Every Day is a Day of Thanksgiving

By Shelia E. Lipsey

O give thanks to the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endures for ever (Psalm 136:1 AKJV)


Every day is a day of thanksgiving! Each year we set aside a special day to give thanks for all the wonderful things that have transpired in our lives during the past year. It is a time when most of us enjoy family and friends and loved ones while sitting at a table enjoying a feast of food. It is a time when we laugh and enjoy great fun and fellowship. But everyday should be a day of thanksgiving.

I know that for many of us, it may be hard to see anything to be thankful for, especially if we are in the midst and pangs of grief over losing a loved one. We may be in despair over losing a job, or having a home foreclosed, or we may be in physical pain due to grave illness. We may be troubled about a child who’s gone astray. There are so many things that happen from moment to moment that we can find to be unhappy about. Yet, in all things we should still give thanks. I didn’t say it was easy: I said in all things we should give thanks. Don’t misconstrue what I’m saying either. I did not say to be thankful for all things…I said to be thankful in all things.

Every day is a day of thanksgiving. Everyday though clouds hang low and there is trouble all around, there is still so much to be thankful for. In the midst of adversity, still give God thanks. In the midst of trials, still say ‘thank you, Lord for blessing me right now.’

I’m not telling you something that I am not willing to do myself. There are times I struggle with telling God ‘thank you’. But I praise God for the Holy Spirit that resides in me. The Holy Spirit sings love songs to God when this physical, carnal body is dragging along trying to live out the day set before me. The Holy Spirit sends up petitions on my behalf when I cannot find the strength to do it on my own. The Holy Spirit can and will do the same for you. You too can believe that every day is a day of thanksgiving.

God is a good God. He is worthy to be praised. He is worthy to be honored and adored. God is a God of love, mercy and forgiveness. He loves us in spite of our faults and shortcomings. He knows our pains and the desires of our hearts. He is ready to rescue us even in the midst of the worse turmoil.

There is so much good that God has done, is doing and will do. Take time to look back over your life and realize that it is God who has made you. You are not your own. You are His creation and He loves you. You are one of a kind. A treasure, an heir, a joint heir. You are of a royal priesthood. So stop and give thanks, not only on the day set aside to give thanks, but remember that ‘Every day is a day of thanksgiving.’

Remember and take blessed assurance in knowing that though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:16 NLT)

Touch of Favor

Did you know that a Touch of God's FAVOR is available to you? Great things are in store for you if you believe that God wants to give me and you the desires of our hearts? He loves to do great things for His children. It is so easy for God to change a negative situation into a positive explosion of good and perfect gifts. No matter what you encountered yesterday, God is able to suddenly turn your life from sour grapes to pure sweetness. He stands ready, willing and able to do great things for His children. All he wants us to do is to believe, believe, believe. Call those things that are not as if they are!

I’ve been guilty of looking at the glass jar as half full. Yep, I said half full. Not half empty. For me, half empty means that there is a boatload of favor that can be poured into my spiritual jar. I’ve been guilty of looking at my life as half full, meaning I don’t have much more time left. But God, with His wonderful self, had to give me a wakeup call. He’s so good at that too. He never leaves me to sleep long in my own mess. He always pricks me, pokes me, and picks me up to let me know that He has me in the grip of His grace.

I see myself with all that He has for me! Just a touch of Favor and I see my children blessed. A touch of Favor and I see my grandchildren blessed. Favor..I see my literary career blessed. I see my nonprofit organization blessed. Favor…I see my health blessed. Favor…I see my finances blessed. Favor…I see friends, family and loved ones blessed. I can go on and on about all of the Favor God has planned for my life. Some of the things He is doing on my behalf, I cannot see right now, but yet I believe that He will do what He says He will do. He says in His word that His plans for me are good, not to harm me, but to prosper me, to give me hope and a future. He promises that He will bless me according to His riches, not mine. And His riches are eternal and never run out.

But remember that God will not do something for me that He won’t do for you. He won’t do something for you that He won’t do for me. He loves himself some Shelia, but He loves you too. He will make good on His promises which are yes and not no. He is the God of favor. Favor minded is what I shall be. Favored by God is what I am.

Claim Favor for your life and the lives of your loved ones. Take God at His word and watch Him show up and show out. Watch Favor pour all over your life. All it takes is a touch!

I’ll keep you posted on how He pours out so much Favor for me that there won’t be room enough for me to receive it (but I’m sure going to try)!

Even If I Don't See It - I'm Speaking It!

