translated from German to English by Theodore Baker, 1894.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalm 100:4

Have a blessed day,
Donna

I have a great life!

I work at a yacht club, lots of crazy busyness in the summer months, not so busy from Labor Day on. As a matter of fact it slows down to a manageable pace. We can actually get work done in a timely matter, not so in the summer. One will start a task and get “sidetracked” all day by questions, other jobs that need to be done “yesterday” and so forth and so on. Some days I leave at the end of the day exhausted and think, “I got none of my work done” but I did accomplish lots of other odd jobs that needed to be finished.

We have a junior sailing program, where sailing is taught to children from 5 to 18. The sailing instructor staff is made up of high school (junior instructors) and college (senior instructors and sailing coaches) students, who know the craft of sailing. We hire instructors from all over the country who have been brought up in the sailing world. Most of our instructors have been sailing since young ages, participating in regattas (sailing races); it is in “their blood.”

One of the instructors, returning for her third year, is a young woman from the Midwest. She has a jubilant, exhilarating spirit, always happy and upbeat. The students as well as the parents adore her. She will stop by my office every few days just to say “hi” and tell me a story about a regatta she just attended with her students. I look forward to seeing her smiling face.

The other day she stopped by and was chatting about her day off. She had worked almost 3 weeks without a day off and never complained about it. The next day she was going to the Red Sox game with some friends. Remember this is Red Sox nation, everyone in New England loves the Sox (well almost everyone). She was so excited she was bursting inside, going to a Red Sox game was one of her “must do things” while in New England.

When I got a chance to get a word in, I said, “You have a pretty exciting life”. Her reply was, “I have a great life! I am so blessed.”

What a wonderful statement, as Christians do we see our life as a “great life”. I reveled in this statement for the next few days. I have a great life, my reasons are a little different than my friend, the sailing instructor, but a great life it is.

Here are just a few of my reasons:

God has made each and every day for me to enjoy.
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

God has provided me with many benefits the most important is His salvation.
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. Psalm 68:19

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippines 4:19

The Lord has blessed me with three wonderful children, and four amazing grandchildren.
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Psalm 127:3

God is always with me.
…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Heb 13:5

God loves me.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10

We love him, because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

I serve a great and marvelous God.
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Psalm 100:2

Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; 1 Chronicles 16:12

I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. Psalm 9:1

Have a blessed day,
Donna

Praise His Name

A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. Psalm 100

What a great Psalm for the Thanksgiving season. This is a psalm of praise. What is praise? Take off the “p” and you are left with raise – raise the name of the Lord. When we are raising His name and focusing on Him, He is the center of all of our attention. We raise His name by talking about Him, singing to Him, glorifying Him in all we do.

Sing and make a joyful noise to Him. Noise in this verse means figuratively to split the ears (with sound), that is, shout (for alarm or joy). When I think of all the blessings that are mine I want to shout and praise His Name. Every day He gives me benefits. (Psalm 68:19) Benefits I don’t necessary deserve but because of His love He provides me with all I need and more.

Serve God with gladness. He made us to serve and worship Him. We are the sheep, as sheep we are to follow the Shepherd. Follow with a thankful and praising attitude. Follow in love knowing the Shepherd only wants to bring us to green and plentiful pastures.

Be thankful to God for ALL HE has done. He is good, I can’t even imagine where I would be if it was not for His mercy. His truth will last forever. Reading and meditating on this psalm made me want to shout and jump for joy for all He has done, past, present and future. Make Him the center of your life today.

Have a thanking day,
Donna

Open gate

Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: Psalm 118:19

An open gate is very inviting; it says come on in and stay awhile. When the surroundings are serene and peaceful, you want to go and stay for a time of relaxation. On my walk I came across open gates. Gates swung open to allow passage into an open field or a large beautiful yard sitting on the ocean. Thinking about the gates we sometimes put around our hearts I considered the open gate. An open gate around our hearts bring to mind our relationship with God. When are hearts are open to God it can be a time of growth and learning. It is also a time of complete and total trust .

Ebedmelech was a man who trusted God with an open heart. Who is Ebedmelech? A servant of the king during the time of the prophet Jeremiah. As soon as Ebedmelech heard of Jeremiah being thrown in the dungeon of mud, he took action. He did not sit there contemplating what he should do, he did it. Ebedmelech went quickly to the king and told him what happened. He was not afraid of what the king would do to him, he was on a mission to help God’s prophet. His heart was open to the leading of God.

As a result of his obedience to God’s leading, the king listened and gave him a plan; go and get 30 men to help you. Ebedmelech found the men and took a bunch of old rotten rags to accomplish his mission. Jeremiah was rescued, but the story does not end. God sent a message to Ebedmelech that he would be protected from his enemies. God’s protection, the best protection one will ever receive. (Jeremiah 38:6-13; 39:16-18)

There are many traits our hearts can be opened to, here are a few:

• Open to God’s leading


• Open to His love


• Open to his compassion


• Open to His direction


• Open to the small still voice


• Open to His kindness and care


• Open to walking with Him in faith


• Open to change in our life no matter what the change – this could be a pleasant or scary situation.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalm 100:4

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20