This year, my husband and I started a Thanksgiving ministry at our church called Baskets of Blessings, taken from Deuteronomy 26. The ministry was designed to be both outreach into our community and "in-reach" for our congregation. For the outreach, we asked our church families to collect non-perishable food items to donate to a local food bank. Together, we were able to donate 8 complete meals for needy families, each including a $25 gift card for the turkey!
For the "in-reach," we asked families to compile a basket of items that represented God's specific blessings over the past year. At our praise service, the night before Thanksgiving, families took turns sharing what was in their baskets. What a sweet time of fellowship!
Here's what we included in our basket:
Our wedding picture
We've been blessed with five years together
Our high school diplomas and senior yearbooks
We've both been blessed with a godly family heritage and Christian education
An ice scraper
We considered the blizzard of 2010 to be a beautiful blessing. Also, we used that ice scraper to hold open the hatch back of my 1989 Ford station wagon, which we were able to sell this year for $800.
My coupon book
We're blessed to have a little extra cash this year thanks to all that I've learned in the world of couponing.
My external hard drive
I posted about losing my external hard drive a few months ago, but this was a blessing in disguise - showing me my need for complete dependence on God.
Noah's new coat
Noah had been needing an "in-between" coat and I found a great one at a consignment shop for less than $5. An added blessing was that on Black Friday, I saw the exact same coat in the department store for $70!
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