Follow-Up: My Thanksgiving Blessings
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In last week’s article, Are You Celebrating Your Dependence and Interdependence this Thanksgiving?, I invited you to shift your focus in regards to your blessings on this day. Below was the invitation…
I encourage you to be intentional about giving thanks for the blessings in your life that specifically identify God and others as the source.
However, if you want to take this to the next level, identify how you use your gifts that God has given you to be a blessing to Him and others that requires you to step out in faith. This requires courage to get out of your comfort zone to respond to a specific need God invites you to meet. And it’s all for His glory!
Will you do me a favor? Please comment how you celebrated your dependence and interdependence this Thanksgiving.
I promised to follow-up by sharing my thanksgivings to you. So, here they are!
God
Grateful for God’s provision during my time in Hawaii.
Grateful for health, spiritual growth, and the opportunity to enjoy His creation in Hawaii.
Grateful for God’s guidance in developing His ideas for my business (i.e., The IMPACT Journey and Giants & Stones) and help in the writing I have undertaken this year.
Others
Grateful for my friend that lives on the island that has helped me assimilate and become familiar with island life.
Grateful for my friends that invited me over for Thanksgiving.
Grateful for the support and encouragement from friends and family in my move to Hawaii.
Grateful for coaches that have mentored me.
My gifts from God to be a blessing to Him and others that has required me to step out in faith…
Definitely it was an unforeseen move, yet I took a leap of faith and got out of my comfort zone by resigning from my full-time position to focus full-time on building my business (Innovative Leadership Solutions) while condo-sitting in Hawaii for 6 months. I did visit for a week this past January. At the time, I only knew one person on the island and God has blessed me with community over time. Grateful for my home church, Our Savior Lutheran, and to help in the church office twice a week.
Grateful for the opportunity to serve as a leadership coach, speaker, and consultant. My own transformational journey began at the Townsend Institute at Concordia University-Irvine. Now, I am able to serve clients in their transformational journey with God’s help.
Dependence
Continued gratefulness to Jesus, my Savior, and the unconditional love and grace from God!
Grateful for help with transportation. I do not have a car in Hawaii. Others have graciously given me rides, including a ride every Sunday for church. Otherwise, I ride the bus.
Interdependence
Grateful for the opportunities to have collaborated with co-workers serving as an event and store manager with Goldy’s Locker Room.
Grateful for my dad. He passed away this past February from a 17+ year battle with Parkinson’s. I appreciate his wisdom, faith, and guidance over the years. His faith in God definitely helped him persevere through his battle with Parkinson’s. He was blessed by others ministering to him. He was also a blessing to others as he still had his “pastoral hat” on through it all. Today would have been his 79th birthday. Through serving as a pastor and a professor at Concordia University-St. Paul, God gifted him to have much transformational impact on the lives of many.
How about you? There is still time! There is always time to be grateful! Take a 10-15 minute break from scrolling on your phone. Be specific and intentional when counting your blessings and then experience real, genuine, heart-felt thankfulness!
