Thanksgiving Day- so much to be thankful for!

I pray that everyone is having a marvelous Thanksgiving day!
I have had a wonderful day full of family, food, and fun!
The Word of God instructs us to Count our Blessings, and to name them one by one.

This month, the Lord provided that opportunity for me! A dear friend invited me to join an online forum of Christian young ladies who had taken up a challenge to follow Psalm 119:164- 

"Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgements". 

Everyday of the month of November, we were to write out seven different things that we were thankful for.  

At first it was a little difficult to find seven things, but then, as the month continued, it became HARDER to STOP at seven, than to FIND seven things to be thankful for!

For Thanksgiving several of us decided to list 50 things, and I tell you in all honesty, I didn't want to stop at 50! :) The Lord has been SO good to me this year! 

Here are the 50 things that I am thankful for this Thanksgiving Day!

1. That my family was able to get together today
2. The new faces that were around our table today (my uncle got married back in July, and my new aunt brings two new cousins to the family as well!)
3. The developing relationships with the new family members
4. The love of cooking that my Pawpaw Ed instilled in me while he was alive
5. The food to cook today
6. The joy in my heart as I was washing dishes last night and today (this is a testament to what the Lord has done in my heart this past year! Dishes are my least favorite thing to do in the kitchen, but I actually had a smile on my face, a genuine smile!)
7. The work that the Lord has done in my heart and life!
8. The new friends that Christ has brought into my life this year to encourage and strengthen me in my walk with Him
9. Old friendships renewed and strengthened this year
10. God's blessing of a large donation to our church's Christmas program to help needy children
11. Electricity! (Imagine having to cook all your Thanksgiving Dinner without an electric stove and oven!)
12. A very fun family photo shoot today after lunch!
13. Hearing my family praising God for the blessings in our life, it is such a sweet sound!
14. Encouraging blogs!
15. Ron Hamilton and the Patch the Pirate Ministry! I so enjoyed the stories and songs when I was little, and I still get a kick out of them!
16. Stephen and Alex Kendrick and their films!
17. A beautiful set of porcelain dishes for my hope chest! (8 place settings!)
18. A wonderful Thanksgiving service at church last night!
19. Backdrops and lights to use for my photography
20. LOVE! It was so nice to feel the love crammed into my grandma's house today as my family sat around laughing and enjoying time together!
21. Joy!
22. Peace! I have never experienced as much peace in my life as I have in the past 6 months! It is the greatest feeling in the world!
23. Patience- Thank the Lord He is working on me in this area! I couldn't do it without Him!
24. Gentleness
25. Goodness
26. Faith
27. Meekness
28. Self-control- Christ has been faithful to help me in this area!
29. My camera
30. Beautiful Sunshine this morning!
31. A very fun Thanksgiving Day parade
32. Cheesecake
33. Memories!
34. The Power of Prayer!
35. Inspirational quotes
36. Laughter!!!
37. Tears, for they cleanse the soul
Some of my favorite books of the Bible and scripture passages-
38. Psalm 100
39. Isaiah 41:10
40. 1 Corinthians 13
41. Hebrews 11
42. 1 Peter
43. Ruth- Both the book of the Bible and the lady as an inspiration
44. Esther- Same as Ruth! :)
45. Proverbs 31:10-31 and Titus 2:3-5
46. Ron Hamilton's song- Rejoice in the Lord (I have been singing it and playing it on the piano for the last few days!)
47. Ellerslie Ministries (the ministry founded by Eric and Leslie Ludy)
48. Joshua Harris and his books- I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy Meets Girl
49. Modest clothing
50. My new 'Gratitude Attitude'!
 

I thoroughly LOVED this challenge! It has really helped to change my whole outlook on life, and help me find something to be thankful for, whether it be good or bad! 

I challenge you to count your blessings this year, and continue counting all year long! :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Remind Me, Dear Lord

Remind Me, Dear Lord- Words by Dottie Rambo

The things that I love and hold dear to my heart

Are just borrowed, they're not mine at all;

Jesus only let me use them to brighten my life,

so remind me, remind me dear Lord.

Roll back the curtain, of memory now and then,

Show me where you brought me from

and where I could have been:

Remember I'm human, and humans forget-

So remind me, remind me, dear Lord.

