Thanksgiving Has a Rich Legacy, God Stories With Mary Beth Gilbert

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Hey friends, welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of Her God Story podcast where you will always

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hear a good story to build your faith and equip you in your walk with the Lord. I'm your host,

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Jodie Chiricosta, ministry leader at Somebody Cares America, an international author and

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traveler on this journey of faith. This episode is a slight departure from our normal format.

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With Thanksgiving coming, I've decided to focus on stories that will help you make the most out

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of your holiday. And to help with this, I've asked my friend Marybeth Gilbert to join me again.

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You may remember her testimony from previous episodes, but if you missed them, I encourage

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you to go back and listen to them sometime over the next month while you're cooking, cleaning,

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wrapping gifts, or making other holiday preparations. We've included her bio in the

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show notes too, so check them out when you have a moment. There are lots of different ways to

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celebrate Thanksgiving, and whatever promotes an attitude of gratitude in your heart and in those

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around you is to be praised. So Marybeth and I will share what's worked in our lives and families

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with the prayer that God will encourage you and give you ideas for your own celebrations.

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Welcome back, Marybeth. Thank you, Jody. It's great to be here. What's your favorite Thanksgiving

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memory and why was it meaningful to you? Well, it's interesting you ask my favorite Thanksgiving

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memory because I really don't have a favorite Thanksgiving to say, boom, that was it. But

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the memories that all surround Thanksgiving is what I love. My favorite thing, I guess,

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would be just the family and friends that we've had through the years as we gather around together.

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I love the traditional meal, the turkey and mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and green

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beans and all of that. Who can not love that? And through the years, I've added a couple recipes

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along the way. So that's become like a tradition in our family when I host. I love sitting around

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the dining room table with our china out and eating this feast together and visiting with family

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and friends. And at that point, the rush is over because everything's been prepared and you're

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sitting and you can enjoy and relax and you don't have to get up and run out the door to work or to

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run here and run that. It's like the rest of the day. It's just all family and enjoying and the

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foods. And I love bringing out the china every year. I don't know that maybe a lost art today.

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Do you think? Well, you know, I still bring out the china when we host Thanksgiving and it's fun

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to do. I thought I would use China a whole lot more than I do, but our lives have become more

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casual as the years go by and that's fine. But it is fun to get out the china every once in a while.

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Yes, I've started bringing it out not only Thanksgiving, but also for Easter

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and for other special occasions during the year. I love to set a pretty table. In fact, I tried to

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teach my daughter through the years, always set a pretty table, not just on Thanksgiving, but during

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the year when we're having regular dinners through the year as well. But just the laughing together,

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the telling stories, reminiscing, working together like in the preparations for Thanksgiving and then

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working together in the cleanup. You still have that fellowship. I love the holding hands and

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prayers before the meal. We have growing up, we always woke up to my dad having the Macy's parade

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on. Oh, yeah. That was a big thing. And so when we were little, as kids, we would gather with him

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and watch the parade for all those hours. And my mom was very much a snap to it, get it done type

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of woman. And she was, it was just easier and quicker for her if she was in there doing

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Thanksgiving dinner by herself, like she didn't ask for our help or anything. She was just

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like, she would just like put it on in no time. And so we, it probably just as well, my dad had us

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all in the family room watching the Macy's parade to keep us out of her hair. At the end, he'd make

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the big announcement, kids, this is it. Here comes the fat man in the big red suit. And then Christmas

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stuff started the day after. But just growing up, it was very basic. A lot of times it was just our

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family because our extended family was out of town. It was still fun. Sometimes we'd play games. My

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husband has a fun Thanksgiving memory. He's one of four boys. And they would gather with some friends

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at their high school and play football and called it the Turkey Bowl. And so every Thanksgiving

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morning they were off and I'm sure his mother loved it with four boys running around. She needed

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two to get things ready. So that's just some fun things. There were a lot of Thanksgivings that were

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not what I would say normal. Most were as an adult. I did enjoy Thanksgiving with my new family in

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Atlanta when I first got married. And we've always enjoyed our family Thanksgiving moments with them.

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They've always been a lot of fun. They were a little more people because they've got extended

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family close by. It was just great just to be together and to share and fellowship and all that.

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And when my sisters moved up to the Atlanta area, then we would have Miller Thanksgiving one day and

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Gilbert Thanksgiving the next day. So sometimes we would have two Thanksgivings. Back to back.

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Back to back. One year my precious sister and her husband delayed Thanksgiving a day so we could

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eat it with the Gilberts on Thanksgiving Day. And then the next day she had the day after had it for

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the Millers. But I told her please don't do that anymore. It was wonderful and so sweet and sensitive.

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But it was like no just have it on Thanksgiving. Leftovers are great. That's all part of it.

