 On Thanksgiving, I'm always so thankful to God for the many positive parts of my life: my family, pets, friends, author events, and jobs as the Writing Center Coordinator and Adjunct Faculty member at the Community College of Rhode Island. I also have all of the essentials of life: lots of good food, a small inexpensive home that's easy to clean, a car, lots of credit-card debt, still lots of student-loan debt, and enough money to pay my most-important bills. I love being able to pray at least twice a day: once in the morning and once at night. While I often ask for too much while I pray, I sometimes also apologize for asking. I also try to include something I'm thankful for in every prayer.  One of the greatest miracles to ever happen in my life was referenced in one of my earlier blog posting comments. I still love to think about this miracle and remind myself that, when I pray, even if I want everything to happen according to exactly how I ask for help, sometimes a better possibility exists. Here is the commentary that describes that miracle from a Sept. 14, 2014 blog posting on my mayflowerdreams.com blog page (http://www.mayflowerdreams.com/blog/many-good-thanks#comments):
When I was in my early twenties, I experienced a wonderful miracle that happened after I slipped and fell down my front stairs. My left ankle was seriously sprained or broken. The pain was so bad that I couldn't move. I was sprawled on the sidewalk and didn't know what to do. Then my one-year old son, who was still inside the apartment, started screaming. I was in so much pain that I couldn't even crawl up the stairs to see if he was okay. I prayed to our Lord for help. After praying, I looked around--I was expecting that someone would come by, see me, and call an ambulance. However, noone was there. Instead, my ankle suddenly stopped hurting. I stood up, got my son, and went grocery shopping. In the next hour, a couple of strangers asked me if I was okay. They even pointed to my ankle. Even though my nylons were ripped, and my left ankle looked really bad, my ankle felt completely normal. It wasn't numb; when I walked, touched it, hopped on it, and did other activities, my ankle felt normal. Several of my relatives saw my ankle and wanted me to see a doctor, but I was scared the pain would come back. Over the next few weeks, my ankle gradually returned to looking normal. No scars were left, and the pain never returned. This was a miracle that I couldn't deny. I couldn't tell myself that I had just imagined some kind of temporary pain because, for several weeks, I could see the injury. Other people also saw the injury. I am so thankful for the way God healed my ankle. I found out miracles not only happen, but God decides how they will happen. I love writing with religious content because the writing experiences, including the research, help me to become more educated about my own faith and many other faith-related topics. For example, I've been reading about, thinking about, and writing about these and many other topics:
 Easter is one of my favorite holidays because of the resurrection of Jesus. This resurrection lets me know that we also will not just die, but we'll have eternal life through our belief in Jesus. I love knowing that Jesus also was not just some kind of an invisible spirit: he did such things as eating food, being visible to disciples, etc. I believe that we also will have some kind of form when we arrive in Heaven. The cover of Holidays Amaze obviously has Easter eggs as a part of its design. Holidays Amaze has a great Easter poem on pages 21 through 28: "Sticking Together on Easter." This poem has a story about an Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday. The children in this narrative talk about Jesus and his life, as well as finding some really nice surprises in their Easter eggs. Here is the ending of the poem, which is on pages 27 and 28 of Holidays Amaze: "A circle of children and teachers did form around the Jesus statue with prayers so warm that they melted moisture within the stickers, creating dampness falling down from the stickers to the ground and forming a tiny pond where Christian friends with each other could bond to join with Jesus stickers from Easter eggs to walk on circular ponds with stable legs." I love to go to church nearly every Sunday for these reasons:
 Every Christmas, I especially love to think about my Lord and Savior: Jesus Christ. Because of His sacrifice, many Christians have been given eternal lives. People might ask me how I know this to be true. My answer is that, for many reasons, I know there's a very loving and helpful Christian God. To be with God for eternity means to be in heaven, which will be wherever God is located. "A Forevergreen Christmas" is the poem on page 89 of Karen Petit's book of poetry: Holidays Amaze, published in 2018 by WestBow Press. A larger version of this poem is included in the blog for Holidays Amaze (http://www.holidaysamaze.com/holiday-blog).  I often tell people that I don't just believe in God, I know there's a God. I've often asked myself how do I really know there's a God? Here are some of the many reasons why I know this to be true:
 Holidays Amaze has four prayer poems, including "A Prayer Poem on the National Day of Prayer," "A Prayer Poem on Memorial Day," "Many Good Thanks: A Prayer Poem," and "A Prayer Poem at a Wedding." "Many Good Thanks: A Prayer Poem" was initially published on my "Many Good Thanks" blog page for Mayflower Dreams; this poem is still online with other Thanksgiving items at: http://www.mayflowerdreams.com/blog.
Holidays Amaze also has prayers and references to praying in some of its other poems. For example, "A Maze Poem: A Maze of Choices for New Year's Day" has these lines in one of the maze's boxes on page 8: "God always answers all of our prayers, so praying can help with our lives' repairs." In reality, God always has answered my prayers. He answers them in the way that He thinks is appropriate, which is sometimes in the way that I request and at other times in a slightly different way. Whatever happens, though, I am always thankful to have my prayers heard and answered. Especially on this Thanksgiving Day, I'll enjoy the chance to read and to pray.  The blog entries on my five different book websites are often connected to each other, so I'll be posting this blog entry on all five of my book websites to illustrate one example of the many connections that I often see between my books and their content.
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AuthorDr. Karen Petit is the author of Banking on Dreams, Mayflower Dreams, Roger Williams in an Elevator, Unhidden Pilgrims, Amazing Holiday Paws, Holidays Amaze, and Paw Dream Mazes. She is thankful to God for the many miracles in her life. Archives
April 2022
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