Nothing good have I done to deserve God's own Son,

I'm not worthy of the scars in His hands;

Yet He chose the road to Calvary to die in my stead-

Why He loved me, I can't understand.

Roll back the curtain of memory now and then,

Show me where you brought me from

and where I could've been;

Remember I'm human, and humans forget-

So remind me, remind me dear Lord.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This song has been on my heart a lot lately, because of some things that the

Lord has been teaching me.

Mainly, He has been reminding me that the things that I have now, and the

things to come later on in life are for me to use to bring more glory to His

Name!  What a challenge!

May I continue to be a moldable vessel fit for the Master's use!

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain"-Philippians 1:21

My Personal Scutterbotch

I mentioned Scutterbotch in my last post.
Here is the story in brief overview- 
The story of Scutterbotch is about a little girl, named Becky, who really wanted a horse.  One day a friend of the family gave her an old horse. A gray, swayback, short legged horse.  Becky wanted to name the horse Butterscotch, but he wasn't a butterscotch color, so she decided to name him Scutterbotch.  Becky and Scutterbotch did everything together! 
One day, the temperatures dropped to below freezing, and no one thought to open the door to the barn to let Scutterbotch in. Scutterbotch ended up dying, even after the vet tried everything he could think of to save him.  Becky went to her dad and asked why God had let Scutterbotch die.  Her dad told her he didn't know exactly why God had a let that happen, but that they should thank God for allowing her to have Scutterbotch for as long as she did.  So Becky thanked God for the gift of time she had with Scutterbotch.  Several weeks went by, and every day Becky would thank God for Scutterbotch.  One day, her dad got a phone call, when Becky asked who it was, all her dad said was 'it was a friend'. 
The following weekend a horse trailer pulled into their yard and out of the horse trailer stepped not one, not two, not three, but FOUR Fresian Show Horses!  One stallion, two mares, and a filly. 
Because Becky thanked God for what she had had, He blessed her with an abundance later on.
___________________________________
Here is the story of my personal Scutterbotch-

How often do you neglect the things you know you are supposed to do?

For me, it was more often then it should have been.

And the Lord knew that.  So He allowed my laptop to die back in April of this year.

I say He allowed it, because I had let electronics take over my life.  I wasn't reading my Bible like I should, I wasn't praying like I should, I wasn't spending time with my wonderful family like I should have been.  I was always busy on that laptop.

The Lord knew that I needed a change, and killed it. :)

I was very upset at first, but then as I was looking for something to do with all of my new found spare time- I rediscovered not only my Bible, but many other books that I had been needing to read.  So, the Lord put me on a fast track to developing my relationship with Him!
I found many nuggets, rhamas, and just general information that I needed.
Now, 5 months after the death of my 'Scutterbotch' (aka- laptop), I can honestly say that I am In Love with Jesus Christ my Savior! I have a deeper relationship with Him now than I ever had before.

As Jeremiah 29:11-14 says- 
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
"Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
"And I will be found of you, saith the LORD..."

The Lord is ALWAYS true to His Word.  Praise His Name, I sought the Lord and I found Him! 

I challenge you to re-evaluate your relationship with your Heavenly Father.  Are you spending more time with friends, electronics, TV, etc, than you are with Him? 
The Lord Himself says that He is a Jealous God.  Christ loves you more than any person ever could, and certainly more than an inanimate object ever could.  He gave His life for you!
Remember, God does not move away from you, You move away from God.  Take the steps today to get closer to God. And don't stop! Keep going down that road. I promise you, you will not regret it!

Oh, and the Lord blessed me with a new laptop that is ten times better than my old one! But it is not taking over the time that I have to spend with my Savior! :)

So, what is your Scutterbotch story?

Placing a Stitch in the lives of children

Proverbs 22:6- "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege to work alongside an amazing group of young people who all have a heart for God and for children.