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Isn't it? Even the leftovers. Yeah now that we have adult children, some that are married,

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they're having to go back and forth between families or choose a family. And that changes

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the holiday tradition a little bit. But I remember growing up we spent most Thanksgivings at the home

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of the Kent's. They were a wonderful Christian family that opened their home to weekly Bible

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prayer meetings that we attended. And there were often 50 to 60 people around the Thanksgiving

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table. It was a very long table that would extend and extend and extend. They're young and old and

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everything in between. And their yard was huge. They had plenty of other kids around. So we had

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a lot of fun playing in the yard. After dinner everybody gathered together for a time of worship.

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And then we all played games together. My dad's job eventually moved us away. As I look back at

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those times, you know, they were probably the closest thing to real communion that I've

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experienced. Fellowshiping around the table, thankfulness to the Lord for the Lord's goodness,

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worshiping the Lord together, and a lot of joy and a lot of fun and a lot of fellowship. We try to

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replicate that now as much as we can as a family at Thanksgiving. But they're certainly not to that

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scale. Yes, that was really a wonderful time, including that worship and making that apart in

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a tradition. That's really awesome. I had some interesting Thanksgivings, I must say. They were

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not necessarily always traditional. And some things happened that weren't quite planned, but we

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celebrate anyway. And that's what I've learned is like, you have to be flexible. Things don't always

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go perfectly as maybe at the kins they seem to. Well, I was out playing, so I'm sure they didn't

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inside. But let me share some of our, you know, different Thanksgivings that we had, if you don't

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mind. One time, just some funny things. One time my mom turned on the stove. It was a digital one.

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My mom and sister were hosting some people for Thanksgiving, turned on the stove and then

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put the bird in. And after a while, I realized the bird was not cooking. Apparently my sister had

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accidentally turned the new digital stove off. And so the bird sat in the oven uncooked for all these

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hours. So even with guests, they ended up having all the sides and turkey for dessert. It was

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kind of funny. They got a big laugh out of that. One time we had terrible food for Thanksgiving.

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Can you imagine that? My dad had a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina and we all gathered

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there. Well, not all of us, but as many that could make it. Back then, the grocery stores

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weren't quite prepared to like prepare Thanksgiving dinners for you to pick up or this portion of it.

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Now they're more prepared and they're pretty good. Back then it was a novelty. And so being in the

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mountains, this one Publix not too far away started this in that area. And so they, nobody wanted to

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cook. So they thought, well, okay, we'll just go order from the Publix and brought it in. And that

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food was terrible. I happened to have made my one item that my husband loves and I make it every

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Thanksgiving Christmas and it's his homemade carrot souffle. And he just loves it. So I did

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make that and bring him. That was the only thing. And they went through that in like two minutes

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flat because it was the only thing. So we've had bad food. We've had delayed turkey. We've actually,

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my in-laws treated all of us to have Thanksgiving at a cabin resort in the North Georgia mountains

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one year. That was a lot of fun. We've had our COVID Thanksgiving where it was just the three of

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us, our daughter and my husband and me. And she had just come out of the big surgery down at Duke

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Medical Center. We'd just gotten home. I was exhausted. There was no way I was going to cook

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a big meal for just the three of us. So we ordered out at a local restaurant around here. The food

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was good, but I still got my china out. We put it on the china. We went in the dining room and we

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were in our pajamas. Not my husband, but my daughter and I, we had Thanksgiving dinner in pajamas

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at the dining room table. So another kind of funny memory. One year we had international students.

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We were pastoring. And so we invited the international students to our home for Thanksgiving.

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And that was quite interesting because at one point I noticed this one young woman was like

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staring at the food and she would take a bite and think. And I thought, I wonder what's going on here.

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So I asked her, I said, is everything okay? And she said, yes. She said, I'm just kind of amazed.

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And I said, at what? And I was thinking she may say like the abundance of the food, how many dishes

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we had out or whatever it was. She said, no. She said, in my country, if we have potatoes,

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it's just pure potatoes. There's nothing in it. You alter all your food. So we have sweet potatoes.

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It's just a sweet potato. Green beans, it was just the green beans. And I looked around and sure enough

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in the mashed potatoes, I had added the salt and pepper and I even put a little sour cream in mine

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and some butter. And then the sweet potatoes, I had added more sugar and I had nuts on top.

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And then the green beans had bacon and onions. And I, everything probably except the turkey

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had something mixed in. And so it just, then we got to talk to them about their country

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and their foods and what, and that just kind of made for an interesting.

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Yeah. Interesting conversation. Well, let's take a minute, Marybeth, and look at the story behind

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this beautiful holiday that we have. Share a little bit of the background of Thanksgiving and why it's

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such an important part of our nation. Because, you know, when you have the international students

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come and celebrate, I'm sure you shared why this Thanksgiving is a holiday for us.

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This celebration of Thanksgiving sometimes can get lost between the Halloween stuff out there

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and then the start of the Christmas season. And so we have just a short time for this one day.