It's amazing how simplistic the Word of God truly is. This dawns on me with each trial, each victory, each conquest, each tribulation, each bit of turbulence, whatever comes in and through my life, the good, the bad and the not so pretty things, that God has me covered. I don't know about you, but knowing this very thing, gives me strength to ask my Father for the desires of my heart. God reassures me that whatever things I ask when I pray, believe that I receive them, and I will have them. And whenever I stand praying, if I have anything against anyone, forgive him, that my Father in heaven may also forgive me my trespasses. But if I do not forgive, neither will my Father in heaven forgive my trespasses.

Now, answer this: How much more plain can that be? God is not a God of confusion. He does all things decently and in order. I am glad that He does. I thank Him for all that He continues to do in my life. There are times when I don't see Him at work, or feel Him at work in my life. There are so many more times that I don't realize that He is yet behind the scenes working stuff out on my behalf! Wow, isn't it amazing to know that God doesn't punch a time clock? It is for me, because I know that I fall short in so many areas of my life. I disappoint people, fail to keep appointments at times, don't always show up when I should, or perhaps could and still there are other times when I can't help someone desperately in need. I don't always remember to pray for others and I sometimes appear selfish and aloof!

Yet God, doesn't ever stop working on my behalf. Even if I don't see a way out, God has a way of escape already in place for me. Even when I don't see where my next break is coming from, God has already orchestrated divine connections. Even when I don't know how I'm going to make ends meet, God reminds me that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He alone is sovereign.

God always manages to come through, even if I don't see it at the time. Trust that He will come through for you too!

Shelia E. Lipsey,

NY Times bestselling Christian fiction author,
Plus Oprah's 1st Christian fiction Book Club Pick!

(See what I told you -Even If I Don't See It - I'm Speaking It!)http://www.shelialipsey.com/

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The Dreamer

In the words of President Obama, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

And so I dare to dream. I dare to dream of change. I am the dreamer, the author, the writer, the speaker, the path setter, the road less traveled, and the called according to His purpose. I am special, unique, divinely created to be Shelia. No one can write like me. No one can speak like me. No one can do those things God has called me to do. There is no one else like me. I am a dreamer who dares to believe in my talents, my gifts, my hopes, my aspirations and that I can have the desires of my heart.

The word, Dreamer is defined as a person who dreams. A person who lives in a world of fantasy; one who is impractical and unrealistic. A person whose ideas or projects are considered audacious or highly speculative; visionary.

That defines me exactly. It denotes who I am. I AM that audacious, impractical, highly speculative and unrealistic visionary. I am that person who dares to dream, who dares to have visions of greatness. I am that person who looks beyond the situations and circumstances that life offers me and reaches for more. I am that dreamer. My words are more than words that burst forth from an overflowing spirit of greatness given me by my Father who art in Heaven. The words that escape from my belly, that are birthed in my spirit, that saturate my mind, my thought processes and travels down my arms into my pointed scrawny fingers, yield captivating power from pen to paper. I am that dreamer that through the blood, sweat and tears of my ancestors. Through the blood, sweat and tears of my parents, my sisters, and my relatives fought for my right to be treated equally. I don’t have to look back to the great martyrs like Harriet, Rosa, Martin, Malcolm or Medgar. I only need look within my household.

I only need look at the struggles of a mother who worked long hours as a maid on bended knees scrubbing floors. I only need look at my father who lost both legs fighting a war that when it was over, he still was treated as less than the hero he was. I only need look at my sisters who marched along Martin in Memphis, next to sanitation workers who screamed I Am A Man. I come from the belly of struggles. I come from the belly of dreamers who dared to believe. I come from the bellies of faith that dared to trust in God my Father. I belong to God who chose to adopt me into His eternal kingdom. I come from the lineage of David, the man after God’s own heart. I come from the pits of cruelty, stares and glares that make me strong and keep my head raised high. I am a dreamer.

You ask me why I am a dreamer? You ask me why I tell my sons and grandsons and you and every one whose path crosses mine to live your dreams now! If we don’t dare to live what God has purposed in our hearts to live, to do, to seek, to pursue then why are we here? This world is predicated, made up of, rooted, and grounded on dreams dreamed by a dreamer and brought from dreamality to reality.

