Hello to All my Mber Friends,
I want to take this time to Thank all of you for standing beside me for many months now.
Without you I would be completely alone.

Almighty God Thankyou for these friends of mine who never cease caring and praying for each other. These friends need your grace to shine on them during their fights and struggles with the spiritual war going on in their lives. May you grant them the peace and love they need to enjoy their Thanksgiving Day. Our Heavenly Father fill their Day with other people and families so they may forget this past year. Let us remember all of your miracles worked on this board this year. Praise your name!
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit Amen

Happy Thanksgiving to All! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

What do I have to be Thankful for this past year? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="images/icons/confused.gif" />

In no particular order (except for the first one):
- I proclaimed Jesus Christ to be my personal Lord and Savior, by confessing my sins, freeing myself from bondage and securing my eternal salvation! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" /> Sept. 3, 2003.
- He has shown me signs (over a dozen) that He exists. Several that He wants me to work on my marriage.
- I spent Thanksgiving with my wife, Marie, and my children, Noelle and Stefan.
- My family's health - all realtively healthy, no serious illnesses.
- I am still in the house (even though she has filed).
- ALL of my Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus at this site who I have prayed for and have prayed for me.
- All of the MBer's who stayed with me in one of my darkest hours, when I contemplated suicide.
- The various talents God has given me, that I have discovered.
- My brother, Joseph, and sister-in-law, Josephine, who opened thier home to me to celebrate my 40th birthday, while I was still out of the house (they live in San Diego).
- Good friends at work and MDI: Joey, Gerry, Butch, Krishnan, Steven, John D., Sal, Rich, and others.
- How Steven and Krishnan and Doug, and thier families, opened thier homes to me when I needed a place to sleep.
- A pastor, Fr. Rich, and an associate pastor, Fr. Damian, who listened to me and gave me spiritual support.
- My neighbor, Bill D., my mentor, who guided back into my faith.
- Dear Lord, I am also thankful for any kindnesses that I might have forgotten to mention here.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF MY FAMILY, FRIENDS, CO-WORKERS, AND FELLOW MBers - ESPECIALLY THE PRAYER FORUM.

May the vast Blessings of the Holy Spirit fill your heart as we walk in Jesus's Name to do the work God planned for us. Amen.

tryingTOsaveMYmarriage

All,
I had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Earlier this week, my W blew up at me about Thanksgiving. She didn't want make anything, so we were going to order a pre-made dinner with all the fixins. Too expensive, so she said she would cook and I WAS NOT TO HELP. This holiday was strictly for the kids.

Today, I cooked yams; preped the turkey, potatoes, stuffing; set the table; ran to the store for several things we forgot; *cleaned the dishes; DID NOT ARGUE ONCE; and received thankful acknowledgments from my W for the work I did.

During the trips to the store, I told the Lord what I was thankful for, figuring prayer and thanksgiving would not be part of the menu tonight. Not so. My D said I forgot to mention what I was thankful for? So we went around the table. When it was my W's turn she mentioned the kids and that she thankful for her helpmate in the kitchen today, me. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

*The point of cleaning the dishes. We used our wedding china and silver. In the ten years we have been married, I don't remember ever cleaning the china. She always did it by herself, not trusting anyone. Well, I cleaned most of it tonight <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

Hope and pray all of you, my brothers and sisters, had a wonderful thanksgiving as well.

God's Blessings,
TTSMM

Trying,

That is a good report, brother. Maybe since that happened, she can see the two of you doing other things together. Deep down, I think she wants too, she just needs to get past the anger and betrayal of the past. Pray that the right person will come along who has also experienced what she has and help her to forgive, and reconcile.

God Bless
singleguy

Hi All!

LoveNCare, I am still looking for my puppy .. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" />
He/she must be out there .. haven't found him yet tho. Hope things turn around for you for the better with your battle soon. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

Try: I was blessed to read you had even a small victory yesteday .. PTL!

SG: Behaving yourself??? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />

I am feeling really burdened. I am trying to discern whether this is something God wants me to pray about and act on, or this is just emotion.
I am almost overwhelmed by all the saddness on MB and all around me.

Yesterday was most of you's Thanksgiving (ours was last month in Canada) and many had lots to be thankful for. But there are so many wounded and hurting and I am overwhelmed with compassion for you all.

I wish I could scoup you all in one group hug and make it all go away.

I wish today you would all get word that you were going back to your respective wives/hubby's and families and those that are single have met "Miss Right" today.

I hate the thought that anyone of you would be alone this holiday season, even for a short time.
(been there, done that once myself)

I pray that you all just stay very close to the God of all comfort this season and that you trust that things WILL get better.

Remember this is only a season. Seasons DO pass.
You won't be here in this season forever.

Be encouraged. God is on your case.

Does anyone else feel this burden or is it just me?

<img border="0" alt="[Teary]" title="" src="graemlins/teary.gif" />

DZZZ

TtSmM,

This was a great Thanksgiving report! Thanks for sharing with us.

LoveNCare, I'm so happy you started this thread.....and I'm also so thankful for friends like you who pray for us!

Singleguy, Thanks for being there for us, brother!

Diamondzzzz, curious thing: I have sorta been feeling this way, too. Maybe this is part of why I have been staying away.....I just can't "handle" all this sadness all the time. Ya know? You are doing much better than I, however. YOu KNOW you need to pray about it.....I, on the other hand, have just laid back to feel sorry about myself about it.

Everybody, Going back to work was very hard....I am still not 100%, even getting dressed is still an effort.