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I try to extend it by bringing in small decorations of the harvest around my home and

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outside, just to remind me of God's plentiness and plentifulness and what he's done for us

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in providing so greatly for this nation. A lot of countries cannot say that we have had and enjoyed

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an incredible amount of abundance, but you know, this holiday, it actually is distinctly Christian

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and exclusively American. And I learned that even more so because I wasn't taught all of this in

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school. Now I know some of our homeschooling moms are teaching their children now the true Christian

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heritage of our nation, but I went to school in a public school and I did not get that. I got some

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basics. Yeah, we heard about the Mayflower and, you know, the pilgrims general story, but I did not

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get the rich traditional Christian faith and God's miracles that were really a part of it. Somehow

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they're trying to eradicate that through the years. And I think it's important that we bring

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that back into our celebration or at least be mindful of it in our hearts. So I ordered this

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book years ago. It's called Thanksgiving, A Time to Remember by Barbara Rainey. And it's a wonderful

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little, it's a nice looking book. It's very thin. You can set it on your coffee table, but it

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actually brings back the story and the richness of our Christian heritage in a way that I was never

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taught. So I'm going to refer to this book and maybe read certain parts out of it and all that.

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I think Barbara does an excellent job of bringing it full force, live and fresh to our attention.

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And I hope that it will spur others on to bring in that part of the celebration for Thanksgiving.

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The food and the fun and the football and all that is great. I'm into all that. But I think if we can

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just add the faith, a little bit more of our history and what makes this so unique, so remarkable,

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and such a rich heritage that we have that a lot of other nations don't have and don't celebrate.

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So it's good for us to remember these enormous sacrifices that the pilgrims made. And they came

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over, as we know, we probably learned this in school, on the Mayflower ship. And that was the

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vessel that God used to bring this group of Christian believers, and they were Christian

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believers, to our land all across that long Atlantic Sea. And these Christian men and women,

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they were called pilgrims because they were people who were on a journey to a destiny

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because of their religious beliefs. So that's why they're called pilgrims. But they believed God was

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leading them to establish a new community where they could worship freely. So as Americans, we

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celebrate Thanksgiving every year because of the profound faith and their uncommon courage that

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they had, that the English men and women had when they boarded that ship. They had no idea how God

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was going to use them to begin a new nation. They only knew God wanted them to go. And it's

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amazing that when we take that in anything in our life that God calls us to, when we take that first

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step of obedience, we have no idea the future that God is going to use to bring from that one step

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of obedience. And these people, they risked everything. I don't know that I would have had

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the wherewithal to board that ship and get on. And most of them were young. They were like in their

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20s and 30s. There were a lot of children. There was one couple that were in their 50s.

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So they get on this ship and it was not the most comfortable voyage. Those ships were tiny. Yes.

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And they ran into, they were on it like 60 something days before they saw land and got over to

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Cape Cod area. But they were just so, their faith throughout that journey just across the ocean was

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interesting because the seamen that were in control of the boat and taking them there made fun of them

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and harassed them and called them names because they kept calling out to God and singing songs and

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praying. They ran in and one of them kept saying, I'm going to throw you overboard. Once we hit rough

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terrain and you're going to get sick and die and I'm throwing you overboard. Well, lo and behold,

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he was the one that got sick and died almost cursing God to the last minute. Oh my goodness.

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His body was the one that went over, but they're witnessing, they're kind of being harassed on the

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boat for their faith. I never even really realized that. So they come over and of course they had hit

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torrential storms. They were locked down underneath basically to get through that part. The storms were

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many, many days. They were sick. They only lost one passenger on the way over, but they were like

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deathly sick. A lot of them coming over. They didn't even have enough food when they got to

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America, when they got to our land, because there were delays for them even leaving England. So they

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were having to use some of that food before they even left to come over. So when they got over to

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our country, even more so how important it was that they would learn how to plant food and hunt

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and fish and all of that and learn the whole system around us. God is so faithful in incredible ways

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with his provision. He actually brought once they landed, he and they had their first governor.

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He actually, and they had signed the Mayflower Compact, so they had their kind of civil little

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government, as you would call it, before they actually got their feet on the land because they

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did that on the ship. But once they got off, God brought them, two Indians in particular, one, the

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first one came and he said, welcome. And of course they were all shocked. They were afraid they didn't

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quite trust them. They didn't know if they would kill them or not, because that's what they had

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done. There was a whole tribe that had killed any white man that landed. Well, before the pilgrims

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got there, a mysterious plague hit that tribe and wiped them all out. Wow. They were gone. So then

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all the other tribes around them would not go to that area because they were afraid that they would

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get it and they'd all be wiped out. What God did was he saved that land for the pilgrims. So when

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the pilgrims got there, there was that land. It was theirs. It was ready for them because God had

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cleared out the people that were killing the white men. They were gone and the land left for the

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pilgrims. It's amazing. And this one Indian had told them that story. And then he introduced them

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later on to another Indian who is the key player in this, who was the godsend of godsends. And that

