THANKSGIVING DAY

When we think of thanksgiving day we begin to envision ourselves sitting in front of the dinner table with a large turkey, family and friends from out of town and for us women out there- shopping sprees like never before. For me I didn't even want anyone near my mother because I was waiting for her to give me the right leg of the turkey, yeah that's how much i loved turkey. Not much a fan of turkey anymore.That was the old mind set of lorneka . Today I no longer wait for the 4th sunday or 25th of November 2007 to celebrate Thanksgiving day.

August 15th, 1984 a woman by the name of Lorette gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Now before this came into a reality, I must give you a background of the forces that came against this life. First of all, the pregnant mother was only 17 years old, just graduated from high school and the man she dated was twice her age. To her dismay while being away from home, she was offered a scholarship to attend any college in the U.S. of her choice to obtain her bachelors degree. Which meant that this woman had to make a choice- free education or become a young mother. After all was said and done the woman chose to have the child and turn down the scholarship. Yeah I know people told her, and maybe even you who are reading this are saying she was crazy for not taking the scholarship and have the baby. If that woman decided to take the scholarship I WOULD HAVE NOT BEEN HERE BREATHING THIS MORNING. The pressure was so intense especially from her family and loved ones that she was going to have an abortion, but something in her said NO. That something was GOD. There even came a point where the house my mom stayed caught on fire and she was sound asleep.This incident happened in two different locations. So you see there was purpose behind what happened. What the enemy meant for evil was turned around for my good.

So I stand here today to say that November is too far to wait for me to be thankful. As I celebrated my 23rd birthday on yesterday I woke up all cried out because I remembered where I came from and what my family and I had gone through to be here today. Sometimes we believe that we need to receive the big things in life to be thankful, but if we are grateful in the little things and begin to tell God how grateful we are, then He would bless us with the big things. The bible tell us in Psalms 100 that we should"enter His gates with thanksgiving and enter His courts with praise and bless His name for the Lord is good.....". This is being not only thankful for some things but in and FOR all things.
There are days when I feel that my life has taken a bad turn but on the other side, when I calm down and collect myself, I realize that my blessings are so great that I should not even complain.
I thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit who comes to bring conviction and bring my mind subject to God's will. And His will is for me is to appreciate all I have been through. I dont have a Christmas list ,but I do have a thanksgiving list.

I am so thankful:

1. That my mother did not have an abortion and that she sacrificed her future for me
2. I no longer to go to bed with no food to eat because I now am able to work and support myself.Thankful to have people in my life who care for me
3. I live in a home with no rent and don't have to lie to the landlord because there was no way for my family to pay the rent
4. That I was only molested as a child and not RAPED
5. I have clothes and shoes in my closet ( in numbers), than the three pairs I had in the past
6. I no longer have to go to sleep with no lights and water to take a bath in
7. I dont have to borrow money to purchase my mother's medicine
8. I am not involved with a man that uses and abuses me
9. I do not have kids, even after the fact that I had premarital sex
10. My college tuition is paid for and I dont have to work 2 months in order to take 1 class
11. I have a car now to drive instead of standing on the bus stop, few months ago getting wet by cars in the pouring rain waiting for 2 hours for the next bus to come
12. I have full use of all my limbs and I am not hospitalized
13. I dont have a sexually transmitted disease or dying of AIDS
14. that GOD EXTENDED HIS GRACE AND MERCY toward me and gave me another chance at life!!!!!!!!!!!

The list could go on and on but I dont have enough space for it all.What I am trying to say here is that no matter how dim your situation may be right now, I am guaranteed that there is something that you can be grateful for right now. I may not be on drugs or having baby-daddy drama, but I do act foolish and complain about what I dont have, BUT TONIGHT I realize I have so much. So as for you I encourage you to take a few minutes or even seconds to think of one thing you are so grateful for and begin to praise God in your own way for it. It has only been in the being grateful for the little things that I am seeing many blessings reign down. Wanna see a change in your attitude and atmosphere? Then be grateful everyday for just one thing and watch God elevate you.