Month: November 2020

Thanksgiving2020

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Thanksgiving

“To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.”                                                                             -Johannes A. Gaertner

Thanksgiving 2020

In just a few days we will be celebrating Thanksgiving.  2020 has been a year that has come with incredible change, loss, uncertainty, fear and tension, and yet it has also been a year of innovation, intentional connection, and creativity.

As you walk into this holiday, even if it looks completely different than every year before, it is our sincere prayer that you would see Jesus in your day.  That grace and peace and love would warm your home.  That hope and expectation and laughter would light your table. That joy would not only come to visit, but linger for a while.

Happy Thanksgiving

             Finding Zarephath

 

Unanswered Prayer

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Garth Brooks, “Unanswered Prayer”

 Thanksgiving Musical – Act I

“Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayer” and “I could’ve missed the pain, but I’d have missed the Dance” are both lyrics to old Garth Brooks songs.  All morning long, as I’ve pondered today’s blog post, these songs have been swirling around.  As I’ve contemplated what those unanswered prayers are, another lyric has drifted in.  From “The Father’s house,” by Bethel Music, “the story isn’t over, if the story isn’t good,” joins in the musical number in my head.  Do you have days that your internal dialog is musical?  Maybe it’s just me, but let me welcome you to the Thanksgiving musical in my head.

Garth Brooks, “The Dance”

 

 

Thinking Shift – Intermission

We’ve spent the last few weeks talking about living in an attitude of thanksgiving.  Choosing to see God in the big and little things in our lives.  Last week I shared the beginning my “month of thanksgiving” list, and that list continues.  It’s filled with similar things, the small moments, the simple reflections.  Every now and then a bigger one pops in, like when my dear friends’ son walks away from what could’ve been a very tragic car accident, but for the most part it’s been a focus on being grateful for the things I take for granted, choosing to adopt a spirit of joy and hope over negativity.

Then today, the thinking shifts a little.  There are things I have wanted, desired, needed, cried over and pleaded for that didn’t happen.  I have had seasons of being angry at God, or at least distrusting.  I’ve had seasons of crying out, when the desired answer didn’t come.  And with the benefit of hindsight, I can see how most of those moments are opportunities to thank God for unanswered prayers.  Not all of them; there are losses so profound in my story and others’ that I have had to reach the point of accepting that God knows more, sees more, understands more, and that He is infinitely good, even when it doesn’t look like it from my small world view.  If that is you today, I pray peace over you.

Bethel Music, “The Fathers House”

A New Story – Act II

If you are not in an immediate crisis moment, and you are simply reflecting on your reasons to be thankful, today I want to challenge you to revisit the “unanswered prayer” moments.  For clarity, “unanswered” isn’t necessarily the right word, it’s “no” or “not that way” or “not this time” or “not yet.”  So often we believe the way we need something resolved is the only way it can be resolved, and whatever version of unanswered prayer we experience feels wrong.

So, I take a closer look at my story.  I go back to the way I’ve allowed it to be written, and I ask God, if I need a rewrite?  Are there things that I’ve attributed as lost or unanswered that I need to take a closer look at? And then we journey together, through relationship pasts, through friendships that have come and gone,  thru ministries and seasons.  Jobs.  Houses.  Cars.   And every step of the way, He shows me the beauty He traded for ashes.  The beautiful mosaic created of broken pieces.  The near misses.  The roads that were better not traveled. 

Will you do the same?  Will you take a moment and lay the unanswered prayers you carry at His feet.  Will you lay down your expectations on what was supposed to be?  And in those still tender places, those not quite healed yet, not quite in the safe distance of hindsight, can you hear Him as He whispers, “the story isn’t over, if the story isn’t good.”

 

Heart Condition

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Accepting the Challenge

It’s November and appropriately we’ve been talking about giving thanks.  But we can all agree, it’s been a weird year.  A year of uncertainty, a year of change.  A year of political tensions, racial tensions, and religious tensions.  A year of illness and fear.  A year of scrambling to adjust our businesses, our social engagements, our worship to fit the new guidelines and mandates.  It would be really easy to get lost in the struggles of loneliness, uncertainty, and fear and move quickly past this season of Thanksgiving in the hopes of quickly ushering in a new year.  A new year with new hopes, new plans, new joys.  But God calls us to a life of peace in the now, an attitude of thanksgiving every day, to find joy in the moment, to be fully present, fully engaged.  Looking only to the future, seeking the change or the fix, will rob us of all our joy in the now.

Last week, we asked you to join us in giving thanks every day.  We challenged you and ourselves to open our hearts to let God work in us, heal us, and grow us, through learning to be just as grateful in the little things as the big things.  I committed to joining this challenge, and so with the help of a dear friend, we’ve been posting our daily thanks in a shared message.  We’re only 10 days in (truthfully only 7 because I started right after last week’s blog post), but I wanted to share a little of what’s happening to me…

I have some amazing big things to be thankful for.  If you read our blog regularly you know some of the big stories, but this month, I’ve really been focused on the everyday.