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was Squanto and how Squanto taught them how to fish, how to plant pumpkins, how to garden,

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how to do all of that. And the reason he could do that is he had been, earlier he had been captured

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and taken to Europe as a slave. And when he was in Europe, his whole tribe died from illness. He

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was the only one. God brought him back six months before the pilgrims got there. And then God

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brought him to them and he could speak English. He understood their ways and he basically taught

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them how to live in this new land. It's quite amazing that he would be willing to do that,

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knowing that he had been enslaved by Europeans before. Right. That he would be the one that

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would come to their rescue. I mean, that is, he must have had an encounter with the Lord even

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before they arrived. Well, they said the Indians were amazed at watching God answer the prayers

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because they would hear the pilgrims praying and singing songs. But the thing is Squanto stayed

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with them until he died. He just didn't train them for like six months and leave. He stayed with them

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the whole time until he passed away. So the interesting thing was that first, that very

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first winter, because they got there in November. So then they had to endure, and this is up in Cape

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Cod, so they had to endure that harsh, harsh winter. They lost many of the pilgrims. They couldn't

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make it through the weather condition. They were sick. Out of about a hundred of them, there were

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six or seven that were well enough to care for the others. Wow. But they were dying every day.

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There were some dying every day. So it was heart-wrenching. So then when March came,

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then that's when they started really learning and honing in. Okay, how are we going to get our food

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for next year and plant and all that? So the next year, it was better, but they still had to ration

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some food. They had to ration, and then like a year after that, there's other ships coming in

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with more colonists. And so they, those first few years were very, very difficult. But whenever they

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would have a harvest, what did they do? They set aside a day of Thanksgiving and they invited the

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Indians because they had made a pact with the Indians. And so there was safety now and there

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was rest and they weren't fearing for their lives. So they invited their guests to share in their

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bountifulness. And another miracle of God was that at one point they, after that harsh winter, the

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first one, they learned that we got to really, really plant big for the second harvest to carry

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us through the winter. Well, there was a drought and even the Indians were saying, we just haven't

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seen a drought like this. And so they were losing hope. They felt despaired, like God, are you

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leaving us now? You brought us this far. Please don't take your hand from us. And what happened was

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they just prayed out loud. They came together, they called a day of fasting and they prayed and

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asked God for rain. And do you know, in the middle of the night, the rain started coming and it was

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a soft rain and it rained for 14 days. It revived all their crops, replenished everything they had

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planted. And there was an abundance that came from that. What did they do? They could have easily

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gone, okay, great, great. We got this now and gone on about their mirror ways. No, they stopped.

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They said, we're declaring another day of Thanksgiving, another day of celebration where

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we give God thanks for our food, our plentiness, our health. And this went on for several years.

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And even back into our very first president, George Washington had Congress, you know, had a,

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in 1789, a congressional proclamation of a day of public Thanksgiving. And then we know Abraham

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Lincoln, you know, established it as a national holiday. But, you know, the thing is, as I have

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been reading and rereading this story, and there's so much more details in this book, I really,

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really want to recommend it again. Again, it's called Thanksgiving, A Time to Remember by Barbara

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Rainey. Those pilgrims back then, they did not forget. They didn't forget. They were close to

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that time, all their hardships, everything they sacrificed. They had tremendous courage

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and an honorably, they were honorable and they have such a deep faith. They did not forget,

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but I'm sad to say that I think we have forgotten a lot in our country. So nearly 400 years later,

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in our country, so nearly 400 years later, we who are the beneficiaries of their sacrifice pause

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at the end of harvest season to celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. And again, we've talked about the

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many fun things about Thanksgiving, but there's lessons we can learn from this story, but they

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all come back to faith. And this is what we're not taught anymore. This all comes back to the

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richness of the faith of our forefathers. The pilgrims sailed to America because of their faith.

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They wrote the Mayflower Compact based on God's word and signed it by faith.

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They persevered in the harsh climate because of their faith. They befriended the Native Americans

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because of their faith. Their uncompromising belief in God and His word became the cornerstone

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of the colony and in turn of the new nation, which is where we are living today. So William

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Bradford wrote these words that should move our hearts in greater levels of thankfulness as we

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celebrate Thanksgiving. He says, we have noted these things so that you might see their worth

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and not negligently lose what your fathers have obtained with so much hardship. And they had fun

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times in between. There was one little part in the book where it talks about the Indians took these

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kernels of corn and put them on these whole, these colts, right? And all of a sudden,

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boom, and they were white. La la, American popcorn showed up for them. And then they taught

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them how to get the maple out of the maple trees for syrup. And they drizzled it on top. So then,

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whoa, we have kettle corn, American kettle corn. So they had fun and they played games and they had

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fun. It wasn't all quite so treacherous, but God gave them fun points and good food in between that

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they could just really relish and enjoy. And so I just hope that we, as Americans, remember every

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year what a rich, rich legacy that we come from, we've been given, and not to lose our remembrance

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of the hardship of what our forefathers went through for us, for this nation, for our freedom,

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for our faith, for friends, for family. And I just really wanted to just share that,

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you know, that story, because I feel that it doesn't get enough attention. It doesn't get

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prominence in our celebration of Thanksgiving today. So even if it's not on the day, maybe even

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reading up, you know, to Thanksgiving. But we did actually read this story on Thanksgiving Day,

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several Thanksgiving's that we had at our own home through the years. And we would pass the book

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around and everybody would read a page or two. And that was memorable part of what we did.