In the first week back, my kids "tested" me, and put me through all kinds of grief. I wasn't especially up to the task emotionally. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" /> I felt like I couldn't do my job adequately, and didn't particularly want to be there trying to do so.

Adding that to the loneliness I have felt having to go through this whole ordeal alone, I fell into a kind of depression. I'm feeling much better, have gotten over it, realizing (while trying to keep up with my reading in Purpose Driven Life) that God is still in control of all this.....

Well, I seem to have turned a corner on the depression thing. So, I guess I'm very thankful for my overall good health - my physical and spiritual gifts (there are so many I can't even count!).

As far as family, I spent Thanksgiving with my dad (he lives about 100 miles away). Interesting drive. That's the furthest I have driven since I broke my arm....and got stuck in traffic after a fatal accident. I had started out at Wal-Mart, then decided to eat lunch before starting out....so who knows? Maybe I missed being involved in the accident by those seemingly small delays. Also, my arm started hurting about half-way into the drive, but then we stopped cold while they cleared the accident, and we sat for one solid hour!! While that wasn't much fun, I took it all into stride, listening to the radio, and realized after we started driving again that my arm didn't hurt anymore!!! PTL!!!

Well, finally arrived (over an hour late) at my dad's. He's a young 78, so I'm thankful to still have him around! Not always thankful to see him.....he lives with a woman younger than ME <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" /> But some people would say that's a GOOD thing! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="images/icons/tongue.gif" />
But it was a good visit, and we all had a great time, and LOTS of delicious food.

Anyway, I hope you all had a GREAT Thanksgiving.........

<small>[ November 28, 2003, 09:08 PM: Message edited by: lupolady ]</small>

Dzzz and Lupo,

Thanks for thinking of me. I think we simply live in a day and age where we spend more time alone. Even tho TV and other things promote people always being together, having fun and laughing,[like the show Friends], most people are alone. After my divorce seven years ago, I had to learn to survive alone. Oh, I had several women I could have lived with, etc. They were very willing! But I didn't love them, and never would. Plus I was trying to walk a christian walk, and thought god would reward it.
Some say it is our desert experience, like the Isrealites. But I have found that a lot of people live "alone" lives because they want to. The answer is to get out and live life. I used to sit at home and read the bible on Saturday nites and believe Jesus was my friend sitting at the table with me. Then I found that that is not christian at all. It's a trick of the devil. I was creating a fantasy to justify being alone. We need to be with people, and not isolated too long. So I urge people to get out and do things. Especially know with the holidays upon us. They don't have to be expensive things, just get out with people. "Silence is NOT golden". There are all kinds of events going on this time of year, as well as the rest of the year. Go get involved and a lot of the loneliness will go away.

God Bless
singleguy

That is so true, sg. Yesterday I felt as if the world came crashing down on me. Granted, I was here with the children & they were playing, but I felt very lonely. Today, over at my mom's I felt more alive. When I'm around other people, it just seems to make me more carefree & happy. When I'm by myself, and have time to reflect on the day's events, it makes me start to look at my circumstances. And we all know what happens when we do that. We start to sink. Thank God Jesus is there to rescue us! And when I start to feel as though I'm sinking, I just read my Psalms and Proverbs & pray for strength to get through the rest of the day. It always works. My tears suddenly stop, I'm able to rest, and I feel the Holy Spirit descend upon me.

Hello TTSMM, Lupolady, Single, SFMM,

I had a sad but good day! This is my second one. I know how hard it is for many of us.
I did go to my sisters and took my Mom. Family used to all be together, now we are all so spead out. Always feel those empty chairs beside us. I am from a large family of 7 plus all the extra relatives so we used to sit 26. This year it was 5 of us. I think it bothered my Mom as she always did it and then I did. Now they all go somewhere else. Oh, but it was so quiet! LOl! Yes age is showing!
Fri night had my 4 grands oh not so quiet! Have to share this with you.
My Grands are 6, 5, 2, 10 months. The 5 year old said something bad - I did not hear it. The six year old said to her "Hey how can you say something about God like that with Jesus looking right at you? (I have a picture of Jesus on my wall), so then she said you better tell Jesus you are sorry for saying that about his Dad or you are going to hell! Well I am about to split in two, and the five year old is crying I don't want to go to hell and I am sorry Jesus I said a bad thing about your Dad! She then looked at me and said can I say hell or do I have to tell Jesus I am sorry? I finally composed myself and told her it was ok as she already told him she was sorry and hell is a place where many bad people go. Whew! It is so much fun having little ones! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

TTSMM, Oh I am so happy for you! See God is showing you little things!God Bless you.

Lupolady, Hello! I am so glad to hear from you! Yes I get down on here also, but it helps me to know I am not alone and I dearly love each and everyone of you! All of our pain is the same and we do help each other! Where would we be if not here? God Bless you.

Diamonzzz,
Hello! We are ok as we get the best support from each other and people just like YOU! You are very dear to us! Sorry about your baby. Have you checked out kennel club? Put an add in the paper offering to do a co ownership - split litters or give a couple puppies back meaning you breed a female for a lower cost. Breeders will work out something for you! Thank you for your whole heart - we love you!

Single,
Good hearing from you! A big thanks for you taking your time to help the eldery that are in an assisted situation. They get lonely too! I can't wait to get back to work as they all made my day. I worry about some of them now as I was attached and they were also. God Bless you.

SFMM,
I know your pain. I wish I had kids here all the time - well maybe more than I do lol! It is all hard but I know we will make it. I try and put my feelings aside (or I would cry 24-7) and just give to others! This makes me happy and I look forward to better times and know deep down in my heart God did not forget anyone of us! God Bless you.