Hi SUM Nation,

Ann and I are taking the week of Thanksgiving off. Please carve out (pun intended) time to sit alone with our Father and give him thanks for all He has done for you this past year.

I know I have many true miracles in which to offer Him thanks and praise. 

We will see you the first week of December. Say what?? I can't believe that we are nearly to 2025. 

I love you all so very much. You are all amazing believers who do so much to advance the Kingdom of God. Keep going. Keep believing and know that you are loved.

Blessings and hugs, Lynn & Ann.

Hi friends, Lynn Donovan here on this brilliant November day. Thank you for your prayers on Wednesday. We must remain vigilant.

But now let's turn to our homes and families. Let' make our home a place of peace and welcome. Even welcome to our faith in Jesus. Below is my annual Thanksgiving tablecloth post:

Every year I share this post in November. I wrote it at 15 years of marriage. We are now married for more than 30 years. This tradition is priceless in our family. I pray all of you have one or will make one for your family this year!

Happy Thanksgiving! Love, Lynn

Tablecloth of Thanks 

Many of you know that I am married to an unbeliever. This past March we celebrated 15 years of marriage. Our unequally yoked marriage has had its challenges to say the least. Over the years, however, our ingenious God has maneuvered us through many touchy issues. 

Our disparity becomes more apparent during the holidays. Giving thanks to our Lord in November is a treasured time for me. I name my blessings one-by-one in prayer, thanking God for His lavish abundance poured into our lives. 

Like most wives living in an unequally yoked marriage, I long for my spouse to understand there is a God. To know He is intricately involved in our lives and everything we have is provision of our creator. I have also learned that forcing God upon my husband is a surefire way to push him away. I am careful to respect my husband and simply trust Jesus to reach him in his perfect timing. 

In spite of my husband’s unbelief, I discovered a unique way to draw him into the celebration of thanks, besides through his stomach. He loves turkey. 

Four years ago, I threw a new, pristine-white tablecloth across our dinning room table two weeks prior to Thanksgiving. I purchased several colored pens and placed them on top. A new tradition was born, a Tablecloth of Thanks. It began with my daughter. I told her, “I WANT you to write on this tablecloth.” She looked at me with skepticism in her eyes, wondering if her mother had lost her mind. 

“Really,” my smiled reassured. “Write down what you are most thankful for this year. Then write the year, 2004, near your name.” 

She grinned and began to write using several different colors. I joined in and wrote my thanks directly on the beautiful tablecloth. 

Later that evening my husband noticed the scribbles on the tablecloth. I watched as he walked over to read our words. I walked to his side and took his hand. I subtly asked him if he would also write down his thanks. He smiled and said maybe later. 

Finally on the evening of Thanksgiving Day, my husband picked up a pen and wrote; I am thankful for my wonderful family, great friends, and a very happy life. 

Wow! Was he giving thanks to our Lord? I am not sure. However, every year since he has continued to write a thankful list. Last year’s entry reads; I am thankful for all of my blessings…family, friends, and the dogs. 

What? Did he use the word blessings? Small steps such as these lead to the Savior. I can’t wait to read his thankful list this year. 

The Thankful Tablecloth is one of my most prized possessions. Everyone who visits our home during the Thanksgiving holiday contributes to this permanent memorial of thanks. It is a visible praise to the King displayed in our unequally yoked home each November. 

One of my favorite thanks is this: 

2006
I am thankful
to be able to sit
on the couch and have
my people pet me.
Peanut 

Hmmmm, I wonder how the dog grew fingers and learned to write???? 

Psalm 69:30 (NIV)
I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.

Lord God, I will name my blessings one-by-one….. Jesus… eternal life…. clean water to drink…..capacity to love…..empowerment to forgive….. just for a start….. 

It is never too late to start a new tradition. If you want to start your Tablecloth of Thanks, I have a few helpful hints.

1. Place a sheet of butcher paper under your tablecloth. (I have a permanent smiley face on my dinning room table from the year 2005)
2. Use colorfast fabric pens.
3. Store your tablecloth in an airtight Ziploc bag. 

Thank you my friends for sharing this Holiday treasure with me. I wish you were with me today and could share your thankful heart on the Tablecloth of Thanks.

