Giving Thanks: A Giveaway!

Hi! Do you want to know something? I am thankful for you. Here. Have some kabobs. Happy Thanksgiving. What? Don't you eat kabobs for Thanksgiving? I love Thanksgiving and I love being thankful. It makes my heart feel all squishy and full.

I'm so thankful I'm at the end of the story about my life's disappointments! I want to start telling the God part of the story. If you haven't read yesterday's post, go ahead and read it now, so today's will make sense.

So, here is the sick truth. I am holding nothing back here. By the time Bob had his "incident" I was walking around wearing this warped badge of honor. On this badge that I bestowed upon myself was my list of all the wrongs, the hurts, the injustices, and the disappointments I had endured. I was developing an unhealthy pride in the list and felt I surely deserved something for all of it. But what did I deserve? What was it I wanted?

I tried chocolate chips for awhile. I ate them by the bag. They were not good friends to me, though. So I tried letting my normally frugal self go a little wild and buy things just for fun. I figured I deserved to do at least that with a husband who worked so much. I tried losing myself in books and sewing projects. I stayed up for hours searching the Internet for anything entertaining. I watched all the old episodes of "Mary Tyler Moore," "I Love Lucy," "Little House on the Prairie," and "Dr. Quinn." Don't be makin' fun, now! 

I felt sick and disgusted with myself. I knew exactly what I was doing, and yet I continued in it. I was avoiding intimacy with God. I was filling up every silent moment with stuff, so that I wouldn't have to face Him. I knew that if I did face him, I would be completely raw. I would be totally and utterly exposed, unable to hide a thing. And I knew that would make me feel things I did not want to feel. Pain. I did not want to feel the pain.

I love so many things about the Lord, and one of them is that He uses other people that he has encouraged to encourage us, in turn! Check out 1Corinthians 1:3-4. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." Ahh. God is the original author of "pay it forward." 

And this is exactly what happened to me. He used two sisters who had suffered many troubles to encourage me with the encouragement they had received from God. In fact, He has used them to encourage many people who are encouraging others, and so on it goes, and isn't that wonderful? He is a wonderful Redeemer. 

I will never forget the day I heard the news that Holly and Heather suddenly and tragically became widows in their twenties. These two sisters and I had grown up alongside each other at church and school. I was so moved by their loss, I can still remember the spot on my living room carpet where I sat stunned, crying and praying for them. Little did I know that more than ten years later the book that they would write about their experience would be the spring board to launch me out of my own pit of misery.

A good friend loaned me Holly and Heather's book months before it was officially "out" and I read it in one day. I read into the wee hours of the morning, not interrupting what the Holy Spirit was doing in me as I read. For me, it was similar to ripping off a bandage, and I just wanted to get it over with. I didn't want to cry. But I did. I didn't want to relate to their thoughts and feelings. But I couldn't help it. 

These two women are beautiful examples of what God will do with a life fully surrendered to Him. He will redeem, restore, and reconcile. I like that "reconcile" means "to re-establish a close relationship between." It holds within it the hope of second chances with God. Reading this book helped to start me on the path of facing the God who loves me and being reconciled to Him. I was at last ready to let Him help me take off my sick badge of honor and replace it with a crown of beauty, the oil of gladness, and a garment of praise (Isaiah 61). 

By the way, besides having a beautiful testimony, Holly and Heather also have beautiful singing voices that they use to minister to the Lord and to others. They have just finished a season of women's retreats that I hear tell have been wonderful! I'm not sure if they have more of those planned for the future, but you can read a little more about the sisters and their book here.

So, because I love you, and because it's Thanksgiving, and because you should read it, I'm giving away a copy of this book!

 Also, I had some scraps of Christmas fabric and an old sweater that sort of threw themselves together and became a bag that I am also giving away.

 You could put the book in the bag! Or you could read the book and give the bag to your niece for Christmas. Or, if you've already read the book, you could give it to your friend for Christmas and keep the bag for toting around all the baked goods you will be handing out to your neighbors because you are secretly related to Martha Stewart. 

Here is a hint for you: do not think that you have to have gone through a tragedy to read or enjoy this book. No, no. This book has something for everyone, simply because the Holy Spirit has anointed it. And if you have never had a troublesome day in your life, one is coming, I can guarantee you that. So, go ahead and leave a comment, so that you will have a chance to win the Book in a Bag! You can stay anonymous, if you like. And if you want to have fun, when you leave your comment, tell me your favorite Thanksgiving food.

Mine is...the mashed potatoes, of course! The turkey would be naked without it.