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And, you know, I know today we refer to the Native people here as Native Americans. In that day,

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some of the merchants who had, and trappers who had come to this nation before there was a colony,

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thought they were actually in India. So they called the Native Americans Indians, which is

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where that kind of came from. So for those of you who are very sensitive to that, that was the

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original understanding of those who arrived on our shores. They were in India, so they called the

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Native Americans Indians. Of course, now we know who they are, who they really are. But just to

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clarify that for everyone, so no one has a heartburn about it. Shortly after I finished graduate

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school, I was asked to take part in a seminar team to teach business principles in a closed country.

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And by closed, I mean a country that did not allow the gospel to be freely shared or any ideas that

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were not first approved by the government. In fact, we had government officials pretty much

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with us the whole time, watching what we did and listening to what we said. But the trip was during

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the Thanksgiving season. So we were far away from home on the holiday. We were doing seminars in

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several cities and we're at our last stop on Thanksgiving Day. Our hosts were very gracious

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and they served us an American meal of steak and potatoes on Thanksgiving because there were no

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turkeys to be had. And it tasted phenomenal after eating food that was very strange to my palate for

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a couple of weeks. And as our team sat around the table eating our Thanksgiving meal, I was never

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more appreciative of the freedoms we enjoy in the United States, the prosperity our nation has long

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been blessed with, and most importantly the salvation that we enjoy in Christ. We were all very thankful

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that Thanksgiving. And you know, just recounting that story fills me with such gratitude for our

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nation even today because we were, we are a nation that was founded on biblical principles. Those who

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came and colonized as you, or built colonies as you said, came for the sake of religious freedom.

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And years later some other pilgrims landed on the shores of Virginia and as they came ashore, they

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declared and dedicated this land to be a land where the gospel would go forth to all nations from these

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shores. No matter what is being said about the foundation of our nation and many of the horrific

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things that happened throughout our history, it was really founded by people of faith who

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were desiring to worship freely and desiring to share the freedom of Christ with others around the

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world. And if we can think and remember and appreciate that at Thanksgiving, it adds such

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richness to our celebration. Yes, absolutely. And you know, I was also thinking, and I really hadn't

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thought about this before until recently, how Thanksgiving, our Thanksgiving celebration is what

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a lot of people have said, you know, that kicks us off into Christmas. And I thought, you know, what a

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beautiful celebration to have going into the Christmas season, almost like if we relish this

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and think about it, it prepares our heart in a way to then enjoy the Christmas season and what Christ

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did for us by coming to this earth in a richer way. I really hadn't, you know, we've just talked about

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them being two separate holidays, but really one is preparing us for even greater thankfulness.

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It really does. For Christ. So that was interesting that I was thinking about that the other day and

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how I need to make that more of a point, you know, going into the Christmas season as well.

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Well, you've mentioned reading this book as one of the ways that you try to cultivate that sense of

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gratitude. Do you have other ways that you cultivate gratitude during the Thanksgiving holiday

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festivities? Well, it's interesting. I think the prayers and the prayer together. I love the holding

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hands. We couldn't do that during COVID, but now we're pretty much past that. So we can be doing

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more of that. Just the attitude of the heart, the graciousness with other people, thanking them for

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good things that they have. We would go around and a lot of times my husband would say, okay, name

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something or two things or whatever you're thankful for this time this year. And we all would have

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things we would say. That's always very meaningful. And of course, most of it ends up coming like our

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health and our families and God's provision and that a loved one is still here and you know, those

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types of things. But you know, Jodi, I really believe in all my heart that really Thanksgiving

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should be an everyday thing. That's true. An everyday thing. And when I drive into work, I

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take that time where I'm thanking God for all kinds of things. And it can be the ordinary of the

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ordinary. It can be the magnificent of the magnificent and everything in between. I mean,

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sometimes I'm thanking him that I can see, thanking him I can walk, thanking him I can hear,

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thanking him for my family, my friends, you know, his provision and on and on and on. But going in

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and in walking that out on the day to day basis. And I learned that through a Bible study I did

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years ago with some of the women in my church, 1000 gifts by Anne Van Camp. And you know, I was

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that so stirred me to be mindful. I know we're thankful. We're thankful in general. We just

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don't walk around saying it all the time or we just don't when we have our times with the Lord,

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we just don't say it all the time. But that really encouraged me to make it more a of a deliberate,

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beautiful Christian practice in my life. Yeah, we do a very similar thing after our Thanksgiving meal.