Hi SUM Nation,

Lynn Donovan here. Today I was going to post my timeless photo and offer up again the family tradition I call, a Tablecloth of Thanks. I’ll post that on Friday.

But today, I feel deeply within my spirit to call this community to prayer. This is why.

In the last few weeks, a myriad of activity has occurred in the spiritual and natural realms, both good and evil. I feel the conflict so strongly in my heart and have prayed regarding what is happening daily, often hourly. I believe we stand as humanity and specifically the church, as a whole, at one of the most important forks in the road in our entire history on earth.

We are faced with a choice. Will we take the right path?

One fork in the road leads us to continue in the ways of evil, distortion, corruption, rebellion, perversion, and death, which has been operating, with little restraint, for decades. If you knew the full extent of what is ongoing and the depths of the vile, wickedness that is perpetrated on people and animals, you would throw up.

The second fork in the road is the path to a new era for the church and ultimately the entire world. It is literally the path of revival, that leads to renewal, that leads to a long-lasting cultural renaissance. Worldwide!!  Years and years!!!

We, the church, MUST LEAD THIS FORWARD and NOW!

There are many factions in play as you read this post. The stakes are high with life and death consequences. Right now, we, as citizens of the world, are perched upon the razors edge of World War III. I don’t think we fully comprehend the implications of war upon our comfortable lives. I have been cautioned over and over by the Holy Spirit to pray for peace and to shut down the powers and principalities both spiritual and human, that are poised to start this chaos.

Two days ago, the Biden Administration approved long-range (United States) missel launches by Ukraine into Russi. This is the flash point.

Please pray against the escalation of war in Ukraine, in Isreal and elsewhere. WE MUST pray legions of angles to be dispatched and restrain the people who desire death and destruction. We MUST pray for peace to overcome the earth. We MUST pray for revival and that the world encounters love. The love of Jesus. We must pray forward the will of God on earth as in heaven. The law of the Kingdom is love.

Pray urgently. Pray with belief. Exert all your power and authority in Christ to bind the devils and release the agents of good to rescue humanity from chaos and destruction. It is my sincere hope and prayer that this issue is resolved peacefully. And because this comes to nothing you might think to yourself that Lynn is whacko. Well, that’s okay. I’ll take that on. But during my watch on earth, I will pray against evil. And I’ll ask my friends to do the same.

Will you join me, the wacko and pray? Please pray in the comments. I’ll agree with your words of prayer in faith. Thank you for loving God and people.

Blessings and hugs, Lynn

Father, Yahweh, display your dominion and power, preeminent upon the earth and defeat every work of darkness, hell, satan, and the demonic realm. Defeat, destroy, and hinder every effort to escalate war everywhere. Silence every voice and activity that is promoting war.

We, your church, are for peace, Yahweh. Send angelic support. Send agents of love and peace. Send your love into realms unreached and let me be a vessel of peace in our world.

Father, we declare Your will be done in our lives, in Your church, and upon the earth. Jesus is the Victor. We pray in the Mighty name of Jesus, the Christ. AMEN

SUMites

I wanted to share this great pic from one of our SUMites Barb Twigg. This photo was taken of her in church, worshipping her heart out.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name (Psalm 100:4, NIV)

Many of us know Barb, as she gives a lot of time to this ministry. She serves every week behind the scenes, and we also see her in the comments quite often. We know her to be the strongest kind of woman of God.

She walks her SUM walk in victory, joy, praise and worship. She is an inspiration! 

And for us, we can take a look at this photo and say to ourselves, 'this is how we fight our battles.'

The SUM walk is not for the faint-hearted. It is really, really hard. It is spiritually a wrench in our hearts that often has the potential to cause us grief. But it is also a fight, and one of the ways we fight in heavenly terms is to have the right heart posture - A heart posture that is:

• Restful
• Worshipful
• Joyful
• Thankful

When we worship, when we are thankful, things fall into place.

Thank you, Barb, for modeling this for us. We are thankful for you.

With love

Ann

Hi everyone. Lynn Donovan here.

