Thanksgiving CHALLENGE!!!!

Hello there, my wonderful readers!

I'm really excited!!! And I'm really excited because... tomorrow is Thanksgiving!! But yeah.. I guess you knew that  :)  Unfortunately, the Pilgrims missed their stop in Chile. So that's why this incredible holiday is NOT celebrated here. Can you believe that?? :O  lol! But the good news is, WE as a family DO celebrate it! yay! So tomorrow, no school! I get to hang out in the kitchen with mom all day :D  We've decided to not over-do it where food is concerned, for the simple reason that we don't want to "over-do" our waist lines. But we are having turkey. Mom found a little one at the store, so we were so happy! And yes.. pumpkin pie.. yuummmm! can't have Thanksgiving dinner without pumpkin pie, right? lol.. it's going to be a good day.

Ok.. enough with the food. I'm making myself hungry already!! Let's focus on what's really important, shall we?
All right. The challenge. I've decided I'm going to start my day a little differently tomorrow. I want you to join me on an adventure!! That's right.. YOU.. on an adventure! Let me tell you what this adventure is all about. To start off, I'll be going to bed extra early tonight. (If you decide to join me, do so as well.. you'll need it!) And tomorrow, my plan is to wake up THREE HOURS before my regular wake-up time. Tomorrow is supposed to be a day of thanksgiving, and that's where I want my focus to be. Not only does God want us to thank Him for His blessings, but He commands us to. Psalm 100:4 says "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving" and "Be thankful unto Him". Anothes Psalm says that "is is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord". He also commands us to be content in the present with the things that we have. It's kind of hard to give thanks to God for the things we have when we are not content with them, huh? Or what about the difficult situations we might find ourselves in? God is perfect, and He is good, and he loves us! He gives us everything we have, and puts us in the difficult situations we are in, for a reason. And He commands us to be thankful for them. I know it's hard.. but what I'm going to do, and recommend that you do too, will help us have the  right kind of perspective on things. Ok.. here it is.

1)  Go to bed early tonight!
2)  Set your alarm clock to wake you up 3 hours before your regular wake-up time.
3)  Think of areas in your life in which you need to work on being more content and thankful.
4)  Spend 3 hours with your Heavenly Father. (below are some ideas)
          - With a study Bible, or concordance (whichever is available).. find verses in your Bible about thankfulness, contentment, who God is, and reasons for why you should be thankful.
          -  Pray, read, pray again, and meditate on God's Word. Have a true time of fellowship with God and ask Him to help you in these different areas.
          -  Take time to sing out loud and praise God for ALL His blessings.. not just the ones you think are good.
5)  Now you are ready to face the day ahead of you with renewed thankfulness!
6)  Share with others what God has showed you from His word.

So..  there you have it! I've never tried this before, but I'm going to tomorrow! Please join me! It will be a wonderful adventure with our Lord. If you can't do it tomorrow.. that's ok! Do it on Friday or Saturday.If you can't do it for 3 whole hours, that's ok! Do it for 2 hours, 1 hour, or whatever. And please.. if you decide to take this challenge, let me know how it goes for you! I would love to hear about what you learned and what God is doing in your life.

I hope you have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving tomorrow!! God bless you  =D

Rebekah  Joy
        
         
     

Princess In a Tower

"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength,

in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation,

and my high tower."

~ Psalm 18:2 ~

Most likely everybody in this world has some kind of place he likes to call his own. Think about it! Maybe there's a certain place you like to go that just makes you feel special, protected, adequate... like the beach, a shopping mall (lol!), or it might just be a room in your house.

My bedroom is all that for me. It's the place that I spend most of my time in. Seriously... it's where I do all my school work, where I sleep (obviously!), the place I make my "escape" to, where I cry and vent my frustrations, and where I feel truly safe, protected, and secure.

My awesome room is located on the second floor of our house. It's the only room up there, so you could say it's kinda secluded :) Leading up to it is this skinny, tiny, windy staircase. I have a friend, and whenever she goes up to my room, she says, "I feel like a princess in a tower!" (you know who you are! :P). And hey! Guess what? It does kind of feel like I'm in a tower! And the princess part? Well.. that too! After all, I'm the daughter of the King of kings!

My "tower" is pretty cool, isn't it? But there's this other Tower I want to talk about. My "tower", even with it's cute windy staircase, is just a room.. which could collapse in an earthquake at any time! Very unreliable, I'm afraid.

The Bible says that God is my Tower.. and my Fortress, and my Strength, and so many other wonderful things! I can truly trust in Him, because He has promised to always be there for me. He, as my Tower, can give me true security. I can feel safe and loved in Him. I don't have to worry about this Tower tumbling down in an earthquake. I can take all my fears, all my frustrations, all my worries.. to Him, who will always be there for me.. no matter what!

Now I can truthfully say that I am a princess in a Tower. In a safe, stong tower.. where nothing can ever hurt me, because I am His.

I am His princess.