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We have everyone go around and share something that they've been grateful for during the year.

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And you know, some of it gets silly, but others are very meaningful, you know, and it does bring

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center everybody back to that attitude of gratitude before the Lord for what he really has done.

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Because often we get frenetic in our day to day, you know, what do we have to do? We've got to go

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grocery shopping, especially around the holidays. You know, there's so much to do so many things to

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take care of. But when we can stop and be thankful for the little things you said, like you said,

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but also for the big things and for our history, yes, it really makes a difference in our outlook.

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Yes, you know, the things that come along to bother us don't seem so important anymore.

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Right. It reminds me of that scripture in first Thessalonians 516 through 18, where it says,

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rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you

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in Christ Jesus. And it's, you know, that give thanks in all circumstances, not for all circumstances,

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because we have some pretty rough things that we have to go through sometimes, but in all

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circumstances, even when my daughter was going through her serious illness, I was thanking the

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Lord, oh, you provided this doctor for us, you provided this, you provided that you're leading

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her, you're guiding us. You know, there was Thanksgiving going on through the whole time,

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and other difficult times that my husband and I have walked through, we thank the Lord in the

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middle of them, you know, through our walk with infertility, we thanked him that he was in control.

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He's God, we're not, he knows what he's doing. He may not, but we thank him that we know him in that

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we trust him. You know, people wonder what is God's will for your life? Well, right here, it says,

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God's will for you is this, rejoice always, like have that joy inside and that joy is not

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external necessarily, it's an inward thing. Circumstances don't create that deep inner joy,

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that's what you have when things aren't going well, you know.

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And that's that deep abiding that you know God is in control and God is good, and when you know that

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deep within, you do have that joy because you think, you know, there's that other scripture,

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all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.

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Absolutely, yes.

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And when we have that deep abiding within us, then we do walk with that sense of joy,

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even in the stressful, sorrowful days, we have that joy.

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Right, it's there and that pray continually, that means just, it doesn't have to be, I pray all day

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long sometimes, off and on as things are happening, I'm just in that spirit of prayer of whatever

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is going on. You know, that has carried me through difficult times as well, but you know,

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Thanksgiving Day, when we all come together, there is something that fortunately my family

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and even my in-laws, we've all, and I give thanks to God for this, it's been a pleasant

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time together. And I know and I've heard from other women, sometimes it's not been so, and so

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they're struggling with how to kind of make things work or not work. One thing I just, you know,

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usually say is just keep the conversations in a safe zone. So if there's different political views,

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don't bring up politics. If there's different religious views, don't bring up Christianity.

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You know, if there's, just keep it where it's safe for everyone. It can be a pleasant experience

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for everyone. It's just for one day. You can address the other issues the next day or the day

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after, but for that one day, I try to always keep that element of peace running through our time

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together and appreciating who we are and the uniqueness that we each are before God, because

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he created us the way he wanted to. And to celebrate that and to be thankful for that as well.

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You know, one of the other things that we do, and we usually do this on birthdays, but it could be

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used in a Thanksgiving situation, is to go around the table and tell somebody what they're thankful

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for about them. Yes, that's very good. We have done that actually, yes. And for those situations

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that are maybe less comfortable, incorporating something like that into the day, it doesn't

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necessarily have to be a formal sit down around the table doing it, but to express what you

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appreciate and are thankful for, for each person as they come in, can diffuse some of the agitation.

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Yes, absolutely. It can, because when people acknowledge the goodness of other people,

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the qualities, everybody has good qualities. Everybody does, even if you don't get along with

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that personality or not. There are good qualities that we each have. It's good to acknowledge those

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and to acknowledge them out loud and to tell them, like you said, we have gone on certain occasions

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and noted what we really appreciate about each person. And so that's a very good idea, a very

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good point that you bring up. You know, when our kids were too old to really enjoy this, I heard

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about an idea that would work better for younger kids, but I'll share it anyway, because I think

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it's great. I know some women who they cut out construction paper turkey feathers and have

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everybody write down something that they're grateful for on a construction paper feather.

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And then they attach them to something they're using as the turkey body, along with a construction

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paper turkey head. And then they use it as a centerpiece or a decoration. So, you know,

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everybody's reminded of God's goodness. And I'm not real crafty, I'll have to say. So if I do one of

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these turkeys someday, it will probably be a very, make a lot of fun for everybody to laugh at.

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But I've took the idea away. Maybe someday I'll use it with grandchildren someday, maybe. But,

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you know, there's all sorts of those kinds of things that you can find on the internet. If you're,

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if you are someone who enjoys the crafty side of things, it's, there's so much resources out there.

