Hope is Eternal! Life on Earth is Fleeting like the Wings of a Butterfly, but the good news is we have Eternal Life and Hope
The Lord Lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! Psalm
18:46
Thanksgiving is a national holiday
celebrated at different times of the year to give thanks for the blessing of
the harvest for the previous year. Families develop their own traditions. In
the South, turkey stuffed with cornbread dressing is common. My mother-in-law
passed down her recipe, which I use and enjoy.
I have always enjoyed having guests
for the holidays. When my children were small and still at home, I cooked huge
family meals. One year, unexpected guests arrived with the family, and the small
home couldn’t hold all the dinner guests. The cramped kitchen held only a small
table. By the time the turkey was served, the place was bursting with people
trying to find plates and utensils for eating. Borrowed ones from my
mother-in-law had to suffice. Guests took plates outside and sat on the small
front porch.
A lot has changed over the years. I
no longer live in the same place or in the same state. I’ve lost family members.
My children are grown and have all made me a grandmother thirteen times. My
mother, father, and youngest sister live in their heavenly homes. Some of the
most loved people in my life are no longer here to share the holidays.
Last year this time, I didn't know if I would live to see another Thanksgiving. God blessed me with one last year with three out of four of my children and their families. The doctor wasn't ready for me to leave the hospital, but I told him it might be my last Thanksgiving, and I wanted to spend it with my children who lived over seven hundred miles away. He let me go home to be with them. I wasn't able to cook, but hubby, his brother, and my sons took care of two turkeys and a ham outside while their wives and my youngest daughter took care of the remaining food.
Thank God this year, I am able to cook. My husband is going to do the turkey outside, and I will take care of the remaining items. My children won't be here for Thanksgiving this year, and I know I'm going to really miss them, but I thank God for last Thanksgiving when we could all be together. Lord, willing I will see another one, but just as anyone else living today, we have no guarantees, so if you don't already know the good Lord, I pray you will develop a personal relationship with him. He has been with me every step of the way, answered prayers, given me strength, and I don't need coping skills because He is the way I cope. I take it to the Lord in prayer. A relationship with Him is the best one you can ever develop. I know I wouldn't be here today if not for Him. Thank you, God, for all the blessings in my life. I love You!
Last year this time, I didn't know if I would live to see another Thanksgiving. God blessed me with one last year with three out of four of my children and their families. The doctor wasn't ready for me to leave the hospital, but I told him it might be my last Thanksgiving, and I wanted to spend it with my children who lived over seven hundred miles away. He let me go home to be with them. I wasn't able to cook, but hubby, his brother, and my sons took care of two turkeys and a ham outside while their wives and my youngest daughter took care of the remaining food.
Thank God this year, I am able to cook. My husband is going to do the turkey outside, and I will take care of the remaining items. My children won't be here for Thanksgiving this year, and I know I'm going to really miss them, but I thank God for last Thanksgiving when we could all be together. Lord, willing I will see another one, but just as anyone else living today, we have no guarantees, so if you don't already know the good Lord, I pray you will develop a personal relationship with him. He has been with me every step of the way, answered prayers, given me strength, and I don't need coping skills because He is the way I cope. I take it to the Lord in prayer. A relationship with Him is the best one you can ever develop. I know I wouldn't be here today if not for Him. Thank you, God, for all the blessings in my life. I love You!
Warmth and friendliness of family
and friends make up for whatever trivial items are lacking. Though a lot has changed,
some things never will. I thank God for the family who shares my holidays.
The kitchen table is larger, and I have matching plates and silverware, but love
for family and thanking God for the blessings he has bestowed upon us and the
mercies he has given us will never change.
The heart of the family and
thanking God for His blessings and your family is what Thanksgiving is all
about, so have a blessed one!
Author’s Note: The
cornbread dressing or stuffing recipe used by my family for generations is
included at the end of my historical romance River Oaks Plantation and
makes a wonderful recipe for use at Thanksgiving as well as Christmas. Our
family uses it for both. The book is available for the Kindle through Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/River-Oaks-Plantation-B-Robinson-ebook/dp/B00H8XZLCE
Wonderful Christmas gift for the readers in your life. Awesome cornbread dressing recipe at the end for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Southern Writers Magazine showcased as a Must Read. "I was so enthralled with this story that I had to keep reading it to the very end." Amazon best-seller. Indie Award winner. Love and romance endure, grow, and flourish. Experience the antebellum South with Maggie and Danny and weather the storm with Cammie and Noah. Noah still has the ring he bought for Cammie years ago. Should he give it to her and ask the question he never did? Threatened by nature & man, can love survive? Love through a raging, killer hurricane and river flood. Noah fights to save Cammie to save the love that could have been. Whose life will the river claim? http://www.amazon.com/River-Oaks-Plantation-B-Robinson-ebook/dp/B00H8XZLCE/
Wonderful Christmas gift for the readers in your life. Awesome cornbread dressing recipe at the end for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Southern Writers Magazine showcased as a Must Read. "I was so enthralled with this story that I had to keep reading it to the very end." Amazon best-seller. Indie Award winner. Love and romance endure, grow, and flourish. Experience the antebellum South with Maggie and Danny and weather the storm with Cammie and Noah. Noah still has the ring he bought for Cammie years ago. Should he give it to her and ask the question he never did? Threatened by nature & man, can love survive? Love through a raging, killer hurricane and river flood. Noah fights to save Cammie to save the love that could have been. Whose life will the river claim? http://www.amazon.com/River-Oaks-Plantation-B-Robinson-ebook/dp/B00H8XZLCE/
Hope Lives even as a Last Resort
"Brothers and sisters, we do not want
you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve
like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. . . . For the Lord himself will
come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and
with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are
left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another
with these words." 1 Thessalonians
verses 4:13, 16-18
She and I stood in the front
yard of the old apartment house. Lisa wore a light pink suit jacket, and her
sad brown eyes looked directly into mine as she said, "I hope it's not
cancer. I don't want to die." That visual image is sealed in my mind as
vivid today as it was seven years ago when I lost my youngest sister. Bird-like
hands clutched a shining gold star with a pearl-head pin. She handed it to me, "I want you to wear this."
When she died, the heavens raged. Storm clouds covered the land and hurricanes
blew in from the sea. That year, twelve blustery ones battered America's
shores. The last, a storm named Lisa, tiny and non-threatening like her,
eventually faded out over land. On September 13, a summons came for Lisa. Sent
on a mission, angels ferried another angel home. As I fell to my knees bedside
my bed and cried, I said a silent prayer. Then, I opened my Bible, and the Comforter
sent me encouragement. I knew then, that even in death, hope lived, for I'd see
my youngest sister again in heaven. Thanks to Jesus, hope is eternal.
Dear Lord, thank you for Your
encouraging Word and the gift of eternal life through Your son, Jesus. Thank
you for opening my eyes so I no longer grieve without hope, Amen.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL
VERSION, copyright 1973, 1978, & 1984 by International Bible Society. Used
by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
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Happy Thanksgiving! Have a safe, blessed one. Thank you for stopping and browsing.
