You Are Blessed - IF

The Wright Turkeys wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness,

You are more blessed than the million who won't survive this week,

If you have never experienced the danger of battle,

The loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation,

You are ahead of 20 million people around the world.

If you attend a church meeting without fear of harassment,

Arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than almost

Three billion people in the world

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head

And a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change

In a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy

If your parents are still married and alive, you are very rare,

Especially in the United States

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful,

You are blessed because a majority can, but most do not

If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder,

You are blessed because you can offer God's healing touch

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in this 

world, that cannot read anything at all

You are so blessed in ways you may never even know!

This was the poem I copied  for our Thanksgiving a few years ago.  I framed it and placed it on the table with our Thanksgiving praise sheet. I do not remember where I found it, but the truths were so strong that I wanted to share it.               Happy Thanksgiving...see you next week!

One Year: God's Hand - Bravo God

As we enter this week of Thanksgiving, my thoughts go back to this time last year.  We returned from our Thanksgiving celebration to hear that our pastor had suffered a seizure that morning and was in the hospital.  Our thoughts stopped from our celebration to intercede for our young pastor and his family.

The news began to unfold that the seizure was the result of a brain tumor.  This past year, we have prayed and watched this man of God go through many surgeries and chemo treatments.

Today, he marched out onto the platform to preach to his body that now has multiple locations and numerous services. He has missed very few Sundays throughout this past year.  As I received the word from God  through this man, I couldn't help but offer up thanks for what God has done in his life and through his life this last year.

Today I say, "Bravo, Bravo God!" for the life of Matt Chandler and the testimony that has covered the world.

You can hear his testimony through many sources.  Just enter "Matt Chandler" in google and page after page will appear. I pray that by my sharing his testimony you will also be encouraged in your journey..I know I have been and still am.
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/11/01/one-year-later-an-interview-with-matt-chandler/

Use It Or Lose It

Around the age of 45...maybe a little before that, I kept hearing these words over and over again. I am sure the over and over again is because I was starting to forget things.

Use It or Lose It

I knew these words meant I needed to focus on different areas of my life that I wasn't using...most specifically, exercising.  Like so many things, I felt I could pick it up when I desired and my abilities would be waiting there for me.

Five years down the road, well, I walk and stretch some.  I have had my back rebel a couple of times since my sixth child and his 10 pound entrance into the world...meaning I need to exercise and stretch more.

So the storms blew in and I didn't want to lose my days of walking, so I thought I would turn the television on and exercise with Gilad. Hey, I had done this in my early 30's and could more than keep up with the pace, so confidently I ventured into the exercise routine.  Surely my long forgotten body, my dancer's body would respond with very graceful movements to the counts.

Well, to my horror, the saying came flooding back to my memory!!!  USE IT OR LOSE IT!!!  

I am so glad candid camera wasn't installed and my whole house was vacant of any eyes.  If I could lose pounds by laughing that would have been the calories I lost.  It was just toooooooooooo funny!!!  I couldn't keep up with the movements, my legs went to the right, while he was going to the left.  Their kicks would go double time, while I was still on the first kick and  the wrong foot.  As they did stomach crunches  up and down, over and over again...well I collapsed...forget my stomach muscles.........I DON''T HAVE ANY!!!

At the end I was sweating....laughing by myself and I started to tell my brain that it has fooled me.  What was my brain thinking when it thought I could still keep pace and with grace, like I had done so easily years ago?

What a lesson!  Use it or lose it!  That saying works for so many things in our life.  Our spiritual walk, our relationships, our manners, our education...the list goes on and on.  I am going to pause and make me a list...which is a miracle for a non-list person, and see what abilities I have that I am not using.  Even if I have to use glasses to do some of it again. Stretching will allow my body more flexibility and other non-used abilities will stretch my brain.

I am so glad you didn't see it....but I can say, it would have given you a very good laugh or for some of you a smile!
I couldn't resist adding a clip from Lucy!!!  I have heard that laughing does burn up calories!!!