Giveaway!

On this Thanksgiving Eve I want to say Thank You to all of the people who have loved me and supported me while pursuing and launching my dream of spreading God's word through Grace, Purpose & Pearls. Reading and Studying God's word more than ever before and applying it to my life as a wife, mom and homemaker has changed me from the inside out. I pray that God would work in your life as well and that my little blog can be a source of inspiration and encouragement as you seek to navigate your role as a Christian women, wife, mom or homemaker.

As way of saying a special 'thank you' to all of the people that have liked my post, shared them on social media and sent me private messages about how my blog has encouraged you I want to give you a gift!

I will be giving away one copy of the family advent devotional book called Unwrapping The Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas by Ann Voskamp. This is an absolutely stunning and inspiring book for you alone or for the whole family to read during Advent. I am in love with the artwork and the Christ-centered message of this book and I plan on using it every year with my family as a way to keep us focused on Jesus during the Advent season and prepare for Christmas day.

Ann Voskamp also has free printable ornaments to go along with the book that can be found on her website here http://www.aholyexperience.com/
I can not wait to Bless You & your Family with this Wonderful Book!

Rules & How to Enter the Giveaway
1. You must live in the United States.
2. You must either comment on this Blog post with your name and #entergiveaway or send me a private message to the email address haleylillibridge@gmail.com.
3. Lastly please share your all time favorite Grace, Purpose & Pearls post on social media (Facebook, twitter, pinterest or instagram). And if you haven't liked my Facebook page yet, do that as well!

I will be announcing the winner right here on this blog on Friday, November 28th at 8:00PM!
If you are the winner then you have 24 hours to get back to me with your contact info so I can mail you the book in time for Advent!
Happy Thanksgiving & Good Luck!
Blessings,
Haley

And the winner is....Kristen Indebted! Congratulations Kristin! I hope you enjoy this book and that your family will be blessed by it! Send me an e-mail at haleylillibridge@gmail.com with your info so I can get the book to you ASAP!
Thank you to all who entered the giveaway and thank you for reading & sharing my blog! God Bless You! 

Thanksgiving Prayer

Thanksgiving Blessing

Today I am thankful for the gift of being able, 

to hold my babies tight and kiss my love goodnight. 

Today I am thankful for a house to call my home, 

for doors that always lock and keep me safe from those that knock. 

Today I am thankful for gathering around a table, 

 for a bed to rest my head after my family is so well fed. 

Today I am thankful for the smiling faces that surround me, 

for the love they pour into me and for the energy that they give me. 

Today I am thankful to live in a land where I am able, 

to be free to live my life and worship whomever I like. 

Most importantly on this day,

 I am thankful for my God above, 

who gives me unconditional love. 

Who forgives me for my sins, and gives me hope & grace from His heavenly place.

 I am thankful to be able to know Him and spend the rest of my life beside Him. 

He is my rock and my redeemer, so I want to tell all dreamers, 

that my wish for you tonight, is that you would give your life to Christ, 

so that someday when you’re done dreaming, 

you would meet Jesus face to face. 

~Haley Lillibridge~

If you like this prayer and want to share it with the world feel free to use this design to post in Pinterest, Instagram, twitter, or which ever social media you like to use!

Best Christian Books for Your Man

We can not forget about the heart, soul and minds of the men in our life who provide for us, love us, and who would lay down their life for us. The most important thing we can do for our hunky husbands is pray, pray, pray for them. The next thing we can do for our husbands is pray for ourselves, as their wives, that we would be nothing but woman of God who would love our husbands with Christ like love and who would encourage them, draw them closer to God, and know when to step back to allow God to work in their lives. We can't make our husbands read the Bible or read a Christ-centered book. However, we can go and buy one ourselves, leave it on the coffee table and pray for our husbands hearts to soften and allow God to speak and work in their lives. 

Here is a list of books that I (and men that I love and trust) recommend for your man to read:

• All In by Mark Batterson
• Greater by Stephen Furtick
• Boundaries for Leaders by Henry Cloud
• Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul by John Eldridge
• The Measure of a Man by Gene Getz

Best Christmas Books for the Whole Family

It's that time of year when we bring out our favorite Christmas books to read as a family. Whether as bedtime stories, Saturday snuggles on the couch, or new Christmas traditions, these books are sure to help keep the true meaning of Christmas alive and be timeless treasures to cherish for years to come.

Here are my picks for Best Christmas books that the whole family will enjoy.

