It dawned on me a couple days ago that Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away!  That means the most stressful time of the year for me - the time between Thanksgiving and the New Year - is fast approaching.  When I was younger, Thanksgiving as well as other holidays used to stir up excitement and nostalgic emotions in anticipation of big family gatherings and subsequent feasts.  However, since I’ve married and become a daughter-in-law in an ever-expanding family – 34 family members over four generations and still growing – this time of the year has traditionally been an anxious and stressful time for me.  As much as I enjoy spending time with my family members, I do not look forward to the many hours of house cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, gift buying, gift wrapping, more cooking, and more cleaning. 
And it does not help that December is one of the busiest months of the year ministry-wise.  With various Christmas and end of the year programs and services along with the Timothy Winter Retreat, I have to confess that I don’t feel as peaceful and joyful as I should.  As special and important as each of these events is, it can definitely be a case of too much of a good thing.  I consider it a privilege and honor to be a woman pastor, but during times like this, I find it really challenging to balance my time between fulfilling my role as a mother and a daughter-in-law and being a dedicated pastor.
I realize that this struggle, however, is not unique to me, but is shared by all working women who try to balance their time between their family and work.  The age-old debate between stay-at-home mothers vs. working mothers is a very sensitive one.  As a mother who’s always worked outside the home while my children were growing up, I have mixed feelings about the topic. I do not believe one option is necessarily better than the other.  I’ve observed many mothers at our church over the years on both sides of the fence, but have not been able to form a definitive opinion on the heated debate.  I can, however, say pretty comfortably, that a mother’s influence on her child does not proportionally correlate to the amount of time she spends with her child, her highest level of education, or her financial resources.  Mothers who are able to exert their Godly influences the most, thereby helping build a solid foundation of faith that their children can build upon, are the ones who are confident about and content with being unconditionally loved by the King!
This will be the very first Thanksgiving that I will be celebrating without my mother since she passed away back in February.  I miss her very much, and Thanksgiving dinner will never be the same without her. My mother was not well-educated or rich.  She did not have any worldly accomplishments, and she was sick a lot throughout her life.  By the world’s standards she did not have much to offer to her children.  However, she knew who she was in Christ. She never pretended to be someone she was not or to have what she did not possess.  She was confident about her salvation by grace through her faith in Jesus Christ and was thankful for the littlest things in life despite her struggles. Her attitude of thanksgiving and contentment in Christ left an indelible mark upon her children.  I hope and pray to influence my children as much as my mother did.  So as stressful as it is to be a married woman with children and a pastor during this busy season, I thank God that He created me to be a woman. I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

From Pastor Sara’s Heart
November 11, 2012

Many major retailers such as Target, Walmart, Toy R Us and others will be opening their stores on Thanksgiving Day evening, alluring people to buy those Black Friday bargains in lieu of having Thanksgiving dinner at home. Some stores plan to be open much of the day Thursday. Someone jokingly said, “They might as well start serving turkey dinner in the stores.”
Now Black Friday is slowly invading Thanksgiving Day, and who knows, in the near future, Black Friday might take over Thanksgiving Day completely? Retailers are all about responding to customers' needs and wants, and apparently that demand is growing every year. But Thanksgiving Day becoming the new Black Friday doesn't sit well with us believers.
How are you planning on spending your Thanksgiving Day this year? Thanksgiving Day is a family celebration marked as a sense of gratitude people feel for all the good things in life that God has done. This is done by offering prayers, sharing meals and spending time together. Family members and relatives who haven’t seen each other for some time come together and catch up on lost times and reconnect.
I have nothing against shopping smart and finding bargains, and spending our money wisely. But I think there are things that are more important in life than just shopping smart and finding bargains. In this day and age, we live a very busy life. It’s not just at work that we are busy. Our children are busy with activities around school and with other after school activities. If we add church programs and activities, there is hardly any time left for even family to spend an evening together. Nevertheless we still can manage to set aside some time for family since there are many days in a week. If not, in a month. However, when it comes to Thanksgiving Day, there is only one day out of the year that families and relatives can come together to share a meal and spend meaningful time together. Are we going to let Black Friday creep into Thanksgiving Day and take away the time we can spend more meaningfully?`
Also there is a more important reason that we shouldn’t let Black Friday invade Thanksgiving Day. Our Forefathers proclaimed National Days of Thanksgiving to Almighty God since 1777. George Washington, our first president, wrote his National Thanksgiving Proclamation, in which he said, “It is our duty as a people, with devote reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligation to Almighty God, and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experienced….”
Let us not forget to give thanks to God for his amazing love and grace. We often focus on negative things in life, and we worry, get angry and complain. Thanksgiving Day is the day we can change our focus on how blessed we are for our God who loves us unconditionally and cares about everything that concerns us.
This year will be the first year our family will have one family member missing when we come together for Thanksgiving Day. Our son, Chris, left for Okinawa, Japan for his military assignment a few weeks ago and will not be with us on Thanksgiving Day this year. It will not feel the same without him, and we will miss him very much. We’re going to have to settle with FaceTime if he is not flying. How about you? I hope all of you will not miss anyone when you get together with your family on Thanksgiving Day and enjoy wonderful meals and spend a lot of time together.  And most of all count your blessings and give thanks to God for His goodness and faithfulness. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

From Pastor Neil’s Heart
November 18, 2012