The last seven months have been the most challenging of my entire life. But, with God we can overcome so much that the enemy throws at us. Let me be the voice to tell you that you are stronger than you think. You are loved more than you know. Your simple prayers are changing lives and bringing healing. 

Your love overcomes a multitude......

Today, I want to share that Mike's biopsy came back clear.

It worked. God is true. 

And....... I believe.

For all of you who have walked through hell this past year, I want to tell you this truth.....

WE ARE BEING RESCUED. God is on the move and our restoration, and our hope and our dreams can live again. The war is over and now we will usher in a time of refreshing, Kingdom principles, salvations and miracles.

I believe we walked through fire........ and we did. It wasn't easy but now we shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Hallelujah..... All praise to our Father, Jesus the King, and the Holy Spirit that unites us as one.

I love you all so much. I am so utterly thankful for all of you this Thanksgiving. Be blessed. Be abundant. Be thankful.

Love, Lynn

By Ann Hutchison

I am thankful that I live in a country where I can go to church.

Oh God, thank you for our freedom and safety

... and thank you for the church.

I have been convicted lately that I should not undervalue that freedom. There are so many Christians in the world who would be killed if their neighbors knew they were going to church.

With all that said, I will be transparent: My relationship with church is complex. Uggh. I know it is for many of you too. Those of us in spiritually mismatched marriages find church hard, for a number of reasons.

Sometimes it feels so hard that we don't want to go. I speak for myself here. I am often tempted to just stay home. Hey, yesterday I was tempted to stay home! But I went, and there I encountered the most inspiring sermon that fed me and watered me and lifted me.

Yes, over the years Church has involved sitting alone watching other couples who are there together. It has involved feelings of pain when I've looked at other perfect-churchy families. It has involved feeling like a misfit.

BUT it has also involved this, and here my heart leaps:

• Being in the house of the Lord.
• Lifting our praises to the roof.
• Gathering with those in my city who honor Jesus.
• Being inspired and encouraged by what I hear.
• Being the body of Christ.
• Staying on the right path.
• Setting the example to my family, who stay home.
• Speaking a word in season to another hungry soul.

My conscience has told me:

Ann, it's important to be there. GO.

In fact, Ann, if you are leading a ministry, you need to be connected to a church. You must never isolate yourself.

And, importantly, church is a gift. When we're there we gift our presence to others; and we receive from it too.

So I am thankful to be able to go to church.

SUMites, how are you finding church attendance at the moment?

Much love,

Ann

SUMites

Hello! Ann here, on a peaceful Friday afternoon here in Auckland.

We're going to have a month of thankfulness here on SUM. Why not!

Lynn kicked it off this week with her testimony about Mike's life being saved.

Ian settled our souls with a beautiful prayer for all God's people, on Wednesday.

And now it is my turn. I have something I am very thankful for right now. It is a testimony of something cool that happened for Bryce and me. It's one of those things that you would think initially, 'Meh, was that really God?', but God showed me it was him. So you must read to the end of this story! Here's what happened:

While Bryce and I were away overseas, we often said 'wouldn't it be great' if Bryce could get a job driving boats when we got back. He was not yet feeling ready to re-enter his career. Instead, he wanted do a hobby-type job for a short while: something that really floated his boat, excuse the pun. We all have our passions and interests; well, one of his is boats. 

When we got back to our city, one of the first things he did, then, was walk into a particular boat place and say "Do you need anyone over the summer?"

We didn't hear back for a couple of weeks, so we assumed it was a no-go. But one day an email came offering him a job there! We were SO delighted, both of us, and that evening Bryce spent the night on the couch watching YouTube videos about how to drive different boats. I kept peeking it over at him while he watched those videos. It was such a feel-good thing that I thought 'Was God in that?'

Were you, Lord?

Well, this is where it gets good:

A few hours later, quite randomly, I decided to look at my phone, to see what words from the Lord I had received on this same date in previous years. I have a 10-year diary App, and I put in there anything that I sense from God.

I saw on that app that on this very same date a year earlier I had woken in the night with a name on my mind: Brian.*

Hmm. What was that about? I wondered. Then suddenly, the thought hit me:

"Bryce!" I shouted. He was in the shower. "Bryce Bryce!"

I heard his muffled reply.

