Restore Issue 07 - November 2022

Restore Issue No. 07 | Thanksgiving | November 2022

In This Issue Focusing on Gratitude Simple ideas for your family

Giving Thanks When Life is Hard Guest post by Lisa Appelo

What's Inside

From My Heart to Yours Page 3

Giving Thanks When Life is Hard Pages 5-6

Focusing on Gratitude Page 7

What's New on the Podcast Page 8

Copyright © 2022, ABF Communications, LLC ~ P.O. Box 1804, Queen Creek AZ 85142 Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All articles written by Andrea Fortenberry, unless otherwise noted. Some articles contain affiliate links.

from my heart to yours Happy November!

It seems like once the calendar turns to November, life gets even busier than normal, right? We have holidays to plan, gifts to buy, and parties and activities to add to the calendar.

I love this time of year, but I've also learned that I need to incorporate: Gratitude: for the extra things on my to-do list and places to be.

Rest: to allow me to refresh and refuel.

Grace: for the things I want to do, but can't or don't do well; and for the things I choose to let go of.

Saying no: we can't do it all and it's okay to say no. Instead of fighting against our capacity, let's honor it and be okay with our limits.

Which of these things do you need this holiday season?

Praying you have a wonderful November.

I'm grateful for you!

xoxo,

Andrea 3

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!

1 Chronicles 16:34 ESV

Giving Thanks When Life is Hard

by Lisa Appelo In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NKJV Really, God? Because I didn’t order this chapter. How can I give thanks in bad circumstances?

I was a sudden young widow and single mom to seven. Grief was grueling, my children were hurting and I was facing a future without my husband that I couldn’t begin to imagine.

Life stunk. My heart was shattered. Every task seemed hard and I was overwhelmed.

Maybe, like me, you’ve questioned the Bible’s mandate to give thanks at all times.

How can we thank God for cancer or drunk drivers or hurricanes that bring such destruction?

As I studied this verse, I saw that it doesn’t tell us to give thanks FOR everything but to give thanks IN everything.

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God is good and God does good and that stays true even when circumstances are bad.

Giving thanks opens our eyes to all the good God is doing right in the midst of the hard. And oh, how we need to see good when life feels bad.

It was only when I cracked open a journal and started to give daily thanks, that I began to see all the good God was doing in me and around me. It helped me connect the dots of how God was working. And amazingly, the more I gave God thanks, the more things I saw to give thanks for.

Gratitude is a choice to look for good in every situation.

Giving thanks in all things might not change the situation, but it will always change us in the situation.

William Barclay says, “There is always something for which to give thanks; even on the darkest day there are blessings to count. We must remember that if we face the sun the shadows will fall behind us but if we turn our backs on the sun all the shadows will be in front.”

Want to go deeper to cultivate a heart anchored in real thanksgiving no matter the circumstance? Get this free 30-day Gratitude Bible Reading Plan here.

Lisa Appelo is a speaker inspiring women to cultivate faith in life’s storms and author of Life Can Be Good Again: Putting Your World Back Together After It All Falls Apart. When life shatters and you're navigating a life you didn't sign up for, Lisa provides compassionate, Biblical insight to help you find your footing, process raw emotion, and anchor your threadbare hope to see you won’t merely survive this, but that life can be good again.

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She writes at the popular site LisaAppelo.com, founded a team of writers at hopeingrief.com, administers the Facebook group Widow Mama Collective, and serves on the Executive Team for COMPEL with Proverbs31Ministries.

Focusing on Gratitude If you’re looking for ways to incorporate gratitude with your family this month, here are some ideas: Start off dinnertime counting your blessings: As you begin dinner together each night, have each family member go around and say what they were thankful for that day. Even if the day was bad or didn’t go as planned, encourage each person to find the blessings that happened anyway. Or you can focus conversation around why each person is thankful for the rest of the family members at the table.

Create a thankful garland: Make paper feathers or leaves out of construction paper and each day have each family member write down what they’re thankful for. Poke a hole in them and hang them up on ribbon or twine somewhere in your home.

Send out Thanksgiving cards: Write notes to friends, family, teachers, coaches, etc., to let them know how thankful your family is to have them in your life.

Donate your time: Collect food for a food drive.

Collect coats for a community outreach. Serve together at a soup kitchen or food pantry.

This month is a great time for us to count our blessings, but it doesn’t have to stop in November!

Each day provides the opportunity for us to be grateful and thank God for our blessings. We can continue to incorporate thankfulness within our families each and every day.

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What's New on the Podcast Please subscribe, rate and review wherever you listen to podcasts.

And even better― share it with your friends!

Recent Episodes

The latest two episodes of The Perfectionist's Guide to Mothering are all about getting ready for the holidays!

I invited my friend, Jennifer Iverson, to join me. She is a speaker, wife, mom and efficiency expert. Jennifer is mom to six children, now ages 16-26, and truly does organize closets for fun. Find her at jenniferiverson.com and on Instagram @ivymamma.

In Episode 61, we talk all about holiday expectations, travel, balancing family plans, grief, boundaries, and more.

In Episode 62, we dive into the practical: activities and traditions, gift giving, budgeting and saving money, food, and some of our favorite holiday hacks.

Tune in here or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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