• The Littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell
• Murray and the Mudmumblers by Bill Pike 
• God Gave us Christmas by Lisa Tawn Bergen  
•  Joy to the World by Tomie dePaola
• The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado
• The Nativity by Julue Vivas
• The Story of Christmas by Patricia A. Pingry
• One Starry Night by Lauren Thompson
• The Donkey in the Living Room by Sarah Cunningham
• Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell
• Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas by Ann Voskamp 

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away" Matthew 24:35. 

Top 5 Christian Books for Kids

If any of you are like me, then I am guessing that this past week your thoughts have been on Christmas shopping. 

My favorite gifts to give at Christmas are books, especially books that are inspiring, God-centered, and enjoyable. I am always on the hunt for the latest and greatest books by my favorite Christian authors.  

Books last a lifetime, can be handed down from generation to generation, and provide nourishment for our hearts, minds and souls. Although I do read books on electronic devices, I am also a big advocate for having the real deal in your hands on Christmas day… especially for little hands. 

Top 5 Christian Books for Kids

1.  It Will be Okay: Trusting God through Fear and Change by Lysa TerKeurst
2. God Made Light by Matthew Paul Turner 
   
   
3. Noahs Ark by Lucy Cousins
4. Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids by Sarah Young
5. Jesus Story Book Bible by Sally Loyd Jones

"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 4: 16-17).

5 ways to be Joyful, Prayerful, and Give Thanks in all circumstances

               It’s usually those crazy, busy days when I lie down to sleep and think “God, I don’t know where the day went…I’m sorry for not spending more time with you, thank you for all of your blessings!” And then comes “honey, I forgot to thank you for turning off the oven that I had left on…2 hours after dinner, and for your sweet text message that I never responded to, and well, for being you”.

                I am done with the late thank you. With those I love, and especially with God. Thank you notes are pretty much the only type of thank you that I deem appropriate to arrive 2 weeks late.

                The other day my husband reminded me about an issue we had been praying about for over a year. He brought up the fact that the issue was pretty much now non-existent.  “Oh, wow your right” I thought. How did I not notice that ‘the issue’ was no longer an issue anymore? In fact, it had not been an issue for months. I felt ashamed that I had not been more aware of how much God had blessed us and answered our prayer!

                Paul reminds us in 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 that it’s not enough to only be thankful when things in our life are going well.  Instead, we are to “be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. In other words, we are called to give thanks to God, to pray, and to be joyful even when we don’t feel like it.

This is often times really hard to do because our natural human inclination is not to be joyful and give thanks when we are sad, hurt, or discouraged.  In fact, Satan wants nothing more than for us to go farther and farther down a dark hole of despair when we are having negative emotions. In order to go against what Satan wants us to do and act in a way that God has called us to, we have to make a conscious effort to go against our natural inclinations.

This takes discipline, self-control, faith, and support.  Here are 5 ways to help you (and me) be joyful, give thanks, and pray in all circumstances:

·         Begin your day in prayer and in God’s word. If this can’t happen in the morning, do whatever you can to find a time to spend 10-15 min with God sometime before noon.  

·         Keep a notepad or a saved e-mail to yourself available as much as possible and jot down both the positive and the negative thoughts, feelings and events throughout the day.

·         At the end of the day, keep the things you are thankful for and then pray about the negative things.  End your prayer with giving the negative thoughts and feelings to God and erasing them. Remind yourself that only God can have those thoughts, not Satan, for God will turn the bad into good, and Satan will turn the bad into worse.

·         Ask whoever you are close to and trust to hold you accountable for your actions. Are you so busy and stressed that you have a bad attitude? Ask this person to kindly remind you when they see your attitude shift so they can help you turn a bad attitude into a prayerful attitude.

·         Agree in your heart, in your mind, and with your body that you will obey God, depend on Him, and acknowledge Him in all ways. Trust that God will provide for you and cast your burdens on Him (Psalm 5:22).Practice being joyful by showing yourself and everyone around you how much you love Jesus and how thankful you are for His Grace, Love and Forgiveness. What is one of your favorite things to do? Go do it, and give thanks to God while doing it!

The more we lay down our lives for God, take up His spirit within us, and obey God, the more natural it will be for us to be joyful and thankful in all circumstances. I don’t know about you, but I will do whatever it takes to get closer to God and be joyful all the time. Try it with me?

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me” (Proverbs 8:17).

Father God, Thank you for never giving up on making us more like You. We are your clay and you are the potter. Mold us and make us like You. Give us Your Holy Spirit and transform our minds so that we may not miss a second to serve You and be Your hands and feet. We love You. Amen.