Real Lives, Relevant Ministries, Serving A Real God!
A Season of Gr atitude 6870 N . M i l i t ar y Hi gh w ay
Dr . Sher r y L. Daniels, Senior Pastor Rev. Car olyn Gr aves, Associate Pastor Rev. Finley J ones, M in. of Visitation
N or f ol k , VA 23518 of f i cen or f ol k @gm ai l .com h t t p:/ n u m cv a.or g 1-757-628-6543 Fax 1-757-628-8181
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Season of Gr aditude
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Thanksgiving isn?t the only time to thank God for all He has done and is doing, but it is a special time to prime the heart for remembering all the ways God is so good, especially during this pandemic. It?s easy to let November slip away and move beyond the season of thanks. But maybe this year will be different. I want to offer you 10 verses and some additional resources that I have gathered that can help you prepare your heart for thanksgiving, but also carry you through the year by reminding you to give thanks even in the off season. While we could make our list of blessings, our prayer of thanks, or think of the people who have made a difference in our lives this year, there is no greater place to begin with thanksgiving than in God?s Word.
Faithfully Ser ving & Leading,
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D . L y r r e h S r.
aniels
10 D ays F ast Start: Think About I t Day 1: ?Small? Blessings I put ?small? in quotation marks, because if you think about it, no blessing is tr uly small or insignificant, but what I mean by this is the gifts you enjoy ever y day that perhaps you don?t often consider. This may be because you enjoy them like most other people and they don?t seem special, or perhaps they are simply so ingr ained in your lifestyle that you barely think about them anymore. This could be anything from a hot shower on a cold mor ning, the ability to go on a walk around your neighborhood, a fr iendly smile from a str anger, an after noon snack when you get hungr y, your child?s laugh, or any number of other daily occur rences that we can be tempted to take for gr anted. Day 2: Natur e Like gr atitude, there have been numerous studies that have shown a connection between being out in nature and our wellbeing. God?s Creation is tr uly filled with so much beauty and wonder that it does our bodies, minds, and spir its so much good to be immer sed in it. Par t of the challenge today is to take some time to be thankful for the natur al world around us. This could be as simple as going for a walk at a local park or in your neighborhood. Even if you live in an urban area, you will be sur pr ised how much natur al beauty sur rounds you if you are looking for it. Many cities have ?pocket parks? you can enjoy, or perhaps you could tr y star ting a small indoor herb garden. While you are enjoying those green spaces, flowing creeks, mountains, or woods, thank God for his creativity in creating them and how these natur al spaces renew our minds and spir its when the cares of the world seem heavy. 3
Day 3: Wor k to Do Now before you star t thinking, ?But I don?t like my job!,? keep reading. This challenge could refer to the work you do at your nine- to- five job, but it can also be much more than that. Perhaps the work you do at your day job is your vocational work that God has called you to, but perhaps r ight now in this season it is something that you are doing to work toward something else, or perhaps it is a way to provide for your family. There is good in all work done well, even if it is not our calling or passion. However, the work I am especially refer r ing to here is the work you do that may not even feel like work. Even though work has been deeply mar red by the Fall, we are actually more fulfilled when we have work to do. This kind of work could be planting a garden, it could be cooking dinner for your family, it could be working on a book you?ve always wanted to wr ite, or it could be volunteer ing to tutor kids or beautify your neighborhood. This work is not always easy, but it is something that God has put on your hear t. Whether you are a stay- at- home parent, a CEO at a lar ge cor por ation, or a retiree, God has called you to good, fulfilling work, whether someone thanks you for it or not. You can, however, thank God for allowing you to steward your gifts in this world God created.
