DEVOTIONAL: Restoring Your Heart at Thanksgiving

 

A Thanksgiving Devotional: Restoring Your Heart

This is Thanksgiving week. The holiday season is here. It's often called "the most wonderful time of the year," yet for many, it feels far from wonderful. Perhaps you’re facing a mountain of tasks with no time to spare. Or maybe you’re grappling with loneliness, grief, health challenges, financial stress, or broken relationships.

Do you find it hard to be thankful this season?

Take a moment to reflect:

• Is your heart happy and healthy?
• Is it filled with love, hope, and peace, or is it heavy with fear, anger, or disappointment?
• Is your heart overwhelmed with chaos—internal or external?
• Is your heart broken?

If this resonates with you, know that God desires to restore, rejuvenate, and bless your heart. Let’s explore three powerful ways to find blessings and experience the restoration your heart needs.

1. Believe: Faith is a Blessing

Believing is a gift that fills our hearts with hope. God invites us to communicate with Him daily—whether through prayer, laughter, tears, or quiet moments. Believing that God controls your life, your circumstances, and the universe opens the door to peace.

When life feels overwhelming, hold fast to faith. Jesus promises us in Mark 11:24 (NKJV):
"And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

Ask boldly for what you need. Trust that even in your darkest moments, God is with you. Let your heart soak in the blessing of believing that good things are possible because God is faithful.

2. Slow Down: Rest is a Blessing

In the rush of the holiday season, slowing down is not just a luxury; it’s a necessity. Life's demands can weigh heavily, but prioritizing rest and reflection can refresh your spirit.

• Make a list of what truly matters and focus on those priorities.
• Learn to say "no" to what drains your energy.
• Take breaks that bring you joy—reading, walking, or simply sitting in silence.

As David reminds us in Psalm 62:1-2 (NKJV):
"Truly my soul silently waits for God; my salvation comes from Him. He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I will never be shaken."

Slowing down allows your heart to find stillness in God, grounding you in His strength and peace.

3. Listen: Obedience is a Blessing

Listening is an act of faith and obedience. When we quiet our hearts and minds, we can hear God’s still, small voice. Listen to the people around you with love and grace this holiday season. Listen to God through His Word. Let His truths shape your actions and attitudes.

James, the brother of Jesus, instructs us in James 1:19 (NKJV):
"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath."

We grow in wisdom, empathy, and gratitude when we listen. We open our hearts to receive God's guidance and blessings.

A Heart Transformed by Gratitude

The holidays can be challenging, but they also offer an opportunity for transformation. Jesus encourages us in Luke 11:9 (NKJV):
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

No matter what you’re facing, God is ready to meet you where you are. He promises in Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV):
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."

This Thanksgiving, Give Your Heart a Gift

This Thanksgiving, let go of bitterness, anger, and fear. Embrace the blessings of believing, slowing down, and listening. Just as the Grinch’s heart grew when he chose kindness and forgiveness, your heart can expand with gratefulness, contentment, and thankfulness.

Let God renew your spirit this holiday season. He is ready to give you a renewed heart overflowing with His love and peace. 

Here is a prayer for you: 

Dear Heavenly Father,
We come before You with hearts that long for restoration and peace. Thank You for Your unending love and faithfulness, even when we feel weary or broken. Teach us to see Your blessings in every season, and help us to trust in Your goodness.

Restore our hearts, Lord, and heal the wounds that weigh us down. Fill us with Your peace, and let it rule in our lives. Deepen our gratitude so we may walk each day with thanksgiving, praising You for Your abundant grace.

May our lives reflect the love and joy You pour out on us, and may we bring that same love to others. We thank You, Lord, and give You all the glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

FICTION; A Thrilling Drive (Based on a true story)

 A Thrilling Drive

by 

Karen Jennings 

 

"It's such a nice evening for a drive," Eleanor told Will as they drove the stretch of gravel road west of Lakefield, Kansas. It was a bit cool for April, and the 1914 Oakland's open-air build didn't protect her from the elements. Her pea coat and gloves kept her snug, and her favorite black wool wide-brimmed hat protected her hair from tangling and her face from too much wind. 

"You're not too cold?" With admiration filling his eyes, Will glanced at his best girl at her classy look. His gloved hands never left the steering wheel of his Oakland Six motorcar. "And I hope you enjoy the surprise I have for you." 

"I'm warm as a bug in a rug. And please tell me what you're up to." 

Will slowed the car as he pulled it to the side of the road. "Alright. We're here." He climbed from the vehicle, went around, and opened the door. He swept his arm wide, waiting for her to get out. 

Eleanor's sweet smile faded. "We're in the middle of nowhere." 

He took her hand in his gloved one and helped her stand. Guiding her to the driver's side of the car, he opened the door. "Hop in, Sweetheart." 

He chuckled at the surprise covering her face. "I, I…no!" She shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes. "I can't drive your car!" 

Laughter filled the cool evening air. "That's why I'm teaching you!" Trust framed his blue eyes as he looked at her. 

