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Blessed Holy Season to you. This is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword and we are getting ready to celebrate Advent, which is the season right before Christmas. It is a great time of preparation for our church to joyfully consider the blessed event of Jesus coming to earth as a baby. I hope you enjoy the journey, here is your daily eword.

Through the coming weeks we will be on a journey to Bethlehem. Each Christmas, we do an advent devotional during each of our Sunday services, and we plan to do that again this year.
One thing that I have noticed as I study the Nativity story each Christmas is that it becomes more meaningful. It really isn’t about the trappings that we associate with Christmas, even though I love every part of Christmas. What it is really about is a gift of love from God. A precious gift, that was an offering, and became a seed that would reap a tremendous harvest in each of us. He was a gift of love wrapped in flesh, clothed with humanity, and destined for greatness. The simplicity of a baby born in a stable, contained the magnanimous revelation that God is with us. No longer do we have to wait for Him to manifest, He is Here. What an awesome thought! Our waiting and our search is over. He found us and now we can find Him! He came to us, now we can come to Him. He offered His life to us, now we offer our lives to Him. His loved was demonstrated, so that we can demonstrate our love back to Him.

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We are benefactors of God’s faithfulness. I’m sure each of you can look back over your life, and think about the many times that God has demonstrated His faithfulness to you. There are probably too many incidents to count! The greatest act of the faithfulness of God was on the cross when a sinless lamb became the sacrifice for the sins of the entire world. What a faithful God! He is completely dependable, unwavering, committed, reliable, steadfast and loyal. What He promises He does deliver! The promise way back in Genesis 3:15 (when God spoke about the seed of a woman bringing deliverance to His people), was faithfully fulfilled in birth, death and resurrection of Jesus.

What I have noticed more than anything while studying faithfulness is that I can mirror His faithfulness to me, by remaining faithful to Him. When we determine to emulate Christ and be faithful, there are three things that are important.
We must:
Stay true to God, stay close, and give Him your full attention and all of your heart
Stay true to others, be a true friend, be reliable, steadfast, and constant.
Stay true to yourself, be authentic, the real deal, totally sincere.

If we want to be called faithful at the end of our life, we must run the race, and finish the course. There may even be some fighting along the way. We do fight the good fight of faith! We recognize that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty through God and can even pull down strongholds. Most importantly we can outlast the devil! We win, he looses! We are more than conquerors. God will always be faithful!

My God has been faithful to me, His goodness and mercies I’ve seen
When hearing well done, your race has been won,
I’ll know I’ve been faithful
His Word has proved faithful,
He has been so faithful to me

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Today in America, we celebrate Thanksgiving. It is a day that was established as a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The first government issued proclamation of Thanksgiving was given years earlier by George Washington, in the year 1789. The official day has been celebrated since 1863, all these years, Americans have been eating turkey and setting aside a day to be thankful for God’s blessing in their lives. The earliest observance of Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was a celebration of harvest that lasted 3 days, and in spite of a first year in the New World that began with a difficult journey on the Mayflower, a dreaded cold winter, a very large number of deaths, and a very mediocre first harvest, the pilgrims were thankful that they survived, and celebrated with great enthusiasm.

Most of us have a thankful heart when everything is going well. We rejoice when we get an answer we’ve been waiting for, a job promotion, a breakthrough in our finances, a relationship restored, an improvement in our health, or when we hear some kind of good news. What is interesting about the first Thanksgiving story is that circumstances were far below wonderful, yet the pilgrims were thankful, just to have religious freedom and for life itself.

Discontentment is a prevalent emotion in our world today. With the government, with our physical bodies, with our finances, with our families and relationships, it is always easier to point out problems or difficulties rather than God’s provision in the midst of them. What Paul emphasizes in Philippians chapter 4, is that our contentment and level of thanksgiving should not be based on circumstances. When we get a true understanding of how blessed we are, our focus on the things of earth will grow strangely dim. Our vision can be on what it should be, and that is in the midst of any setback that comes our way, God is at work on our behalf, for our comeback. Phil 4:11-13 says that Paul had experienced both plenty and want, but had learned the secret of contentment no matter what happens. In any and every circumstance, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. The Word has taught us to use our faith, and because of the promises of God and the prayer of faith, things can change. In the midst of whatever we are going through, we can experience joy and contentment and still shine like a light in the dark.

