"The Rose of Thankfulness" ------------------------------

                                             'Honor-Cherish Rose'

Father God,

This is the time of the year when many families come together....Meals are being prepared...and appetites are being planned around the meals...
'We have so much to be thankful for' is a statement I am hearing over and over...

Lord, I know it's true...We are a very blessed nation. And  I thank you that you have blessed us as a country....amen Lord Jesus...You are who You say You are....

Below,...is a note we had an opportunity to send through the USO,... to a soldier serving overseas...
Let's say a prayer for them on this Thanksgiving Day.
And remember...we must remain a thankful, knowledgeable nation...we must hold fast to that which has been entrusted to us...

"FREEDOM"..

To an unknown soldier...

How can we say thank-you?..
By remembering that freedom isn't free.

I will remember you in prayers...

You are covered by His Grace. May you know the peace that comes from Him alone.

In this land so many miles away, our hearts are bound together by the common thread of love.

Your love for our nation drew you there... Our love will bring you home.
Yet while you are there, His love will hold you safe and secure.

When you lay your head down at night...rest knowing that He has never lost sight of you...

You are an American treasure...
and you are God's special child.

  Let Him hold you through the storm....
 And when the storm passes,
as sure as the dawn...you will find Him in the stillness.....

Peace my friend...Find strength in His Word....

Psalm 139...Jeremiah 29:11-13...Psalm 37: 3-7

In His Service, Sally and Bob

Let us not only be thankful...
Let us remain freely and resolved,...One Nation of Prayer...under God and indivisible.

"An Audience of One"

"For the word of God is alive and powerful.
It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.
It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires" Hebrews 4:12

As I stood there, I held my arms out...my palms were up...I was praising in a sanctuary filled with people. I had an audience of One. And that is all that mattered.

In my life, especially in earlier years, I was often concerned with 'what' people thought of me. I think a counselor would say I was 'approval' driven. 
It was exhausting.
Later on, and at some point, I didn't care what anyone thought.
It was lonely.
Fortunately, I realized extremes are not necessarily healthy either.

As I have gotten older, I have moved through the extremes and have found a balance and a place of freedom.
Somewhere along the way, I realized that if I allowed God to be my only audience,
the rest would fall into place.
When I surrender, whether I am praising Him in a sanctuary or alone in my home, I realize yet again, so much of what I do, is never about me.
When I offer who I am to Him, and simply raise my offering
in sweet abandon to the God of the Universe...
that is precisely the moment it all makes sense.
My audience of One smiles lovingly.
It is refreshing.

Choosing to praise Him and to live in a way that is befitting a King,
is not about outward appearance.
It is instead, always about the surrender and the leaning into Him.

It is about humbling our hearts before Him.. see (James 4:10)
It is about choosing to take every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ. see (2 Corinthians 10:5)
It is about learning to trust Him, when we can't see which way He is leading. see (Romans 8:28)

We must choose not to fear what others may think when the Holy Spirit moves in us to worship freely, and live a life surrendered.

For it is in that moment, when we respond to the Spirit of the Living God, that we are finally set free.
And it is good.

'Someone's Somebody'

                                                                John 15:13
        "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

I have been in a parade...many years ago with our marching band.It was what we did. It felt good to march and 'represent' !! 

We were young and free, marching to the beat of our drummer...We played the music loud and freely,..because we could. I was young and it meant something. But, that 'something' means even 'more' today. 

I am 30 years older, and I see life through a different lens. I am free!! I knew it then, but I truly recognize, remember and KNOW it now.  

Today, there is another parade.I am riding in it with an older man from our community in a Willy's Jeep. When I ride in that parade, I hope someone is watching through the lens of understanding that every freedom we have today came at a great cost to so many!
I hope we remember that each of these someones,who died for our privilege to live freely, really were..... 'somebody's someone'.... 

They gave up their right to live, to give us the privilege to live life freely..

Thank a veteran, for many of their very own somebodies died right at their side. And these names will be etched in their hearts forever.

In World War 2 alone, 50 million people, military and civilian died throughout the world, for this cause of freedom. May this number be etched in our hearts as well, one by one by one.

And, the next time you see a parade?
Wave your arms in wild abandon in honor of those who no longer can.  
Or place your hand over your heart and remember respectfully, those who have gone on to their grave. 
Do either one, because... 'somebody's someone' ...died, to give us that very freedom!