A Thanksgiving Gift

This week I received a very special delivery. My church had been putting together fabulous Thanksgiving gift boxes for all of the home-bound members. I was given this very large (and beautiful!) box full of wonderful presents. Being home-bound can get lonely, and the thoughtful gifts are a tangible reminder that my church loves me and is thinking of me. I am so grateful for a church that loves the Lord and serves its members with such kindness.

I had so much fun opening the box.  It was filled with lovely Christmas ornaments, homemade bread, music, DVDs, a devotion book, journals, tea, lotion, nail polish, make up, cards, pretty towels, a gift card, and more.  What a treat!

Oooh, look! Girly stuff!

Sharing some girly stuff with Adelaide

William and Adelaide had fun helping me to dig for more treasures.

Look at all these little treasures!

The bottom of the box was filled with chocolate!

The Thanksgiving gift box made for a very fun day for me! Even the box itself is a present. It is beautiful and sturdy. I am planning to use it to store yarn and crochet supplies. 

This is the second year that I have received a Thanksgiving gift box from my church. They gave me one last year also, and it meant so much to me. I was newly home-bound, very sick, and overwhelmed with the difficulty of my new limitations. We were still living in Kentucky at the time, and I knew that our home church in Georgia was collecting Thanksgiving gifts for the shut-ins. However, I had no idea that they had included me in that list.

When my parents and sister came to visit us for Thanksgiving in 2010, I was so surprised to find that they brought a huge gift bag filled with thoughtful gifts from our church family in Georgia! I remember being so excited and overwhelmed by the love and affection shown by my church. We were living a few hundred miles away at the time, but they still remembered me and took the time to bless me with their cards, gifts, and prayers. The Lord used them, and continues to use them, to encourage me when life is hard.

Thank you, Providence Church, for loving me well!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!  May your heart be full of joy as we give thanks to the Lord for His many blessings.

Psalm 136

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. 
            His love endures forever. 
² Give thanks to the God of gods. 
            His love endures forever. 
³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords: 
            His love endures forever.

⁴ to him who alone does great wonders,
            His love endures forever.
⁵ who by his understanding made the heavens,
            His love endures forever.
⁶ who spread out the earth upon the waters,
            His love endures forever.
⁷ who made the great lights—
            His love endures forever.
⁸ the sun to govern the day,
            His love endures forever.
⁹ the moon and stars to govern the night;
            His love endures forever.

¹⁰ to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
            His love endures forever.
¹¹ and brought Israel out from among them
            His love endures forever.
¹² with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
            His love endures forever.

¹³ to him who divided the Red Sea^[a] asunder
            His love endures forever.
¹⁴ and brought Israel through the midst of it,
            His love endures forever.
¹⁵ but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
            His love endures forever.

¹⁶ to him who led his people through the desert,
            His love endures forever.
¹⁷ who struck down great kings,
            His love endures forever.
¹⁸ and killed mighty kings—
            His love endures forever.
¹⁹ Sihon king of the Amorites
            His love endures forever.
²⁰ and Og king of Bashan—
            His love endures forever.
²¹ and gave their land as an inheritance,
            His love endures forever.
²² an inheritance to his servant Israel;
            His love endures forever.

²³ to the One who remembered us in our low estate
            His love endures forever.
²⁴ and freed us from our enemies,
            His love endures forever.
²⁵ and who gives food to every creature.
            His love endures forever.

 ²⁶ Give thanks to the God of heaven.
            His love endures forever.

Photo Credit: Our Enchanted Garden

Shelter from a Stranger

Glenn Highway in the Winter

Today you can find me writing over at Koinonia, a blog for the women of Southern Seminary. The theme for the month of November is hospitality. Please join me over there as I share about a time Will and I were trapped in a snowstorm 100 miles away from home. I was sick; it was cold, and we were in desperate need of someone's generous hospitality.

You can find my post here: Shelter from a Stranger.

Photo by Kelsey Gray. Used with permission.

Facebook

Hello Cranberry Tea Time Friends,

I have been looking for ways to better connect with each of you.  I would like for Cranberry Tea Time to be more than just me posting my thoughts in this space.  I would like to chat with each of you, the way late night teatime with cranberry tea was meant to be.  For that reason I installed the Disqus comment system on my blog, allowing me (and you) to personally reply to comments.

I also recently started a Facebook page for Cranberry Tea Time.  Please come over and check it out!  My hope is to be able to share small things there.  Whenever I go for a while without blogging (which usually happens when I am not doing well), I start getting emails and comments on my blog asking how I'm doing.  I really appreciate these thoughtful messages, and they encourage me so much on the hard days.  I wish I could send long and thoughtful emails to each person who contacts me, but the truth is I just can't keep up with it.  My body and brain fog don't allow it.  But just because I can't email everyone doesn't mean that I don't want to connect.  I just have to use different and easier methods.  I can keep up with Facebook on most days, so come on over and "like" Cranberry Tea Time to keep in touch.

Thanks for being my Cranberry Tea Time Friend.  I appreciate you!

Blessings,
Rachel

P.S.  Have you entered the DaySpring giveaway?  If not, enter today!  A random winner will be chosen and announced on Tuesday.