Thinking of all the things for which we can be thankful today.  Create your own list or adapt it from this beloved hymn and sing the refrain and verses:

 Lord of all, to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of the earth For the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth Over and around us lies.

For the beauty of each hour, Of the day and of the night, Hill and vale, and tree and flower, Sun and moon, and stars of light.

For the joy of ear and eye, For the heart and mind’s delight, For the mystic harmony Linking sense to sound and sight.

For the joy of human love, Brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mild.

For Thy Church, that evermore Lifteth holy hands above, Offering up on every shore Her pure sacrifice of love.

For the martyrs’ crown of light, For Thy prophets’ eagle eye, For Thy bold confessors’ might, For the lips of infancy.

For Thy virgins’ robes of snow, For Thy maiden mother mild, For Thyself, with hearts aglow, Jesus, Victim undefiled.

For each perfect gift of Thine, To our race so freely given, Graces human and divine, Flowers of earth and buds of Heaven.

 Lord of all, to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.  (Colossians 3:17)

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. (John 1:16)

When you start to feel stressed out about something, begin to count your blessings.  Nothing shakes stress out of your heart like remembering the blessings that God has already bestowed on you.  No matter where life finds you today, there are still things which are gifts of grace, one blessing after another.

Luke 10:38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

I found myself this morning with race horses in my brain, running wild, reins flying behind them, and no one’s hands holding them to get control over them as they stampeded over my emotions, my nerves, and yes, my thoughts.  As they were dragging me off to the Land of Panic, I thought to myself, “Why do I do this?”

Do you feel that way at the holidays?  So much to do and only ___ days before Christmas?

Whoa!  Rein those horses in!

Well, I gave myself a few moments in the Divine Time Out Corner called prayer.  Ironically, the busier we are, the more we need the priorities and perspective that come from sitting at the feet of Jesus.  Take a few moments, trust me: You have time.  Lay all your dreams for the day ahead at the feet of Jesus and ask Him to help you sort them by His priorities.  Some things, let’s face it, are just stuff we layer onto His priorities and it’s our things He’s not obligated to make sure happen the way we want them to.  His priorities are ones He’ll fulfill.

Take some time to pray. 

De-Stress yourself by gaining Jesus’ priorities and Kingdom perspective. You’ll be glad you did.

I am pleased to announce the Advent Devotional Series for 2013 “Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up In-Person.”  In the Person of Jesus Christ, that is.

It is far too easy to let the holidays—the secular term for the holy season of Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas—go by with very little thought as to what this time of year would be like had LOVE not shown up.

If Jesus didn’t become flesh. 

If He didn’t leave heaven behind to walk this earth as the man Jesus of Nazareth.

If He wasn’t the Son of God. 

If the manger was empty apart from hay or was filled with just another baby born into a humble existence in the likeness of Adam.

So during this season of Advent, we will walk through selections from the Gospel of John and remember what it means to us today that LOVE showed up, the definition of the first Advent of our Lord and Savior.

This devotional series begins December 1^st and continues daily until Christmas.

If you haven’t signed up to receive the daily postings from SeminaryGal, you may sign up either on  Facebook SeminaryGal or use the space provided on the Home Page side bar.  If you already have signed up and are receiving these writings by email, I thank you for the encouragement you are to me!  I look forward to journeying together during Advent as we see “Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up In-Person.”

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.

Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Colossians 3:13 )

I’m glad you all like the hymn series we’ve been doing lately.  They minister to my soul as well.  It also helps me to see how many Overcomers have been in this world.  It’s kind of like what God says about our Christian faith:

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

The Christian life is difficult.  But we can gain encouragement to keep the faith from saints and Overcomers who have gone before us.

Today, consider George Matheson who was blind and suffered from periods of mental suffering.  Yet one of his hymns “O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go” is one of the most beloved hymns of the Church. According to the cyberhymnal, Matheson said about this hymn:

My hymn was com­posed in the manse of In­ne­lan [Ar­gyle­shire, Scot­land] on the ev­en­ing of the 6th of June, 1882, when I was 40 years of age. I was alone in the manse at that time. It was the night of my sister’s mar­ri­age, and the rest of the fam­i­ly were stay­ing over­night in Glas­gow. Some­thing hap­pened to me, which was known only to my­self, and which caused me the most se­vere men­tal suf­fer­ing. The hymn was the fruit of that suf­fer­ing. It was the quick­est bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the im­press­ion of hav­ing it dic­tat­ed to me by some in­ward voice ra­ther than of work­ing it out my­self. I am quite sure that the whole work was com­plet­ed in five min­utes, and equal­ly sure that it ne­ver re­ceived at my hands any re­touch­ing or cor­rect­ion. I have no na­tur­al gift of rhy­thm. All the other vers­es I have ever writ­ten are man­u­fact­ured ar­ti­cles; this came like a day­spring from on high.

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.