a Week of Thanksgiving...Tiffany Cutcliff

Hello.  My name is Tiffany Cutcliff and I blog at The Dwelling Tree.  I write about life and family.  I'd love to have you stop by and send a greeting.

I am so thankful to Danette for having me! I have been a follower of her for a while now and am amazed at her creativity, vision, and ability to bring other bloggers into the spotlight. She is very generous! 

In keeping with the theme of gratitude, I am delighted to write a post about this subject. 

Isn't it amazing how fast our lives become complicated and heavy? Even if we have a roof over our head and food on the table, we have other things to worry about as well. Broken relationships, failure, and loneliness can plague our hearts. I have often made the same mistake over and over, or have regretted something I have done and wish I could turn back time. 

"...as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:12

Forgiven. A new start. I am free. 

This year, I am thankful for new beginnings. 

I have a past. My past contains many regrets I have and a trail of broken relationships, both romantically and non-romantically. To be painfully honest, I experienced a failed marriage in my early twenties. I truly believed in "till death do we part", but that didn't mean that I was exempt from experiencing a failed marriage. I thought I would never get my life back, and I hit an all time low. I viewed the world from rose-colored glasses and thought that giving my life to Christ prior to marriage meant having a joyful and blessed life. Divorce did not fit into that picture. 

I was about to find out that as a child of God I am not going to always have an easy life. Something I was going to learn was that God was the author of my life, that he walks with me through my heartache and pain, and that he could even turn my pain into a beautiful story. He is the God of New Beginnings, and he was going to give me my very own. 

See, my story went on. I found friends who loved me in my struggle, I found that God was with me every step of the way, and I eventually found love again. God redeemed my life and I enjoy a husband that is my best friend and I have a beautiful baby girl named Lillian. See, that isn't my new beginning though. I value my baby and husband more than I could express in words, but what God really wanted me to see was my New Beginning with Him! Jesus used my husband to build trust again, and my baby to show me what unconditional love is (as much as I even think I can understand)- all in an attempt to show me what He really did when He died on the cross. Jesus pardoned my sins as far as the east is from the west, and He gave me a new start. He promised me that he would renew my soul. He can fix broken relationships, failure, and loneliness. His promise of my New Beginning and the fact that he cleanses makes me more grateful than I could have ever imagined. 

What New Beginnings have you experienced this past year? Where has God renewed your life? 

May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! 

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:4

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a week of Thanksgiving...Dalayna Dillon

The warmth, the smell, the laughter in the air
today is Thanksgiving day.
You greet and smile, with plans to stay a while
but the day will all too soon come to an end.

This time of year you hold what's dear
in such a high regard.
The normal things that appear mundane
are the very things we are so glad to maintain.

It is easy to get caught up on all that we do not have,
we are people of want much more than people of need.
The things we have can soon be caught away
with other worries, concerns, and cares of the day.

But now we see, as we gather to be
together for just a short while,
that the things we want are not what we need,
the two are very different in fact.

As we gather today, to laugh and to play,
our hearts are more happy and won.
Won with gratitude and won with praise,
overflowing with joy and love.

Our thanks is not contained to a day or a date,
November the 22nd or 23rd, fouth, sixth, or the eighth.
No matter the day or season, we should always remember the reason
to count our blessings not our lackings
and give praise to God with a heart of thanksgiving.

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a Week of Thanksgiving...Lanie Luttrell

Hello, let me introduce myself. I am Lanie Luttrell from "Shoutin' It Loud" and let me just say I am SUPER excited to be here! Thank you so much, Danette, for giving me this opportunity to guest post. It is definitely an honor to post on one of my favorite blogs.

A couple things I am thankful for is God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, the Bible, my family (including my pets), my church, friends (this includes your pets too!), my house, food, clothing, and showers. Now this may be the basics, but not everyone has the basic necessities. But there is a couple things I would like to share with you that I'm recently thankful for that has been radiating in my heart.

So lately I have been reading in the 4 gospels and something that has really been brought to my attention is when Jesus feeds several people with what looks like not enough. Every time the disciples ask if there would be enough, Jesus took the food and gave thanks and there would always be food left over after satisfying all the people in the crowd. (Mark 8:1-13)

There are several things you can pull from this story, but one thing I pulled out is the simple truth that He, God, is always enough. In fact, He is MORE than enough! When it looks like we won't have enough to get us through, we can still give thanks to Him for what we do have, and God will take care of us as long as we keep our eyes and heart on Him. That is another thing I am thankful for. Just remember, God will NEVER leave us, or forsake us!  

So anyway, Here is some more things I am thankful for that, well, isn't a need, but things I enjoy!

Music, my instruments (I practically collect them... there's so many!), my phone, the mall, my car Lulu, computer, twitter, Facebook, and last but definitely not least, my blog! 

Thank you so much All My Love for All My Days readers! I would love to hear back from you! Just comment below! 

Wanna come check me out, or at least... check out my blog?! Then here ya go!  http://lanieluttrell.blogspot.com/ 

I am thankful you read this :)

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a Week of Thankgiving...Lauren Frank

Hello all you lovelies! I'm Lauren and I blog over at Tutus & Tea Parties about parenting, crafting and some stuff in between. I'd love for you to come by and say hello!

Can you believe Thanksgiving is this week? I feel like the holiday rush has already started. Shopping, decorating, visiting family...stress! I always like to be sure that the season is celebrated for what it really is all about...being thankful! This Thanksgiving, I want to be extra certain to count my blessings. The Lord has given me so much to be thankful for this year and I want to make sure He knows how truly thankful I am!

If you follow me on Instagram, you will notice all month I have been posting a photo a day of what I am thankful for & today I would love to share some of those with you:

 My faith in my God! How awful life would be without Him.

 My hubby who always knows how to make me smile.

 These three kiddos who have such great hearts.

The relationship I have with my family. I love how close we are!

Friends who are so caring and would do anything for us.

I can go on and on about all the other things I'm thankful for...but these are the most important to me. Oh...and coffee!

  

Thanks you for having me here today Danette! 

 Don't forget to acknowledged all the things in your life you are thankful for this holiday season. If you want to see more of what I am thankful for I would love for you to follow me on Instagram. :)

Don't miss a thing, keep up with me here:

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a Week of Thanksgiving...this is my life

As I just get in from a long day of complete fun (and a little bit of work) I find myself surrounded with the serenity of home and family and peace and love.  And it's here, in this sweet habitation that I'm embraced with a thankful heart and a reflective mind.

I light a solitary candle and let it's warmth run over my face as the fire catches hold and eats away at the air and the day.

I reach over to run my hand along the soft fur of my dog Jackson and find it to be soothing...warming even.

I listen to melodies and counter melodies and sweet harmonies and the beautifulness of dissonant chords and complex rhythms and find my imagination has carried me to another place.

I lay back and sink into a mound of soft, hungry down pillows that envelop me, holding me tight and secure.

I rest, sweet rest, in the presence of a mighty God and I think, "how could anyone ever be more in love than I am right now?"  In this peace.  In this rest.

And then I remember a time when I was more in love than I am now. And although there is pain in that thought there is also a drawing.

A drawing back to who I love. A pulling back to the things that are really important.  A stirring to return to my real home.

And it's here that I find it...Him...

...and I'm thankful for Him above all else.

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