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Featuring : Suze Or man, New England Patr iots linebackerBr andon Copeland, Die With Zero authorBill Perkins,Tiffany ?The Budgetnista? Aliche, and more.Register now. Day 4: Your Neighbor s If you live in an urban area, you likely have many neighbor s, but if you live somewhere more r ur al, you may only have a few. Either way, this is a good oppor tunity to consider the people who live closest to you. Do you know them? Perhaps you do know them and they do things that fr ustr ate you. It?s easy for neighbor s to get on each other ?s ner ves. I know my neighbor s have done things that are fr ustr ating to me before, but if I stop and think about it, I am gr ateful for our spor adic conver sations and for their fr iendliness, even though we don?t know each other ver y well yet. Whatever your relationship with your neighbor s, thank God for them. Although COVID- 19 may make it more difficult to get to know them better, even a simple porch conver sation or willingness to lend a hand can make a big difference and can in tur n make you realize the blessing of living in a community where people look out for one another. Day 5: Your Enemies The word ?enemy? appear s often in theBible, and while we may find it difficult to name our enemies today, there are cer tainly still people we dislike and wholehear tedly disagree with. Since we have just come through a major election year, this discord 6
is only exacerbated. Who is your enemy politically? It may be the people in your neighborhood or it could be someone in your own family. It?s tough to be thankful for someone whose beliefs and opinions you think are so wrong and even har mful to the cause of Chr ist. The fir st step is to recognize that there is a disagreement (this can be harder than you think), then pr ay for that per son or that group of people. Thank God for them and the fact that their differ ing beliefs give you an oppor tunity to reexamine your own. Thank God that he has given us free will and the ability to use our minds to think and reason. Your ?enemy? is made in God?s image just as you are. This reminder from C. S. Lewis may be helpful: ?You have never talked to a mere mortal? .it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit- - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.? Day 6: God?s Wor d Our God is not a far- off God whom we can?t tr uly know. He desires to have a relationship with us and he has revealed himself to us in his Word. Today is an oppor tunity to ponder how wonder ful it is to have Scr ipture so readily available to us. 2 Timothy 3:16- 17 reminds us of some of the benefits of Scr ipture: ?All Scr ipture is God- breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, cor recting and tr aining in r ighteousness, so that the ser vant of God 7
may be thoroughly equipped for ever y good work.? God?s Word can also be a great source of comfor t and encour agement dur ing difficult times. In it we also find words to express our joy, stor ies that demonstr ate God?s faithfulness, and the ultimate Stor y of Jesus?redemption of the world. If you are str uggling with reading God?s Word regularly, you may want to tr y jumping into the Psalms. These Scr ipture passages speak candidly about human emotions and God?s char acter and can make the Bible ?come alive.? Day 7: All Things New InRevelation 21:5 Jesus says, ?Behold, I am making all things new.?Of cour se, this refer s to our spir its, but also to our bodies. Even now in this fallen world, we can see evidence of Jesus making things new, restor ing, and healing. We see this in the way our bodies mir aculously heal from a cut or br uise, in the way a baby is for med in the womb and comes into the world, and in the way this ear th, though broken and battered by sin, continues to produce nutr itious food for us. In this season of fall when the leaves are tur ning color and falling to the ground, flower s and plants are wither ing and dying, and animals are bur rowing under ground to hiber nate, we can be reminded of what Jesus says inJohn 12:24: ?I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels? a plentiful harvest of new lives.? As we wait for all things to be completely restored and renewed, we can pr aise God for the ways he is working renewal and restor ation r ight now.
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Day 8: Family, Near and Far This past year has made many of us realize the impor tance of family. The Coronavir us has made it more challenging to get together with family and to see some family member s in per son. Whether your family lives nearby or they are scattered across the countr y or even the globe, you may be feeling a disconnect from them due to the pandemic. This is a good oppor tunity to remind them how impor tant they are to you. Even if you can?t get together with them in per son for the Thanksgiving holiday, consider wr iting them a note, giving them a call, or simply telling them you love them. I also challenge you to regularly pr ay for your family member s and thank God for them. Day 9: Fr iends Who Ar e Like Family Proverbs 18:24b says, ?a real friend sticks closer than a brother.? Although you may not be related by blood, fr iends can be our closest confidantes, greatest encour ager s, and extremely influential presences in our lives.