What if Malcolm had not been a dreamer? And supposed Martin had not been a dreamer? Then there’s Harriet who dared to dream about freedom. There’s Rosa who dared dream about a place to rest among those whose skin color lacked pigmentation and therefore considered themselves higher and mightier. What if? What if President Obama had not dared to be a dreamer? Then what? I am a dreamer! I write. I will succeed. I will thrive. I refuse to merely survive. And so I write. And so I speak. And so I strive. And so I move forward to that which I have embedded in my spirit, my soul, my flesh, my thoughts. I am a New York Times Bestselling Author. I am the owner of one of the world’s largest nonprofit organization that teaches people to go after, run down, and chase after their heart’s desires and their dreams. I am a most sought after speaker. I am beautiful despite the limps and the frailties that polio has ravaged on my body. I am lovely despite the hardships of life that try to keep me down. I am mighty despite that ole sly devil trying to trick and trap me. The fruit of my womb is blessed because I am the child of the most high King. My words, given to me by a God who loves himself some Shelia changes lives and prick hearts, causing people to look at themselves and see what they are really made of.

I dare to believe the words of God that say if I fully obey His commandments that I will be above and not beneath. I will be the head and not the tail. I will be blessed going in and going out. The fruit of my womb will be blessed. I am a dreamer who dares to believe that the race is not given to the swift but to him that endures to the end. I am the dreamer that writes perfect stories about imperfect people who overcome tremendous odds because they dare to believe.

My vision will happen at the appointed time. It hurries toward its goal. It won't be a lie. If it's delayed, I will wait for it. It will certainly happen. It won't be late. Yes, I am a dreamer. My vision will burst forth. It will not be kept back, it shall appear. What about you - are you a dreamer?

Pursue Your Dreams Now!

The International Standard Version of the Bible states in Philippians chaper 3:12-14, "It's not that I have already reached this goal or have already become perfect. But I keep pursuing it, hoping somehow to embrace it just as I have been embraced by the Messiah Jesus. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have embraced it yet. But this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I keep pursuing the goal to win the prize of God's heavenly call in the Messiah Jesus."

Pursuing it! Now that's powerful. To pursue means to go after, chase, run down. Of course, this is my meaning of 'pursue'. It's more than going toward a destination or seeking a destination. It's means to move, to chase and reach for that destination, that dream, that goal, or whatever it is in life that you desire, with unbridled passion and fierce determination. It's more than jogging toward your dream, or walking at a fast pace toward your victory; it's running with all vigor and all that is within your spirit.

Next, don't carry the weight of past failures or defeats with you. When you think on your past, and the victories that you lost, it can blind you to what lies ahead. God doesn't want us to dwell, to settle, to sit in the past. God's word clearly states, forgetting those things which lie behind. Forgetting is used to show steady movement, action. It is being used to show that it is something that you must make a conscientious effort to do. "Keep forgetting, keep forgetting, keep forgetting." Many of us get stuck in our pasts. I used to be a perfect example of such a person. I couldn't move forward in the life God purposed for me because I was always thinking about the failures and mistakes of my past. I kept believing that there was no good thing for me because I had messed up too badly. Thank God, that I am not forgotten. God loves himself some Shelia. And God loves you too. God is a God of second, third and unlimited chances as long as we are living!

I have dreams. God's favor is all over my life. I know that now. I believe that now. I will no longer linger in the past. I am more than a conqueror. I am more than a survivor. I am a thriver! I am highly favored. I am surrounded by God's favor. I AM a New York Times bestselling author! I AM the founder of Living Your Dreams Now Foundation, one of the largest nonprofits in the world! I am so blessed that when people hear my name they'll think of Jesus Christ my savior. They'll say, "There goes Shelia E. Lipsey," that favored child of God! I may walk with a limp and use crutches, but that's my physical body. It's merely used as a testament to what God can do even in an imperfect human being like you and me.

Right now, at the very moment I am writing this blog, God has people, situations, circumstances, doors opening and closing on my behalf. He's lining up all that is necessary in its proper place and position so that the blessings He has designed for me, will all fall in place at the exact time He says. I am the called according to His purpose. I am adopted, which means God chose me specifically as His child. My God has it all and that means that there is nothing too big for Him to do for me. Shucks, I'm his girl. I'm his sweetheart. I'm his princess. I belong to him!

I want each of you today, young or old, male and female, regardless of race or disability, whatever your station is in life, to be bold. Claim what is rightfully yours. If you don't know that God is your savior, then study his word so you can know that you are a child of the most high King! Walk in victory. Walk in triumph. Pursue, run down, chase after, take over, believe in the dreams you have for your life! You can do it. Ask God to help you, to direct you, to fill you, to guide you, to protect you, to bless you, to favor you! There is nothing that is impossible with God. I dare you, I challenge you, I double dog dare you (smile) to step out and Live Your Dreams Now!