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You know, I remember growing up when my mom was hosting Thanksgiving with the new little grandkids,

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she would just have everybody dress up as pilgrims or as, you know, Native Americans and

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play in the yard and just, you know, even do a little play of the Thanksgiving story. There's

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many, many ways to incorporate the traditions of our nation into Thanksgiving. So everybody

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understands what it's about. And it's not just about football and family. While that is a

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beautiful side effect, and it's a wonderful thing, a wonderful way to celebrate it, but

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it's not the purpose. Right. It's not the core purpose. Right. Do you have any other little

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tips or stories you want to share? Well, I'll just share this. We have to just roll with the punches.

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We have to roll with what happens. And I mentioned earlier on that not all of my

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Thanksgivings have gone smooth A to Z. And one in particular was the time that my oven caught on

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fire with the turkey in it. So we had just built this beautiful home. We were in Chesapeake,

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Virginia, and my in-laws had come up and some brother and sister-in-law, you know, family came

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up. And so we were there, brother and sister-in-law, and things were going really smooth. And I thought,

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wow, I even thought I could sit down at the table and talk a little bit more with my family, because

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all the sides were pretty much covered. Everything's pretty much done. And the turkey's in the oven. And

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I'm thinking, wow, it's smelling. Well, I wasn't smelling it like I should have been. But anyway,

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so things were good. And I thought, well, this is going smoother than I thought. Okay. And then all

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of a sudden I looked over at the oven and I saw black smoke coming out the vent. Oh my goodness.

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Oh my goodness is right. I screamed, I ran to the oven. Of course, you're not supposed to open it,

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but I did crack just a little bit to, you know, yes, there was fire in there. So I'm yelling,

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my husband, thankfully we had a fire extinguisher. My husband gets that. My father-in-law, they're

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putting out the, you know, there's smoke, it's smell everywhere. We're opening the doors, the

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windows, everything. And it was just all this chaos. Well, you roll with the punches. So

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my sister-in-law who was, had three small children, one with the youngest was nine months old. He was

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upstairs sleeping and all she was saying was don't wake the baby. Just don't wake the baby. We were

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laughing. And then my other little niece, after it was all over, of course they had a great time on

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the fire truck and got pictures of the fire truck for Thanksgiving. Memorable, memorable Thanksgiving.

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Then she came in the house and we're all standing there and she's staring. My little four-year-old

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niece is staring, crying, crying, crying, looking at the oven and crying and crying. And we're like,

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you know, Mary, I think it's all worked out. We're okay. Everything's all right. And all of a sudden

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she's, you don't need to cry anymore. It's okay. And she's crying. She said, but the turkey died.

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So we were all laughing about that and roll with the punches. Here we go. So off to Golden Corral,

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we went and we got some turkey and a few other things and we brought them back to the house.

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But you know what? We were all in our Sunday best. You talked about dressing up. We were all in our

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Sunday best for Thanksgiving dinner, just waiting for that perfect meal to arrive. Right? Yeah. When

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this happened, I came back from Golden Corral, my in-laws and I came back and there, my family,

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my in-laws, they had all changed their clothes from their Sunday best to sweats and a t-shirt.

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And they were cleaning the cabinets, wiping down the counters, everything from the smoke and,

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and what have you. That was a memorable Thanksgiving. Didn't quite go as planned,

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but we rolled with the punches. We ended up, we could laugh about it because the house didn't

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burn down, but anyway, it's just accepting those things when things like that happen.

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And you just say, okay, well, we'll just make the best of it. And my family is great about that.

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I have to say, my sister, we just, brother, we just roll with, you know, somebody blew up the

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sweet potato casserole one time. I mean, it was just like crazy stuff, but we, we make it fun.

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We make it enjoyable and not so rigid where it has to be this way. It has to be perfect. Yeah.

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We know shortly after one of my many trips to developing countries over the years, the Lord

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gave me a short poem to remind me of what I have to be grateful for. It is not Maya Angelou. It is

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not John Keats, but hopefully it'll inspire you as you listen. So here it is. Safe shelter, plenty to

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eat, a choice of clothes, shoes on my feet, a loving family, a comfortable bed, friends to laugh

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with, pillows for my head. They're simple things that I'm grateful for and each year I appreciate

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them more. I sight to see, books I can read, doctors close by to help when in need, the ability to

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smile, the freedom to choose who to vote for, win or lose, strength for any task, money to give,

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a savior who died so that I can live. The blessings go on too numerous to mention God is so good.

