Today is Thanksgiving Day and it could have been very easy to skip over this part of my day, but when I was developing my timeline for this week and my checklists for what needed to be completed on each day, I gave myself enough time in this early morning portion of my day to allow for NO EXCUSES 🙂 I truly treasure my time with God each and every morning. And I love getting to share some of that time with my blog readers each morning also. THis morning I read quite a few portions of scripture, and the one that stood out to me the most is from the NLT version of the bible (New Living Translation), while I must say that this version is probably my least favorite….actually 2nd least favorite paraphrase/translation of the Bible (NLT is a paraphrase), I looked at this portion of scripture in a couple of other versions, and I like this the best for today (that doesn’t mean that next week I wouldn’t blog on a different version of the exact same scriptures, but for today, this version states the scriptures in the best manner for what God put on my heart in regards to them.
John 3:19-21 (NLT) And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.
Today is Thanksgiving, the official beginning of the Holiday Season. And all of us will be spending more time with family, friends, coworkers, and even strangers over the next 5-6 weeks. That oftentimes brings hurt feelings, misunderstandings, pain, reminders of grief, and even fighting. One thing that I have learned in my life is to look at why the fighting, misunderstandings, etc are happening? Is it because of different personalities, or past hurts, or could it be God in you? I have a very close family member that walked out of my life 12 years ago and the only thing that I can figure out is that it had to do with my faith and walk with God, and choosing to live in the light and not in the darkness. Not to say that this family member is evil or anything of that sort, she does have her issues with bitterness, anger, and hatred, but she isn’t evil. She is actually a good person at heart, however she doesn’t know the Lord. And in fact, has directly rejected the Lord (my prayer is that God has softened her heart in the past 12 years and that she is now walking with Him or at least closer to that).
This passage of scripture brings me comfort when I am feeling abandoned and lonely for this close family member. I have to remember that the Light of Christ in my life, reflects the sin and darkness in her life, and it was more than she could handle. God has to deal with that, there is nothing that I can do to change that except for pray. It isn’t anything that I have done or have control over, she is in God’s hands.
Do you have friends, family member or co-workers that reject you? Please take heart that it may not be anything personal, it may be your faith, the Light of Christ in your life. Trust that God has a plan in this, even if it is to remove a close family member (like a mom) from your life for a time. It is painful, very painful, but I know that God is working it for His Good, and in that I find GREAT comfort!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving everyone, and enjoy your family, friends, neighbors and food today! Remember to count your blessings, and share God’s love with others.
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