"Bryce, wasn't the man who offered you the job called Brian?"

"It was," he now walked out of the bedroom towards me, drying his hair. "Why?"

"Look at this" I showed him my phone. "This is where I store things from God. On this very date a year ago I woke in the night with the name Brian. I think God is saying he gave you this job."

It kind of went in. It made him smile. Yes, God gave us this job, that I believe. See, I have since learned the job market in our city is extremely tight. No-one can get jobs right now. Yet we did, and we got given a treat from the hand of our Father.

So THANK YOU GOD!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name (Psalm 100:4, NIV)

SUMites, what are you thankful for right now?

Have a beautiful weekend.

Ann

*Not his real name

It’s Election Day in America. I’m drafting this post with the last polls on the West Coast soon to close. By the time many of us read this post, a winner may have been declared. Or not. 

I wanted to keep this post brief. I was reading Ephesians 6 the other day for a prayer meeting at church and these words flashed in bold in my mind. You might be expecting me to share the great words about putting on the armor of God which, as many of us will know, is perhaps what this chapter is best known. But no, it wasn’t those verses, it was this short but direct statement made in the next verse:

“With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (verse 18b NIVUK)

I thought this particularly pertinent at this moment in history. The world is a scary place at present with all that is going on and we all live with much uncertainty. It is at this time when we as lovers of God can call on Him in all His faithfulness and glory to encourage and protect all people. But we want ALL the Lord’s people to be joining us in such prayer. It is such a time as this where we, the Lord’s people, can be encouraging each other to be praying, interceding for our marriages, our families, churches, neighborhoods and countries.

I invite us all to pray along these lines:

Loving Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You love your people so much and we love how you love us. Thank you that you want to give us MORE of yourself. Help us to want ALL that you have to give us.

We pray for our fellow lovers, those who call you Lord, to be filled with more of you. Saturate each of us with your love and light. Bind all discouragement and negativity that tries to keep us from communing with you. Break our hearts with what breaks yours, Lord. Strengthen our faith, may be become people who love reading your Word, fellowshipping with other believers, and encouraging each other to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

May your people arise with the one voice, we need you Lord, come, have your way and may your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In your loving and mighty Name, Jesus, we pray. Amen

Go well, dear friends.

Donovan Clan Update   Three Million Dollars

As I turned the calendar to November and consider the holidays are upon us, I’m sensitive to the praise and thanks that is welling up inside my heart.

2024 has been a challenging year. I prayed for so many things that needed divine intervention. One specific prayer was for provision. When Mike became sick and I was left to figure out how to navigate all the government agencies and insurance forms, I felt panic. Without a paycheck I was facing the probability that we could lose our new home. I didn’t know what kind of medical expenses would occur and how I would pay the bills.

I know so many of you face or have faced financial insecurity as well.

But now as I am watching the leaves turn colors, I will tell you, God provided in a surprising way.

First, every bill we owed was paid in full and on time. Thank you, Jesus.

Second, our mortgage was paid and even extended so it took some pressure off our finances.

Thirdly, that this is the most unexpected.

Three Million Dollars

The first bill for Mike’s stay in the hospital in May was nearly 1 million dollars.

The bill from Stanford was 2.2 million, so far.

Mike is the Three Million Dollar man. I didn’t even consider that my good Dad in heaven paid three million dollars to save Mike’s life. Our insurance covered all of it but a few thousand dollars.

God spoke to me recently and said, “Lynn, did you see that?”

I knew exactly what the Lord was showing me. Provision that I didn’t even think about…

Our Great Father in heaven is rich. He is dependable. He is trustworthy.

We are heading home from Stanford today as you read this. We serve a great King. And I’m also thankful for all the doctors, nurses, and care teams who saved my husband’s life.

I’m thankful for our neighbors who really helped us out.

I’m mostly thankful for the prayers of all of you. I felt them. Truly, I believe that your prayers made such a difference. Mike has done so much better than many who go through this process.

All month long I’m writing in a praise journal. I’m so thankful to the Lord for all of you.

I love you and bless you this season. Look for the unexpected and then rejoice.

Blessings and hugs, Lynn

Ephesians 1: 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

22 And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.