Thanking God today for....

 Thanking God today for...

...the bountiful supply that He has given us.  

Our needs are always met and overflowing!  God is so good! We always enjoy looking over the table and seeing the many things that were either grown or produced from our home, all things that truly are only because of the grace and faithfulness of the Lord! 

 

 ...Each and every person around this table (including sweet Mom who is taking the picture)!

What a precious gift family is, and that God would chose to put us all together.

...Some of the things that remind us of special friends and their love and friendship that we are so blessed to have in our lives.

...the fun things that you do as a family that make you smile!  :-)  Tayte especially was really wanting to shoot guns, so off they went to get some clay pigeons and a sling. :-)

 ...this little gal that is getting bigger every day!  She was having fun shooting the bb gun, in case you were wondering. :-)

 ...three of the most awesome guys I know!  (And Tayte's amazing other half :-)!)

Love each one of them so much!

 ...the gift of having such a devoted and loving mother, whose steadfastness and diligence to the Lord has taught her children more than imaginable.  Wonder if anyone hit that clay pigeon???? 

 ...for a dad that constantly, steadfastly, diligently and selflessly loves and cares for his family with undiminished fervor and strength.  A man who seeks God earnestly and strives to uphold the truth.  We thank God for his leadership and love!

 ...this precious, energetic gal whose smiles make our hearts warm so often!  She got quite the thrill out of getting to shoot, with Daddy's help, of course. :-)

 ...each of these precious people that bring joy to each day! The many personalities and the special uniqueness of each one adds a special spice to life to make-up the beauty of being a family.

 ...amazing parents that love each other more the older they get!  I love seeing the twinkle in their eyes when they look at each other!  They model Christ and the church in such a beautiful way.  I feel so blessed to have the privilege of watching their example every day!

 ...these gals right here, their love and friendship...no words can describe how thankful I am for them!  

 ...the fun of just being together!   Yep, even if all four of us gals never hit a single clay pigeon.  Not a one.  The guys thought we were...is amazing the right word????  :-)

 ...sisters!!!!  Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters! ;-)

 ...the blessing to be able to enjoy doing an Alexander favorite- chilaxin' with a movie, everybody snuggled up on the couches! :-)  It was a new movie and no one thought it was the best movie ever, but that wasn't what mattered.  It was being together, all of us cuddled up to each other, that's what made it the best!

...this precious couple, the Jr. Alexander family.  :-)  What a delight it has been to have Martha become part of our family and to watch Tayte and Martha begin a home together.  They are both so so precious!  We were so glad to have them with us tonight!

...And I could keep going of things that we are thankful for, but that gets some of the highlights for today. :-)  Without the mercy of the Lord, none of this would be possible and existing.  It is only His mercy and grace, His faithfulness that is new every morning.  Great is His faithfulness! 

~Breanna

Testimony of thankfulness this Thanksgiving Day!

  

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Truly we have so much to be thankful to God for!  "Count your many blessings, name them one by one!"  And our blessings truly are many!!!  I want to share with you one of the things that we are thanking God for today.

Thanksgiving provides such a wonderful opportunity to seek to touch the lives of those around you with the gospel message, while showing appreciation for them and the things that they do. This year, with the bounty that the Lord has so graciously given to us, we filled the house with the wonderful smells of cookies and cinnamon rolls and printed some tracts talking some about Thanksgiving, thanking people for the ways that they have served and blessed us, and most importantly sharing the gospel message, the most important blessing of all.  With a family joined effort, we sent out to 18 government officials the tracts and then packaged up the baked goodies with tracts and took them around town and to where Dad and Tayte are employed.  It was a very small attempt to touch the lives of those right around us, those that we have influence with.  But God can take the very tiniest of our endeavors and use them for His glory, as I want to share with you.

 

The lady at the library was so touched, "blown away" as Brittany worded it, that someone would give something to her, thanking her for what she does.  She said that no one had ever brought something to her there at the Library.  It was just a small plates of cookies...but it touched her with the love of Christ in a way that apparently she hasn't experienced much of. 

When Dad got home from work last night, he had an amazing story to share with us from the day.  He said that at one of the breaks, they all were called to come and wait at the clock out.  One of the owners then came and said he wanted to share something with them that a friend had given him.  And he pulled out the card that we had just given him that morning.  And read the gospel message to those men that have probably never heard the true gospel, that have probably never been confronted with their sin and their need for a Savior.  That one little card touched more people than we would have been able to reach, men that would probably never have read something like that.  Men that many of them are hardened by sin.  And they were all read the gospel message.  It brought me to tears as Dad shared.

I share these stories, in no way seeking to elevate our family for doing this, because we are learning so much and fall so short!  But I share these stories to hopefully encourage you all, as we were encouraged, that even the smallest of our efforts to reach others, God can take those and use them for His glory.  I was reminded last night of the passage where it says that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think.  How true that is!  We were praying as we sent those tracts out that God would be glorified and use them however He would for His glory and honor.  I never would have dreamed that He would use it to reach a whole factory of men that would be more difficult to reach with the gospel message.  But with God, nothing is impossible!  And those who heard that message, they may be but seeds that were planted, but God can take those small seeds and use them for His glory.  I was humbled and in awe that God would take our small efforts and bless them and use them for His purposes.  It also encouraged us that it is so worth taking the time to show love to others and to do our small part in showing the world around us the love of Christ. We are often to apathetic towards people, so self-focused.  Why are we not being the hands and feet of Jesus as He called us to be?  Why are we not taking more seriously showing the love of Christ?  It's not about us, what we can get out of life, what makes us happy.  "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:1-2)  May His glorious Name be magnified!!!!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!  "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
(Ephesians 3:14-21)

~Breanna