Excuses tumbled from her lips, but he shushed her. "Do you need help getting in?" 

Confidence replaced the unshed tears. She gave him a glare. "Of course not!" She stepped on the running board, sat in the seat, and placed her hands on the steering wheel. 

Will stayed at her side. "I don't have to adjust the seat for you; it's just right!" 

"That's a plus, isn't it?" A little smile played around her mouth, and her cheeks warmed. Will must trust her because he loved his car and cared about keeping it clean, oiled, and up to par. He would never allow anyone to drive it. 

While he instructed her with the essential driving information, he assured her, "I'll be right beside you, so relax and let's have fun." He climbed into the Oakland. 

With each command, Eleanor responded, and she drove the Oakland down the road, little puffs of dust kicking up behind the wheels. Will's small talk comforted her as anxiety melted away. What a great feeling of freedom to drive a machine instead of a horse and buggy or a bumpy old farm wagon. 

"There's a curve up ahead, remember? When you get there, please slow down and maneuver around it. We'll stop, and I'll take over." 

Eleanor glanced at him and smiled. Will was calm. His arm rested on the top of the seat, his fingers near her shoulder. What a great surprise this was! Her body relaxed even more, confidence building with each roll of the tires. "Why don't I stop before we get to the curve…just in case?" 

Will shook his head, "Nah, you're doing great, kid!" His smile was infectious. "You can go a little faster to get the feel of speed." 

Eleanor put pressure on the pedal, and the car moved faster. The butterflies that swarmed her belly earlier seemed to fly away with the vehicle as it traveled smoothly toward the setting sun. Cool wind ruffled her hair beneath her hat. But the black felt hat flew away when a gust roared through the car. 

"Oh!" Caught off guard, she watched the hat tumble and land on the dusty roadway. It would be ruined.

 Eleanor caught sight of a car rounding the curve, heading toward them. Panic punched her belly as she pushed the brake pedal, jerking the steering wheel to the right. The Oakland screeched and whined as the back tires caught the loose gravel. Sliding into the ditch, it roared to a stop.

 Dust billowed, covering them with fine grit. The other car pulled to the side of the roadway, and the driver rushed to help. "Are you okay? What happened?"

 Tears slid down Eleanor’s face as she sat rigid and still. She couldn't get a word to leave her mouth. What had she done? What if the car was broken? She'd have to pay for it! And Will would never let her drive again! Worst of all, she would never want to drive again, ever. Dread seized her heart. What if they broke up over this wreck? She would be a wreck if that happened!

 Fortunately, Will remained calm. "My lady lost her hat, and I do believe she reacted by hitting the brake a bit hard."

 "I'll wait and make sure it starts up again before I skedaddle into town," the older man told them.

 Sure enough, Will brought the Oakland to life again, and they waved to the man as he left. Turning onto the roadway, he braked. Taking Eleanor's hand, he squeezed. "Are you okay? No bumps or scratches?"

  "No, I'm fine." Her heart said otherwise. A tear betrayed her. "I'm sorry, Will!"

 He shook his head. "Silly, we are safe, the Oakland isn't hurt, so cheer up. We've had a grand adventure! At least I know what the old girl will do on a dusty, gravelly road!" His chuckle was harmony to her ears. “But…” he looked at her. “We may have to buy you a new hat.”

 "Why do you surprise me all the time?" She cocked her head and stared at him.

 His look did the talking. "Because I intend to marry you one day!" 

The End

I hope you enjoyed reading this partial scene from my historical womens fiction novel, A Path To a Promise. If you did, please leave me a comment below. Writers love hearing from readers, it’s important to connect and encourage one another. Have a blessed day ~ Karen  

 

FAMILY HISTORY MONTH: THE MONTH OF OCTOBER

 October's glorious days are my favorite month of the year. Like all the months of the year, it is filled with days to celebrate many things, from Celebrate Pasta to World Singing Day! It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month and ADHD Month to recognize our need to be aware of our health. 

October is Family History Month, a time to celebrate our heritage and document the people who came before us. Family history is my jam, and I get a thrill at the discoveries I make and those to come. 

Today, you no longer have to drive across the country scouring courthouses and other institutions to dig through musty old records. The internet is alive with genealogy websites to help you find your family roots. I'm not getting compensated for this, but I highly recommend Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com for those interested in starting your family history search. Once you build a family tree on Ancesty.com, you will begin a journey like no other. 

The brick-and-mortar historical and genealogy societies, museums, and libraries in your area offer structured help for genealogists searching for their family stories. Visit your local society, which usually sells county history books that may help you discover where your people lived. Libraries and bookstores offer great genealogy books and magazines to help you.  

I have visited all the area institutions and gleaned what I could from their resources. Now, it's easiest to get online and look at what documents are offered there.  

There are lots of ways to keep your family history. From paper versions written in 30-ring binders to online family trees, you might want to record your loved ones talking about their life experiences! To keep the recordings with their voices is a treasure for you and your children to hear Grandma's and Grandpa's voices. 

