It’s been a fast November. I have a regret. I didn’t do my usual November thirty days of thanks and now The Thursday is almost here. So from our home to yours.
I celebrated today with my Office Family. I cannot thank Father GOD enough for His provision and favor upon us when He set me in place at Holt & Associates. We are grateful.
When you gather in your respective places on Thursday, I hope your coming together will not be about just food and feasting; please sprinkle the day with generous helpings of thanks. I long for us, The Body of Christ, to experience celebrations with family and friends that are more than just eating holiday foods, laughter, family shenanigans, and afternoon naps. I’m not frowning on those things — not at all! Let’s do all that but can we go deeper? Can we have prayer and worship too? Can we sing songs together? Can we encourage one another with the Joy of The LORD – recounting what He has done all year for us? In other words, can we just flat-out GIVE THANKS? Lots of thanks for HE surely deserves it!
Nehemiah 8:10 New Living Translation 10 And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”LINK
I confess all these names in Nehemiah are not in my vocabulary. Pronouncing them — nope can’t do it. But let me tell you, I appreciate them.
Why?
All those names tell me GOD knows the people attached to the names. Each and every one of them, He knows their name! But that’s not all — He knows your name. He knows my name.
There’s more! Twice in this one chapter, He says this: “468 men of valor” and “123 mighty men of valor”.
Can you imagine GOD calling you a mighty man or woman of valor?
How good is that?!
As I read Nehemiah, chapters 8 and 9, 9:2 in part says this: ‘and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers’, and I wondered if many of us do the same.
We seem so busy we miss enough respites of quiet to even see our sins much less to seek deliverance from those strongholds handed down in us from generations before us.
We could study our spiritual heritage and see the good and the not good; we could give thanks for the holy and denounce and forsake the unholy.
The art of quiet, real quiet saturated in peace and jeweled with smiles; based on Scripture, we could have it if we seek it and choose it.
We are glad you are here; stay a while, look around, and be encouraged. We estimate there to be over 3,000 posts here at The White Stone Blog. Please know my hope is ALWAYS to help and NEVER harm. I have voiced many opinions and thoughts here since 2007 and by now I MAY NOT EVEN AGREE with all of them and some of my grammar and punctuation likely needs editing. But this is changeless: JESUS is our ONLY Savior and Hope. Do you KNOW Him?
Good morning!