We all need people to rely on, to confide in, and to share our lives with, and oftentimes, God provides us with fr iends who do just that. These people may be work fr iends, church fr iends, or people you happened to meet while you were getting coffee. No matter how they came into your life or how long you have known them, thank God for them and ask him how you can seek to be a fr iend who encour ages, edifies, and loves unconditionally. Day 10: Things to Celebr ate In this challenging year, we all need things to celebr ate. We could all use more joy in our lives. 9
All the things listed in this Thankfulness Challenge are cer tainly things to celebr ate and be thankful for, but so is this holiday of Thankfulness itself. As humans, we need occasions to pause from our nor mal routines and enjoy good food, be with loved ones, and rest. So much of celebr ating is about resting- - resting from our work responsibilities, from our usual routines, and from our anxieties and stresses. The Bible has a lot to say about restand Sabbath, and holidays are a per fect time to live this out. We hope your Thanksgiving holiday is filled with joy, rest, family, and good food. We also pr ay that this 10- day Thankfulness Challenge helps you fully live into the spir it of this holiday and dr aw closer to the Lord in the process.
T heW ord of G od D
uringT his S eason of G raditude
1.Philippians 4:6 ?Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.? Anxiety might be one of the biggest things that detr acts us from a hear t of thanks. When the hear t is full of concer n, uneasy feelings, and wor r y about the future, it is difficult to hash through the str uggle to see all we have to be thankful for. Perhaps this is one of the reasons theBiblereminds us to fir st not
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be anxious about anything, for then the hear t is prepared for giving thanks. 2.Psalm 28:7 ?The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.? Until the hear t is sur rendered to the Savior, offer ing up pr aise and thanks will be difficult. But when the hear t fully and completely tr usts in the Lord, it?s well conditioned to lift and magnify God. This is when the hear t sings, the mind is free, and life feels better. When we tr ust the Lord in all things, we recognize Him helping us through all things. 3.Colossians 3:16 ?Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singingpsalmsand hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.? Jesus spoke often dur ing His time on ear th. His words were filled with wisdom and teaching r ich enough to heal the sick, mend the broken, cast out the demons, and fill the empty soul. We now have the Bible as a record and resource to encour age and teach each other. Living daily in the Word is one of the best ways to pr ime the hear t for deep thanks. God?s Word will convict, instr uct, and encour age even when times are tough. 4.Lamentations 3:22- 23 ?The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning: great is your faithfulness.? Here in the Old Testament book of Lamentations we find a nugget of tr uth tucked into a book full of gr ief. The beautiful reminder we hold is that even in the darkest of times, even in the hardest of circumstances, God?s love doesn?t stop. His faithfulness doesn?t pause. Ever y single 11
day we wake up, there is fresh mercy ready to be received. So we say, ?Thank you, Lor d!? 5.Romans 8:28 ?And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.? God?s pur pose always prevails. It?s a promise that we can pr aise Him as we look back and ahead. We can know that no matter what happens, God is good. His goodness doesn?t r un out. His plan is always r ight. His ways are per fect. 6. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 ?Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.? Sometimes it is difficult to thank the Lord. I think of the sicknesses that have no cure, the broken families that seem to have no hope, the painful division in our world. How do we give thanks even then? It?s not that we thank God for the pain, the hur ting, or the evil. But when we walk through the valley, and God meets us there, then and only then will we under stand what it means to give thanks in all things. Because this is when we exper ience God car r ying us through. Even in the valley, in the dark, and through the devastating, He is faithful. And for that, we can give thanks.
