Celebrate! 

Recognise! 

Call to mind! 

Meditate on! 

Mull over!

Remember! 

Do not forget the goodness that God has done for you! 

Today as a community of representatives from the Amazon Jungle, Lima and beyond, England, Germany and Canada we join with our American friends in celebrating Thanksgiving together. 

We choose to come together, to unite and deliberately call to mind and remember the good things God is doing among us.  We choose to feast together with friends new and old and declare that God has blessed us and we choose to recognize that.  Today we will share two turkeys amongst 50! 

Celebrating is not only a Biblical practice, but also a command! 

When the Jews had their lives rescued from the edict of King Xerxes because of Esther’s intercession, they celebrated and feasted with joy together.  They were then commanded to celebrate the day forever and remember what God had done for them.  

I don’t know about you but I am so quick to forget! 

So today I am choosing to be thankful!

I am thankful for community, for the growth of the students and team.  For a community that endeavors to be family, to lean in when it would be easy to lean out, to encourage and pray for one another.  I am thankful for friends who come alongside and family who are faithful, generous and full of grace. 

I am thankful for new babies, new pregnancies and new followers of Jesus, for being alongside two friends as they gave birth, and seeing God’s hand and provision over both births - one in a Lima clinic and one in a house in the jungle!  I am thankful that Rosa and baby Lauren are with us for Thanksgiving. 

I am thankful for provision for so many for food and rent, which has come so many times miraculously, 

I am thankful for all the travels God has provided for this year, for time with family in Australia and time with family and friends in the UK and the US, times full of encouragement and open-arms. 

I am thankful for the ways my boys have matured this year - personally, with God and in their studies.  I am so thankful that I get to spend each morning with them learning and discovering together and building memories together.  

I am thankful for a spouse who stands by me, encourages me and upholds me in so many ways.  I am thankful for his servant heart, his dedication to me and the boys and his commitment to the things God is calling him to do. 

I am thankful for health - for God’s protection even through sickness, hospital trips, accidents and miscarriages. 

I am thankful that after seven months our kitchen is nearly finished! (Yes, still not quite!! - But well on the way!!) 

I am thankful for people near and far who have encouraged me, upheld us in prayer and reached out to us.  

I am thankful for God’s guidance - for teaching me so patiently how to led Him lead and guide me, how to hear His voice more clearly and for speaking to me firmly yet always surrounded in love. 

Wherever you live today, or what nationality you hold, let’s be thankful together today! Happy Thanksgiving! 

Let's put on joy together! 

Celebrate! What are you thankful for today? Who can you share that thanksgiving with? 

May Thanksgiving lead to much joy today! This is Day 18 of a 21 Day challenge to put on joy in practical ways.  You can receive these posts by email by clicking to sign up here.