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He deserves my attention. When I think of all he's done and how he first loved me, I want to bless

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him back with a life lived generously. You know, one way we can live generous lives is to help

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widows and orphans with special needs through the Somebody Cares Widows and Orphan Fund. You can join

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our growing company of women who are living James 1 27 with a gift at hergodstory.org. Just click on

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the widow and orphans option at the top of the page. As we close Mary Beth, can you think of a

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woman in the Bible whose story inspires gratefulness in you? Yes, and that would be Mary the mother of

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Jesus. Oh my goodness, if she had not just willingly obeyed and believed what the angel told her,

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and it was hard in her day here, she wasn't married now, and she is pregnant. And how do you

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tell people the angel came to me and told me I would be impregnated by the Holy Spirit? Yeah,

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right. Yeah, you know, excuse me. And then Joseph didn't even believe at first, right. And an angel

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went to him and said, No, that's right. You know, take her as your wife. And I'm just so thankful

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for her that she brought to us the greatest, most precious Savior the world has and will ever know,

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Jesus Christ. And I just pray if there are we have any listeners today that don't know the Lord,

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that you'll just pray and ask him to come into your heart, forgive you of your sins. He's so gracious

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to change your life. And to walk with him, get into a good Bible believing church, and let Jesus

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really show him his love for you because each one of us is worth it. If we would have been the only

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one here, he would have died for us. But he died for the world. He loves us so much. And I also just

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in closing, just want to share just briefly that if there's any we have any listeners out there,

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too, that may be listening that kind of feel sometimes during the holidays, you can feel

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even during the year, I know I have felt like this at time you can feel a little less than

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maybe you feel like you blend in the wall, I have felt like I've blended in the wall at times.

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A friend of mine, a very precious lady, she was feeling that way one day, and the Lord

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dropped a sparrow in front of her. And he said to her, My eye is on the sparrow, it even knows when

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it hits the ground. And she said, Meredith, I didn't feel like I was a pretty bird, like the

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jaybirds and the Cardinals and the blue jays, they're beautiful birds, a vast number that God

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has created. And she said, for some reason, he made the sparrow, it's tan, it's brown, it just has the

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brown, you know, streaks in it, it just kind of blends in with the wall. So that's how I was

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feeling. But the Lord came to me and said, are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin, and not one

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of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will, but the very hairs of your head are all

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numbered. Do not fear, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. And here she was feeling,

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just like the little sparrows she saw. And God gave her that scripture. And I just thought that's

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just a beautiful way for us to remember if we're going through any difficult time, or we're finding

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a holiday hard, and maybe feeling out of place in whatever way that looks like, just to know that

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God's eye is on you, he's on me. You are valuable, you are worthy, he died for you. And I am eternally

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grateful above all the richness in our nation, in our heritage, I'm eternally grateful for

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Jesus and what he's done. And so Mary is the woman that I think of right now.

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Amen. Well, you know, in Ephesians 5, 15 through 20, the Apostle Paul encouraged us to live wisely.

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He says, make the most of every opportunity. Understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get

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drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to one another

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with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,

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always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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As you celebrate Thanksgiving, let it be with a heart saturated with the Holy Spirit,

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a mouth filled with gratitude for all God has done for you, and lips that are ready to declare

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his goodness. Mary Beth, will you take a moment and just pray for everyone as they celebrate

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their Thanksgiving? Sure. Thank you, Lord, so much for your goodness to us. You are so faithful,

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Lord, even when we're not faithful. You are there even when we don't feel like you're there.

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Father God, I just ask right now for those listening that if there are any that don't know

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you, that you would reveal your love to them, that they may come and have the greatest Thanksgiving

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at all, and that is to receive your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray if there are those that are

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struggling with their faith, maybe they're doubting you, maybe something has happened,

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maybe they're questioning the reality and your love for them. I pray, Father God, that you would

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reach down and that you would touch them in a very special way, letting them know that you love them

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and that you are there for them. And Father, I pray for this Thanksgiving day that's approaching

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soon, that as we gather together with family and friends, I pray for peace, I pray for great

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abundance of thankfulness, for encouragement for one another. And Lord, I pray that you would make

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us really mindful of the blessing of living in this land and remember our rich, rich heritage

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that we come from and the faith that our forefathers had and everything that they endured

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to bring us to the part where we are now. And Father, where we have failed as a nation,

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would you please have mercy on us and would you heal our land and would you bring us back to our

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knees that we may honor and glorify you in all we say or do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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Thank you for tuning in. In our show notes at hergodstory.org, you'll find lots of scriptures

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and other helpful information, as well as the book that Mary Beth referenced. And on your long

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Thanksgiving weekend, log on to hergodstory.org and download a free six-week devotional on Women

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00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:03,680
of the Bible. We hope you will be inspired in your faith as you explore how God moved in the lives

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of women like Mary and like you in so many ways. We'd love to pray with you on our 24-7 prayer and

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text line. So give us a call at any time at 855-459-CARE or email us at prayer at somebodycares.org.

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If you've enjoyed this podcast, please rate and review it on your favorite streaming service

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and share with your friends. And now, dear ones, I leave you with a blessing adapted from Colossians

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2 verses 6 and 7. May you live your lives in the Lord, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in

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the faith and overflowing with thankfulness. Happy Thanksgiving. Her God Story is a ministry of

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Somebody Cares America and International. To find out more about or support the ministry,

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go to somebodycares.org.