We had a great time working together for the common goal of
sharing Christ's love with 17 little blessings.
Through the course of the week, the children learned Psalm 1 and
several songs in large group. They made some fun crafts and learned
many character qualities and their definitions in small group.
The children had a blast and learned a lot, but we the teachers
learned more than the kids.
Of course, isn't that how it always goes? Whether you are a teacher,
a preacher, or a Sunday School teacher, when it comes time for you
to teach or preach, you always end up learning something from the
lesson yourself. Sometimes, the lesson was meant just for you, not
necessarily for your students or congregation.
During the week, we had a storyteller- Richard Shoemaker - who did
a fabulous job and kept the kids on the edge of their seats.
One story he told in particular really touched my heart. It was the
story of Scutterbotch.
Scutterbotch is a wonderful story of having something, then losing it,
only to be blessed over and above what you had before. More on this
next time :).
So all in all, we had a marvelous week of fun, friends, fellowship, and
learning about God.
I'm already planning and looking forward to next year!

Thank You to America's Military!

Since it’s July 4^th weekend, I figured I would do a post in tribute to not only America’s great men and women in uniform, but also to my family and friends who have served, or are serving.

God has put his hand of blessing on our military ever since 1776, and Praise God, we have not lost a major war since the founding of this great nation!

I want to give a shout out to several of the men I know in the military.

First and foremost- My grandfather, Earl Young Baine, Sr. Who instilled in our family- whether through actually teaching his boys, or through his boys teaching us grandkids-That you have a duty to serve your country, and to do so proudly! I’m so proud of my grandfather who served as an Army MP during WWII under Gen. Patton.

Second- My Great-Grandfather on my mother’s side, Samuel Henry Roof, PFC US Navy WWII. He also instilled in our family a pride for our country.

These two men were great Patriots, and proud Americans. They are greatly missed by both families, but we children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren strive to make them proud every day by continuing their legacy.

We are three generations deep with military men in the Baine family. My dad, my uncle, and two of my cousins have served. I’m so very proud of all of you.

On my mother’s side, my 2^nd-cousin, is getting ready to graduate from Basic Training next month so that he can serve our country in the Marines. He has made us all very proud.

I have several friends who are serving in many branches of the military as well, and to each of them, I say ‘Thank you’. Your service means a lot to me, and even though America doesn’t say it nearly enough, it means a lot to our country as well. Thank you for giving of yourselves in such an awesome way!

You have all put your stitch in time. Thank you.

What an experience!

Hi All!

I haven't posted in almost a year *slaps hand*.

Hopefully, I can start posting more often, but let me fill you in on what an amazing experience I got to be a part of a couple of weeks ago----

Take a step back in time with me to the morning of April 12, 1861. You live in Mt Pleasant, SC. You are awakened out of a sound sleep, it's about 4:30am. You wonder what it was that woke you, then you hear it again, the dreaded sound that you have been hearing everyone talk about since the South Carolina congress convened on December 21, 1860 to sign the Declaration of Secession. It's cannon fire! You rush to your balcony to see if you can see the cannons. You can't see them, but you can see the fire lighting the palm trees as the rounds are coming out of the barrels, you can see the smoke, you hear the yell of "FIRE!" and then feel the bone-shaking blast of the cannon.
---------

That is what I got to experience last month exactly 150 years to the day. It was such an experience. Many reporters called it a somber commemoration. In many ways it was. There was no 'Rebel yell'. There were no shouts of 'Hurrah'.
These were men, many of whom were descendants of the men who died in the War of Northern Aggression, commemorating the shots that tore our nation apart 150 years ago. I over heard one man telling his wife later in the day, with tears in his eyes, what an experience it was. How he could feel his relatives blood flowing through his veins. Turns out that particular relative had been in the artillery. What an awe inspiring experience for that man!

I was fortunate enough to be able to go down to the Causeway in Mt. Pleasant, SC and watch the men fire the cannons. It was an awesome experience to be able to be a part of a once-in-a-lifetime event, recreating another once-in-a-lifetime event.


The picture above is of Ferguson's Artillery firing on Fort Sumter from the Causeway on the morning of April 12, 2011.

Making a Stitch

I just want to say - PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

You might know, and then again you might not know, that I have a photography business - Pictured Creations. I started it about 4 months ago, and since then I've been wondering how I would be able to advertise.

Well, the Lord provided! A music teacher from long ago called me yesterday and asked if I would do head shots for a drama camp she is teaching next week. In return for me doing the head shots, she is going to let me give out my business card to the families, she will put an ad in the program for the play, and she will let me set up a booth to showcase my work at the performance! WOW!! I am ecstatic! God is so good!

I just had to share how good God is this morning!

Kristin