Welcome to winter. Autumn, we hardly knew ye. It feels too cold to be talking about Thanksgiving. But if we don’t get a thankful shout-out to one of our favorite days of the year, we’ll be talking Advent in the next WH Journal and autumn will have already bid us leave. Adding cultural ignominy to nature’s insult of early winter, it also seems that the Christmas shopping season now starts the day after Halloween! That’s just not right. So, what does this all mean? Only this—thankfulness is not natural. It’s a choice we have to make. That’s why there’s a day for it—to remind us to take time to “give thanks in everything” (1 Thess 5:18). We should be doing that every day, but on this one day be sure to gather with your family and remember the reasons you have to be thankful, especially to our gracious and merciful God. Don’t let nature and culture thanklessly push Thanksgiving aside. Rather, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
THANKFUL WITH OUR WHOLE HEARTS
For Twenty-Five Blessed Years
In the fall of 1994, right about this time, Educating the WholeHearted Child made its first appearance, and that first book gave birth to Whole Heart Ministries. For twenty-five years since then, God has graciously opened doors of ministry and helped us through them, more often than not picking us up when we tripped along the way. We gave him more than enough opportunities to give up on us, but he never did, which kept us going with books, conferences, online ministries, mission, and more. His faithfulness has kept us faithful, so we’ll keep stepping out in faith with him. This Thanksgiving we are truly thankful to God for this ministry he has entrusted to us for all these years. We give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
ONLY YOU CAN BE YOU!
Our First Illustrated Children's Book
For twenty-five years we have championed children’s storybooks, but we never wrote one … until now. Sally and Nathan are breaking that ground with Only You Can Be You!, their new illustrated children’s book based on the spirit of their 2016 book, Different. This is a delightful, colorful, large-format book that is perfect for reading with mom or dad in a big, comfortable chair. Its opening pages set the positive tone: “Everyone’s different, and that’s okay. The Maker of everything made us that way.” It is a simple exploration for young children of all the things that make us different from each other, but that are also a celebration of our uniqueness as God’s children. This will make a great Christmas present, so put it in your Wish List.
WHOLE HEART PRESS
Rebuilding What Built Our Ministry
The heartbeat of Whole Heart from the beginning was writing and publishing books. For the last fifteen years that shifted to working with other publishers, but now we’re returning to our publishing roots, and the idea of creating a ministry in print. And you can help us as we rebuild Whole Heart Press! The one thing that could help the most right now is comments on our Whole Heart Press books on Amazon. For instance, the 100 reviews and 5-star rating for
Educating the WholeHearted Child on the Apologia Press edition listing did not follow us when we published a new Whole Heart Press edition. You can help simply by adding a review to that new edition listing on Amazon. And Seasons of a Mother’s Heart will be there soon, too.
MINISTRY NEWS, NOTES, AND NEEDS
Sally off the Road: Sally made it back from over a month on the road to what is now a month on the couch writing her next book, Awaking Wonder.
Winter Conference: Sorry, but the winter conference possibilities didn’t pan out. However, we’re looking at possibilities for later in the year. Stay tuned.
Giving Tuesday: December 3 is “Giving Tuesday.” It’s just an annual day to remember to give online to ministries you like. Mark the date and DONATE.
PERSONAL BOOKS, LINKS & THINKS
Thanksgiving Post: Be sure you’re signed up to the Whole Heart Blog to receive new posts. A good one is coming for Thanksgiving. You’ll thank us for it.
Become a Patreon: Joel Clarkson and Joy Clarkson both have Patreon accounts. You’ll get their great content and also help fund their post-graduate studies in Scotland.
Clarkson Family: Keep up with our whole family tribe on ClarksonFamily.com. There’s always a little bit of new news and links to everyone’s online lives.