It’s easy to set up your family tree with genealogy software or popular websites dedicated to the subject. As mentioned above, I recommend using Ancestry.com to start your family tree. It has optional subscriptions with a small price tag, but when you get started, Ancestry will lead you to find many records, documents, and family for your family tree. Ancestry has professional researchers who can do some of the more complex research, or if you have met a brick wall in your research, they can guide you to helpful information. 

Newspapers.com is my other go-to resource for finding not only family information but general historical information as well. I love spending time in their incredible online archives. The bits and pieces of my family's lives are sprinkled throughout time and detailed by the local newspapers. 

October is a fun-filled month, and the days are usually warm, so you can get outdoors and hurry inside when the crispy fall night creeps in. So much is going on with school back in session with fall sports, autumn activities and festivals, and the ushering-in of the holidays. Fall is the perfect time to grab your camera and get those pictures of your family living life. Take advantage of walking, go to fall festivals, and snap beautiful photos of autumn fruits, veggies, and decorations. Many festivals offer historical programs that provide scenarios for pioneer days and Civil War era reenactments. Enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, and people dressed in period costumes in a beautiful fall setting.

Get outdoors, view the Full Hunter's Moon, and listen to the crickets singing the last songs of the year. And snap colorful photos of your family that will be treasured for years. Remember to label your snapshots with complete information identifying who, what, when, where, and sometimes how and why.

With the blazing colors of autumn right around the corner, remember those harvest gatherings, elementary school parties, hayrides, the cute scarecrows, fall garden splendor, and pumpkin patch outings. October is an excellent month to start researching your family history or continue with what you’ve already accomplished. What a fun time to be indoors and outdoors. Capture your family history this fall. Happy October! 

 

 

WRITING: The Inspiration Behind The Path to a Promise

My novel, The Path to a Promise, is finished and in the hands of beta readers and my editor. It will be published when the time is just right. Esther 4:14 talks about "for such a time as this." Here is the story behind my story.

President Harry Truman said, “The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.”

 The Path to a Promise began with the cherished memories of my paternal great-grandmother, Ollie, a woman whose quiet strength shaped my childhood. Ollie was more than a caregiver to my brothers and me; she was a source of comfort, love, and wisdom. Her stories, full of colorful life experiences—like meeting Pretty Boy Floyd and working as a Soda Jerk—captured my imagination. She gave us a world where we felt safe, loved, and free to be children. When Ollie passed away in 1975, she took a piece of my heart with her.

This is a photo of my great-grandmother, Ollie. 

Years later, as my passion for writing grew, I felt called to tell her story. In 2011, I began piecing together a timeline of her life, using her old photograph album, genealogical records, and family documents. I started writing a manuscript that used real names and places from her life, and I titled it The Logger’s Daughter. Working as a preschool teacher by day, I dedicated my nights to research and writing. Although some details were missing, I let my imagination fill the gaps and invented parts of the story to complete the narrative.

In 2013, I finished the first draft—a 250-page manuscript I printed and tucked away in a binder. Later, a popular author and friend, Angela, offered to beta-read the manuscript. Her generous feedback encouraged me to polish the story, convinced it could one day be published. I continued researching, filling in the missing dates and details from Ollie’s life.

After I retired, I returned to the manuscript with fresh eyes and renewed purpose. I revised it, changing the characters' names and settings, except for Joplin, Missouri, which remained a key location. My imagination ran wild this time, weaving in national and local historical events. The early history of Joplin, with its bootleggers and zinc miners, fired my creativity, and I poured my passion into every scene. I prayed over the story, and God blessed me with new ideas that shaped Eleanor Johnson's life path.

The Path to a Promise is based on Ollie’s life, but it’s now the fictional tale of Eleanor Johnson, a young woman who finds strength and purpose in a world dominated by men. Raised in the Ozarks, Eleanor carves out a path that takes her to the bustling city of Joplin and, eventually, to the windswept plains of Kansas, where the golden fields of wheat and sunflowers stretch as far as the eye can see.

As I wrote Eleanor’s story, I laughed, cried, and even exhausted myself with the intensity of certain scenes. The writing process was both an emotional and spiritual journey for me. Though Eleanor’s story concludes at the end of World War I, her life—and the promise of more—will continue in Book Two, A Promise Worth Keeping, which I have yet to write.

This novel is my tribute to Ollie, the woman who gave me the best gift anyone could—a lifetime of love and memories. Though she’s been gone for many years, her presence is still with me every day.

Another photo from Ollie's vintage photograph album: 

Writing about women is important to me because their stories often go untold. They are more than daughters, wives, or mothers—they are the shapers of families and communities, leading fascinating lives. In history, too many women have been reduced to just a name on a genealogy chart. I believe their stories deserve to be told, honoring their strength, resilience, and contributions to the world. Their lengthy list of duties tells us how valuable they were, and still are, to their family.

 I write about the women in my family lines on my blog.