My prayer for you this Thanksgiving, is that you will know true contentment. I pray that the peace of God will guard your heart, and that as you celebrate Thanksgiving, you will be truly thankful…..knowing that God has done great things for you! Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

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Thankful (A poem of Thanksgiving)

Thankful to God
For all He has done
Thankful for blessings
And for victories won

Thankful for loved ones
Both far and near
Being perfectly loved
Casts out any fear

Thankful for friends
That give value to life
They give you their ear
and offer godly advise

Thankful for church
A place to grow strong
Great Word and great worship
Where you know you belong

Thankful for children
As we watch them grow
Teach all kinds of lessons
We’d never have known

Thankful for things
That we need day to day
Great food to eat
And a warm place to stay

Thankful for Life
God’s life we’ve received
That gives health, life and wholeness
With each breath we breathe

Most thankful for Jesus
For conquering the grave
For the Word made flesh
So that we could be saved

Thankful for reminders
That all these rewards
Are a small taste of heaven
And are gifts from the Lord
Encouraging You (to be thankful always!)

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Let’s look a little further into the First Thanksgiving. Incredibly, after much hardship, the pilgrims, who had decided to put their faith in God, chose to rejoice and give thanks. When recalling what their first winter was like, it would have been very easy to be sad and mournful, because they had lost more than half of the original number that had arrived. Forty seven people had already died.
Squanto had befriended them and certainly was sent by God to teach the pilgrims how to plant and to hunt and to trade beaver pelts. The pilgrims realized that God had provided for them through the help of the Indians. Because of this, they invited Squato and Chief Massasoit to celebrate with they. They arrived to celebrate the first thanksgiving. They came a day early, and with 90 more Indians! Quite a surprise!
They all ate to overflow, because the Indians came prepared and had brought with them 5 deer, and a dozen fat turkeys. The most memorable event at the dinner was William Brewster’s prayer as they began the festival. He said that they had so much to be thankful for, that God had provided for all their needs, even when their faith had not been up to believing He would, for the friendship with the Indians, and for all His “remarkable providences” in bringing them to the New World, and sustaining them there.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, what “remarkable providences” from God have you experienced? Truly, God has been good to us! His mercy endures forever. He has given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. With every breath we can give thanks to the Lord and bless His holy name. What a faithful God we serve! Blessing to you as you remember God’s remarkable providences in your life this Thanksgiving.

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It’s the time of year when we set aside one day to give thanks, and rejoice in the goodness of God. Hi This is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. Historically, as Americans, we know that Thanksgiving originated with the pilgrims giving thanks to God because of His provision during their first year in the New World. The Pilgrims were brimming with gratitude, not only for the help of the Indians but most of all to the God of heaven Who had provided for them and had given them an abundant harvest to carry them through their second winter. Let’s take this week to thank God for all of His abundant blessings! Here is your dailyeword.

Thanksgiving is almost here…..Yay! It is such a fun holiday, because there aren’t all the big pressures attached with it that there are with other holidays. You don’t have to buy any presents, find the right costume, see exciting fireworks or do anything extraordinary. It is all about 2 things. Most of all it is about being thankful. Secondly it is all about food! It is a perfect day to just enjoy every flavor of delicious food that is set before you.

I did mention thankfulness first…..and that is what it really should be all about. What are you thankful for? Why not go around the table on Thanksgiving Day and have each person share one thing they are thankful for before you thank God for the food. Maybe you could think of a sentence that starts with each letter in the word THANKFUL, and express your thoughts with your pencil and share it with your family, or email it to me. Or how about this…..tell the people around you, your family first, then those you work worth, and those you worship with, who give you love, who do whatever for you….tell them that you are thankful for them. Then make sure you thank God for all He has done for you. He loves you dearly and has given you all we need for life and godly living…..that is something to be thankful for! Live a thankful life, each day of your life!