7. Hebr ews 13:15 ?Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.? The Bible tells us there is a name above ever y other name (Philippians 2:9). When we simply lift up the name of Jesus and give Him pr aise, we prepare our hear ts for pr acticing giving thanks. I love the word we find here inHebrews 13:15: ?continually.? This implies a constant offer ing; it is followed by spoken pr aise. So r ight now as we prepare our hear ts to offer thanks, speak aloud the pr aise you want to offer God. And keep on pr aising 12
Him with your mouth. 8. James 1:17 ?Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.? No matter what this season holds for you, there is one thing that never changes. God, the Father always offer s goodness to His children. Life might not always feel good. There might be days, weeks, months, and year s that feel difficult, but God offer s His peace even through change and great challenges. God does not change. Even when life does, He stays same. 9. 1 Chr onicles 16:8 ?Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! This ver se beautifully culminates a few of the pr inciples we?ve seen in other ver ses. Fir st, it calls for offer ing up thanks. Second, it instr ucts to call on the Lord?s name. And third, it gives the clear direction to share with other s specifics about what God is doing. By following this for mula, the hear t will be encour aged in both the one giving thanks and those hear ing the pr aise. 10. 1 Chr onicles 16:34 ?Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!? The eter nal love of God is the foundation of all thanksgiving. It leads a sinner ?s hear t to repent. It gives a lost soul a reason to live found. It encour ages a broken spir it to move beyond the pain and find the promises of God. No matter what season of life you find your self in this year, there is much to be thankful for. Let God?s Word remind your hear t of the hope we hold. And give thanks, for the Lord tr uly is so, so good.
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Writing Your Thoughts Down Helps to Create a "Praise & Celebration" List for Your Devotional Time.
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5 Simple Pr actices for Giving Thanks in Seasons of Loss Thanksgiving is just around the cor ner, yet for many of us, there?s a feeling of heaviness and loss. It feels as though many in our nation and around the world are in a state of gr ief. Many have lost loved ones, jobs, and homes. Other s have lost their sense of nor malcy. Uncer tainty and anxiety hang in the air like dark clouds. How do we, as the people of God, give thanks with an authentic hear t even when we?re gr ieving? Gr atitude can be one of the most power ful gr ief healing tools we have. It may sound like an oxymoron:Gr atitude and gr iefare two words whose definitions are as far apar t as you can get. Yet, as we give thanks even in our times of gr ieving, we exper ience the presence and comfor t of God. Don?t get me wrong. I am not suggesting a snap out of it, ?happy clappy? approach to loss and disappointment. I believe that gr ieving has an honored place in the life of the believer. Jesus Himself was a man of sor row and was well- acquainted with gr ief. (Isaiah 53:3). While teaching on a gr assy hillside, He taught, ?Blessed are those who mour n, for they will be comfor ted? (Matthew 5:4).
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G iveT hanks W hileG rieving What I am suggesting is this: in your season of gr ief, give thanks. Finding little blessings in life to be thankful for will infuse hope, joy, and strengthenedfaithinto your soul. How do I know? I?ve exper ienced this myself. I remember a season where I wept almost ever y day. I was gr ieving the loss of my breasts to breast cancer. I was gr ieving the loss of my innocence as I processed the tr auma I exper ienced as a child. I was gr ieving the loss of leaving two of my children on the East Coast in college, while moving across the countr y for a different ministr y. Dur ing that season, I made what I feel was the most pivotal decision of my spir itual jour ney: I decided that I would give thanks and pr aise God for who He was ever y day. As I faithfully pr acticed gr atitude, even in my weeping, God?s presence came close. It?s not that I made God move. It?s that thanksgiving and pr aise opened my hear t to exper ience more of God?s comfor ting presence. As a result, gr adually, theHoly Spir ithealed my soul and brought for th fresh joy. I promise you? the same can happen for you. The question that might be r ising in your hear t, is how? How do we pr actice giving thanks even in seasons of great loss? Here are five gr atitude hacks for gr ieving souls: Photo Credit: Š GettyImages/AaronAmat
1. Keep a Blessing Jour nal In your jour nal wr ite down 3 blessings ever y day. My husband, Steve, and I do this ever y night at dinner. We look back on our day and each of us lists 3 blessings of that day. It might be a wonder ful phone conver sation with one 16
of the kids, or a snuggle with one of our gr andkids. It might be an encour aging email or text message from a fr iend. No matter how great or small, the intentional pr actice of looking for the blessing in each and ever y day will keep your hear t buoyant through gr ief and loss.