 

 

 

Making the List

  1. Election Day/The country I get to live in
  2. My family, kids who more often than not, bring me great joy
  3. The previous 17 years at a ministry that I love.  Even in the hard times, they were the most amazing years of ministry & growth, more than I ever thought I would have.
  4. That my future & hope belongs to God and not this election.
  5. Evenings with no kids at home
  6. Nights I don’t have to cook.
  7. Water – in all it’s forms but today it’s an outdoor hot tub at the gym
  8. Amazing women friends
  9. Excitement and vision new FZ plans
  10.  Afternoon naps
  11.  Game nights with friends
  12.  New Blinds and a hubby who hangs them
  13.  Football games in the sunshine in November
  14.  Chinese Food
  15.  Dad’s negative Covid Test
  16.  Family Game Nights
  17.  German Food
  18.  Getting to visit really big cuddly horses –  made me feel like a kid again
  19.  An unexpected phone call with a friend
  20.  Change of plans that allowed me to go to my son’s football game.
  21.  An impromptu dinner out with the whole family.

Inviting Change

That’s it.  It’s not super spiritual or deep.  It’s not an attempt to explain why I’m grateful for each thing.  There are no rules about what qualifies of being worthy of this list.  It’s just simply a recap of the day and the things that I appreciated.  Sometimes I flesh those our further in prayer and talk to God about why something brought me such joy, but sometimes it just is what it is.  And can I tell you something?  It’s changing me.  I’ve only been doing this a week, but I see it in the little things.  I’m less grumpy, less pessimistic, less easily frustrated.  Acknowledging a great interaction or experience with someone, smooths over the bumpy moments in another interaction (especially with family).  Focusing on the positive of a change in plans leaves me less cranky than simply having to accept a change of plans. 

All the daily frustrations still exist, but its an extra moment of joy, a grateful heart instead of a resentful one, a wave of peace over anxiety.  Somehow this list of things to be grateful for, taking the time to write it down, reflecting on it, and talking to God about it, is creating space for more love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, and gentleness.  Won’t you join us?  Really, what do you have to lose?  If a moment of thanksgiving creates more space for these gifts, isn’t it worth it?  Don’t the people in your life deserve that version of you, doesn’t the world, don’t you?

 

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”     -Philippians 4:8

Practicing Gratefulness

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Reflecting

About two years ago I made an earnest effort to end my day writing down three things I was grateful for that day. As with all new habits I was not as consistent as I wanted to be. I kept at it though and now it is rare that I miss day.
Looking back the change it has made in my day to day was subtle. I noticed more things to be grateful for during the course of the day so that I could stop writing that I was thankful for dinner every day. I mean, I was, but I was missing the point I think. There are 100s of little things to be grateful for in a day. That the lights turn on, toothpaste, that the refrigerator works, the sleeping smiles of my family, hot coffee, blankets and that is all before breakfast! My prayers all tend to begin with thanks now; that is not how they began most of my life.
The biggest surprise is that I have become grateful for people who irritate me. I know that sounds backwards but I have become grateful for people who are nothing like me. Grateful for God’s amazing creation. He tells us “Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God.” Philippians 4:6.  I can attest that a posture of gratitude does drive that worry away. It is quite miraculous. I did not start on my quest with this verse in mind, yet I can personally testify to its absolute truth.
May you choose gratefulness today.   -Peni

 

 

 

 

A Month of Thanksgiving

It’s not unusual this time of year for us to talk about remembering the things we are grateful for.  And here at FZ we can’t think of any reason why we wouldn’t continue that practice, however, as always, we hope to challenge you to more.  More that just a moment of thanks, more that just a list of things, more than just an exercise for one month of the year.  As I read my friend Peni’s reflection, and remembered walking life with her early in that journey, I realize haven’t really leaned into this either.  I am incredibly grateful for the life God has given me, my family, and my friends.  I am grateful for the country I get to live in, the churches I get to serve, the ministry I get to be a part of.  I am grateful for our pets, and our vacations, and working cars.  I am grateful for our health and safety. I am grateful for so much, and yet, I know that gratefulness is not the attitude I live and operate out of daily.

Today, I take up the challenge to list 3 things daily that I am grateful for, to include those things in my conversations with God, and to let an attitude of thankfulness take root in my heart.  Will you join me?  There are no hard and fast rules, you can list one thing or fifty, you can discuss it over dinner or  journal or pray. You can invite your friends to do it with you,  or keep it private between you and God.  But I believe, if I commit to it, and allow God access to my heart and my attitudes He can use this to change me, to heal me, to bring me joy.  Ultimately it’s another step in chasing after the life He has for us, and I am always up for pursuing more of Him, are you?