There is a song called 'Give Thanks', written by Henry Smith and recorded by songwriter and singer Don Moen. 'Give Thanks' is simple in it's lyrics but powerful in it's message. "Give thanks with a grateful heart Give thanks unto the Holy One Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son And now let the weak say, 'I am strong' Let the poor say, 'I am rich Because of what the Lord has done for us' Give thanks" I Thessalonians 5 says " 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." So many people struggle to give thanks when life hits hard. This scripture doesn't say to give thanks FOR those trials, but to give thanks IN all circumstances as we go through them. There is power in thanksgiving. God has been trying to teach me to give thanks in all circumstances for a while now. When I was going t...
It was a dark and stormy night…… Just kidding My story starts on a beautiful day in Hocking Hills, Ohio. Our family all met together down south of where I live, in the beautiful county of Hocking Hills, Ohio. My husband Dave couldn’t join us due to his work schedule. I traveled three hours to meet up with our daughter, her husband and 3 children and our son, his wife and their four children, where we all stayed in cabins and agreed to meet up the next morning at Cedar Falls, one of the gorgeous falls in the area. We had a wonderful time hiking, wading and climbing. All the kids got along great with each other, whom they hadn’t seen in way too long, and between 5 adults constantly counting 7 children, we felt safe letting the kids climb and explore the caves and caverns in the area. We eventually went to Ash Cave and ended our hiking that day at Cantwell Cliffs. I remember when our son announced our last stop for that Thursday was to go to Cantwell Cliffs, I remarked...
I’ve been around the sun more than a few times since I was born. It goes without saying that things in this world have changed…quite dramatically. My generation was raised to be kind and to respect others. We gave up our seats for our elders, we didn’t talk back to our parents (or get away with it), and we respected authority, at least outwardly. Even if we didn’t agree with other people, we were taught that “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.” Fast forward to today, where people feel the need to comment as rudely as they want, without knowing the facts behind what is going on most times. And you are wrong if you don’t agree with what they are putting out there, so they won’t skip a beat to tell you so. It’s hard to feel compassionate for those types of people, yet scripture encourages us in Ephesians 4:32 to "be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Most days I just roll my eye...
The whole sweet family!! How Precious!!
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Looks good to these eyes. Laurie
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