2. Take a Thankful Natur e Walk Our souls need beauty. It?s par t of how God designed us. When you?re gr ieving, get outside and take a walk. Notice the beauty around you; the blue sky, the color ful leaves, the snowcapped mountains, the wonder of cr ashing waves, the r ipples in a babbling brook, or even the different shades of color in the rocks on the ground. As you walk and notice, thank the Lord for each beautiful obser vation. God loves His creation and it pleases His hear t when we give Him thanks. I heard about a woman who was a pr isoner in the Auschwitz concentr ation camp in Poland dur ing World War II. It was notor iously one of the wor st of the wor st. Year s after her execution, the woman?s jour nal was discovered. In one entr y, she descr ibed working outside and thanking God for the beauty of the blue sky and the tiny flower s in the nearby field. She wrote in her jour nal that she felt thankful for these small gifts from God...and that her captor s couldn?t take those gifts from her. The woman?s thankful hear t is profound to me. Most of us will never exper ience the hor ror of a concentr ation camp. But we can pr actice obser ving and giving thanks for the beauty around us.
3. Tur n on Pr aise Music and Sing Through the Psalms we discover that music is par t of God?s plan for helping us emotionally. When I?m having a par ticularly rough day, or I?m gr ieving a loss, I keep wor ship music playing in my home. The songs remind me that God is still in control. He loves me and His presence is with me. When I was visiting Finland a few year s ago, our guide told us about a time 17
when Helsinki was under attack. The people began to sing, and in doing so, they found renewed strength. Similarly, dur ing COVID- 19, when Italy was under lockdown because their number s were so high, people went out on their balconies and began to sing to each other. The result was lifted spir its. I did a little research on the health benefits of singing and I have to tell you, they are huge. According to my research, singing releases endor phins in your br ain, lifting your spir its.Singing increases your immune system, and even increases your memor y. When you?re gr ieving, it?s easy to feel lethar gic and foggy. Next time you feel that way, tr y singing your thanksgiving. It doesn?t matter if you?re musically tr ained. God hear s in per fect pitch!
4. Read a Psalm The psalmists model for us an authenticpr ayer and pr aise life. About 70% of the Psalms are laments, which show us that the psalmist was gr ieving while wr iting. The amazing thing about these Psalms is that even though the psalmists pour out their feelings authentically, almost ever y one ends with pr aise and thanksgiving to God. The psalmists gave us a patter n for gr ieving with gr atitude: pour out your hear t authentically and then switch your focus to pr aising God.
5. Wr ite a Thank You Note Dur ing this season of COVID- 19, I have rediscovered the joy of wr iting encour aging hand- wr itten notes to fr iends. We?ve all spent enough hour s on our computer s, on Zoom meetings, emails, news repor ts, and social media sites. I decided I would star t sending hand- wr itten cards and notes to fr iends. In some notes I?m simply thanking the per son for their fr iendship, or for a gift they?ve sent. In other s, I?m seeking to encour age and edify the other per son by thanking them for a quality I see in their lives. What?s been remarkable to me is how wr iting the notes has actually encour aged 18
my spir its! It?s like a boomer ang effect? you send a note to someone else to encour age them, but in the process, you?re encour aged as well! Tr uth is, even in times of gr ief and loss, you can give thanks. As you pr actice gr atitude in your gr ief, you will discover the healing presence of God. He loves to comfor t those who come to Him with a gr ateful hear t. Pr actice thankfulness and watch as your gr ief is replaced with bountiful joy, renewed hope, and strengthened faith.
G iving Thanks When it H urts!
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Please remember to be faithful stewards and take care of your tithes and offering to our church. We have several ways in which to do so, but why not try something different at least one time. Since many of us have been away from the church for so long, just drive out to the church and bring your tithes and offering and put it in our secured mailbox.
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