Happy November (a day late… I meant to get this posted yesterday)! We have just 22 more days until Thanksgiving, and {dare I say it???} 53 more days until Christmas!
To prepare for both, I’ve been doing a lot of praying, thinking, and writing. I’m A.L.M.O.S.T. done with my first e-book:
Yay! and Praise The LORD!!!!! The content is written, so now I’m just wrapping up a few formatting issues. I hope pray to have the book out by the weekend or early next week! It will sell for $4.99 and can be downloaded in e-book or PDF format. I’ll be doing a give away on the release date, so stay tuned. 🙂
Since we are in the month of Thanksgiving, it seems that more hearts are focused on gratitude. I love that. God challenged our family last year to participate in what we called “The Attitude Gratitude Challenge” – and per His instructions to us, we were to extend it through the entire month of December. I can’t tell you how helpful this was to us all! As we approached the Christmas gift-giving-gift-receiving days, remembering to be grateful for what we have helped each of us keep our “wanter” in check.
We are taking the challenge again this year, and I’d like to invite you to join us. Will you?
The Attitude Gratitude Challenge – 2011
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Praise and Thanksgiving – and about what true antidotes they are for a downcast and discouraged and weary spirit.
The holidays are quickly approaching, and although we may loathe to admit it, they aren’t always the “happy” times we dream of them being. We don’t always have a “joy-filled” heart during these two very busy and somewhat stressful upcoming months. Do we? So I want to issue a challenge to the both of us:
For these next two months, EVERYDAY let’s record either a PRAISE to God for Who He is, or a THANKSGIVING to God for what He has done. Just (or at least) one a day.
You can record it on a piece of paper and keep it posted in your kitchen, you can post it on your blog, or Facebook, or Twitter, you can get your family to participate, or your friends at work or school… However you want to do it, the challenge is to every day add one praise or thanksgiving to your list and make a conscious choice to “Praise the Lord…all you people!” And to “Give thanks to The Lord, for He is good…” (Psalm 117:1, 118:1)
Why? Adoration of Jesus and Gratitude to Him are automatic Joy-Magnets for the heart. They move our focus from where it usually is to where it needs to be.
I’ll be recording mine in my QT journal, and posting it on Twitter, (with hashtag #AttitudeGratitude). Our family is also going to be keeping a list on our refrigerator, where we’ll take turns filling in our praises and thanksgivings. {I just learned how to turn my list into a downloadable PDF to share! Click here, and if it works, you can use the same list our family will be using this year.:-) }
What a treasure we will have by the time Thanksgiving comes along! And by the time we celebrate Christ’s birth, we’ll have a wealth of evidence of the precious Gifts God has given to us in and through and because of His Son, Jesus.
Will you join me? Maybe God will lead you to pass along this challenge to those in your life. I’m looking forward to how God will be honored and blessed, and in turn, the difference this will make on our lives as we close out 2011 in praise and thanksgiving!
Much love to you all… And happy Praise and Thanksgiving!
PS: Some awesome gratitude quotes from Pinterest: