Thanksgiving

 

On October 10, 2016 I was thinking that this Thanksgiving was an eventful one for me this year.  My husband and I were going to be going to one of his sisters’ place for Thanksgiving on the Sunday that just passed.  Our car had been a bit off the past week or so, but we had hoped we would be able to get to her place with no issues.  The car had only had problems at this point when we were driving slowly so I thought we would be alright. 

We were wrong – we started to drive on the highway not too far from our place when the car started to get jerky again.  Thankfully it didn’t stop right away, as the jerkiness was bringing our car speed down quickly.  We pulled over to the side of the highway turned off the car and turned it back on and it was ready to go again.  We both realized that because the issue with car was happening more often and now it’s happening on the highway; we wouldn’t be able to drive it to my sister-in-law’s place.

My hubby and I were getting down at first about that as we drove back home the slow way, but we were thankful that God kept us safe as it could have turned out much worse.  I know both of us still really wanted to go to the Thanksgiving celebrations when we thought about asking my mom if we could borrow her car.  She was in church at the time and I knew that she didn’t always keep her phone on, so I was nervous that we might not hear back from her until much later.

As it turns out she messaged us before the service was finished and said we could borrow her car for the day.  We were so relieved and thankful.  I really felt like God was looking out for us so much this day.  To make up for borrowing my mom’s car we decided to drive to her work and pick her up when she was finished as our celebrations would be done by then.

My mom’s car is a relatively new car, so that was another bonus as we got to drive to Thanksgiving in a really comfortable car.  There was one thing that was still making me not super excited about going to this celebration – I knew that both my sister-in-law’s husband’s family was going to be there as well as my husband’s family.  That meant there would be 24 people there.  When it comes to large amounts of people in one place (as I have said in the past) it makes me quite nervous.

When we got to my sister-in-law’s place I had to go to the washroom and by the time I finished and came out I couldn’t see my husband close by.  There were three of my sister-in-law’s family sitting on the couch close to where I was standing, when they asked me to come sit down with them.  Everything in me was telling me no don’t do that!  Sure they looked like nice people, but I didn’t know them.  I had met one of them at my sister-in-law’s wedding, but it’s not like I saw them all the time.

I told myself ‘Ok Patricia you just need to suck up that anxiety and sit down on the couch.’  At first I have to say that it was pretty awkward, but only for about 5 minutes.  One thing that was super cute was that one of the ladies there who I could tell was a grandmother and I think the other lady beside me was her daughter or daughter-in-law was trying to get information about me.  The grandmother kept quietly asking who I was and what my name was.  The other lady would try to whisper my name to her all the while I could hear their conversation.  I kept trying not to laugh, but I felt that really helped me to relax as I started to talk to them. 

The other person who sat beside me was the husband of the grandmother.  He was hilarious – he said he decided to sit on the couch since there were all these pretty ladies sitting there.  I couldn’t stop laughing about that.  The funny thing is since I was close to the main entrance, all of my sister-in-law’s husband’s family kept coming in and everyone wanted to find out who I was.  It was almost like they were excited to meet a new person.  I was really touched by that. 

The rest of the Thanksgiving celebrations went really well.  We were even able to fit everyone in the living room as my amazing sister-in-law was able to organize so well.  To add to having a great celebration, my pumpkin pies that I made using my Nanny’s (grandmother’s) homemade recipe were so good that there was only one piece left of the two pies I brought.

I really am so thankful to God for keeping us safe that day as otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to go there that day, and also for my mom lending us her car.  Also I think God was continuing to show me that when I put myself out there, people respond well to me.  I always get nervous about that, but more often than not it turns out well.  I hope that everyone that is celebrating this Canadian Thanksgiving has an amazing one.

Patricia <3 J

Psalms 121:7-8    The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.  The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

 

Here’s a song about that we are in over our heads, and to ask our Lord to help us to look up.  To remember to take a deep breath, and to take the next step, and though we may feel weak we know our Lord is with us.  That great is He that is living in me.  That whatever may happen that His strength will get us through those times.  Then our heart can be at peace as greater is He.  We can face the ocean, and look up and He can do what we can’t do, and we can step out on the sea, because we know who is with us, and again great is He who is living in us.  And to remember that there is nothing we can’t overcome with our God.

“Greater Is He” by Blanca

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voyPqRTduWs&list=PL3whQX319DaB37iB8NZpJe206iSdpe3kc&index=156