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I’m not sure what you do when you are faced with a problem, but do certain things to help me remember that I can get through any situation or temptation when I begin remembering how BIG God is. Whether it is something small, or huge, God is concerned about all of your life.
Think about how God has helped you in the past. When it comes to doing something hard, or trying something new, it is always good to remember when God helped you before. Maybe you were stressing out about a situation, and it ended up way better than you expected. Now it the time to think about that again, when you are facing something hard.
Another thing I do is to think about tomorrow. By this time tomorrow, the test, or challenge, or whatever, will be over, and you can look back and remember that you made it through. Yay!
The last thing I usually do is to think about the miracles of Jesus. Do you remember the story of the loaves and fish? How about how Jesus healed a little girl? Or how He walked on water? Or how He calmed a storm? Or how he opened blind eyes? When you remember how much God loves you, you will realize that he did all of those miracles out of love. So can you make it through any situation? Yes you can, and yes you will! God loves you, and will be with you to make it through! God is a faithful God!

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Mountain you’ve got to move. The Bible tells us to speak to mountains. When struggles seem insurmountable, we can have confidence that mountains will move! Matt 21: 21 says that, as does Mark 11:23. Mountain you’ve got to move. As I was meditating on mountains, I thought back to Isaiah where obstacles were removed from the path. Is 40:4 says that Every mountain and hill will be made low. The crooked places will be made straight, and the rough places made smooth. Is 45:2 says that God will go before us and remove barriers that keep us from moving forward. Is 49:11 says that God will make a way in the mountains. Mountains are things that are in our way. It is amazing to me to see tunnels burrowed through great Rocky Mountains and instead of having to go around, or over the mountain, a way is made right through it. I love to see the creativity of God when a barrier or mountain is in our way. Whatever it can be, when we give God the opportunity to work, and begin speaking to our mountains, circumstances begin to change. Is 42: 16 has great words of encouragement. I will bring them a way that they knew not, I will lead them in paths that they have not known, I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things I will do for them….I will not forsake them. What comfort and encouragement those words bring! God is faithful. Let’s remember and be thankful. What He has done, He will do again. What He is doing, He will continue to do. He is ever faithful!

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God has brought you this far, He won’t fail you now. Sometimes when you are in the midst of junk, it is hard to think about victory. It reminds me of an old song that had words like this:
He didn’t bring us this far, to leave us
He didn’t teach us to swim, to let us drown
He didn’t build His home in us, to move away
He didn’t lift us up, to let us down.
Think about that! He is at work in you, depend on and trust in Him. We know Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Let’s give Him some room to work in our lives.
Ps 77:11-12 says for us to remember the miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works, Oh God. How about this old song
When I think about the Lord
How he saved me, how he raised me
How he picked me up, turned me around
How he placed my feet on solid ground
Makes me want to shout hallelujah,
Thank you Jesus, Lord you’re worthy
Of all the glory, honor, and praise
Makes me want to shout!
God has brought you this far, He won’t leave you. Think about, remember, meditate on His goodness in your life. You’ll be encouraged from the inside out! Start the fire on the inside and your life will change dramatically. God has done great things for you.

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Do you know that if you ask almost anyone about their most vivid memory, most of the time it is a negative memory. I remember as a 6th grader, my teacher did an experiment with the whole class. He asked for each kid to share their most vivid memory. Out of 30 kids, only 2 had positive memories, and I was one of them. I’ve always been a glass half full kind of person, but I remember even as a young girl being surprised that 28 out of 30 remembered something negative. What about you? I hope you have lots of positive memories. If not, let’s turn it around….instead of thinking about the bad of the past, find the good! Good is just God elongated. Let’s find ways to celebrate God’s goodness. It does take capturing thoughts that are contrary and changing them immediately. We can’t focus or dwell on the negative. There are far too many positives, let’s count and recount our blessings. We have so many blessing as believers, not only a great life here on earth, living in the peace of God, but a home in heaven that with which nothing can compare. If you need some help turning things around in your life, think of this. Jesus is our perfect example – his pain and agony in the Garden of Gethsemane became the garden of victory as He submitted His will to the will of the Father. How about the cross of Calvary? It too was a place of pain and agony, but it has become a banner of victory for us, death, hell and the grave were defeated! Even with communion, as we remember what Jesus went through for us, we can have sadness, but it turns to joy in the victory the enemies defeat. What will you remember? Let’s remember God’s faithfulness

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