It’s amazing what thoughts can come to mind when thinking about something as simple as a childhood racing game. Today I was thinking about this game, “On your mark! Get set! Go!” Are you familiar with these simple commands? I am. As a child these are the words shouted out when I would compete in a race. At the beginning of the race whether it was running, sack racing, or jumping, I wanted to be the one to get to the finish line first :)! I believe many of us have engaged in this game in one form or another. The object is to get to the finish line first. Remember, that’s just a game, not real life. In real life it doesn’t matter who gets to the finish line first. The goal should be simply to get there. But in order to get there, there are several things that must take place as we can pull from this fun and exciting game.

First, you must get on your mark. Not another person’s mark, mind you, your mark. That means to get in position. Get in focus on your goal. No distractions lies here. Next, you must get set! Here you must be firm. Intentional. Determined. Decisive. Unmovable. Steadfast. Ready! And lastly, you must go! That is, you must start. Begin the process. Proceed. Get moving. Pursue. No stopping. Keep moving until you have reached your goal. With that said, if you have something you’re working toward, I hope you have been encouraged to get on your mark! Get set! Go!

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 1Corinthians 15:58 ESV

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

Please pray with me: Dear Lord, I will keep on thanking you for encouraging me through your Word and everyday life to continue the work you have called me to do. I pray to get on my mark, get set, and go towards the plan you have laid out for me, in Jesus’s name, amen.

May the blessings of the Lord be with you always!

By Hertistine Washington /keeponthanking.com

As you may know March is Women’s History Month, and today is International Women’s Day, March 8. This month women are being celebrated and appreciated all over the world. Certainly we are grateful for those women who have stood the test of time, and for their many achievements which have made a significant difference in our lives today. To name them all would be an impossible task for me. The reason being, just as there are many women well known for their impact on history, there are just as many women unknown who have inspired the lives of others to pursue their dreams.

So today, we not only celebrate women who are well known all over the world, but also those that are not. These are the unknown women to the world who lived beneath the radar. We also salute and celebrate you. You may know some… your grandmother, mother, aunt, auntie mom, friend, mentor, or even a daughter who is not known or been heard of on the world stage, but definitely have made a difference in your family history. We also celebrate you. We celebrate all you went through to make it possible for your father, mother, child, sister, brother and others to soar to higher heights and deeper depts. That said, I hope you remember to celebrate that special woman/women in your life today… and always!

“She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” Proverbs. 3:15, ESV

“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.” Proverbs 31: 29-31, ESV

Please pray with me: Dear Lord I will keep on thanking you for using women of yesterday, today, and tomorrow for the difference they make in our lives for the better, in Jesus’ name, amen.

May the blessings of the LORD be with you always!

Happy International Women’s Day!

By Hertistine Washington / keeponthanking.com

Permit me to begin by saying, I thank God for His daily comfort. For there is no comfort like His. In many ways He shows me His comfort through the very things I seek to gain comfort from in my life. When I shop for a couch, I’m hoping to find the most comfortable couch there is. When I seek for a mattress for my bed, I’m determined to find the one that gives me the most comfort. When I buy a pillow, I’m certainly looking for a comfortable one to lay my head. When I seek a car (besides its reliability and a reasonable cost), I’m definitely feeling for comfort.

Seeing that comfort is so important to me, I hope to never take it for granted, and to always be grateful for the comforts in my life. I also urge you not to take your comfort for granted. In a nutshell, where I can find comfort that’s where I want to be. It helps me to rest better so I can think better and do better. It also gives me a confident feeling of satisfaction that everything is already alright. That said, the Holy Bible tells us we can always find comfort in God by the way of His Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit is our Comforter. He’s not only here to guide, keep, and sustain us, but also be our helper and comforter. He gives, provides, supplies, and readily has available all the comfort we need to trust and rest easy in Him.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26, ESV

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ESV

Please pray with me: I will keep on thanking God for His daily comfort in Jesus’ name, amen.

May the blessings of the Lord be with you always!

By Hertistine Washington / keeponthanking.com

Valentine’s Day is passed. Celebrating Black History is still going on. Here’s a sweet note to encourage you to stay positive and strong.

Dear Readers,

When the sweetness of the candies have been consumed, and the flowers have withered away, I hope you can still say, I’m having a great day.

During this Black History Month, as we continue to remember those who paved the way, I hope we can visualized the bright light that guided them to the light of day; the light of hope, the light for freedom, and justice for all! People like Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglass, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and many more.

As we celebrate their memories in a grateful and uplifting way, let us not forget the ‘One’ who made the way possible for them, and also for us today. Yes, Jesus is His name. And on that sweet note, we are thankful He cleared the way for us that we might live a better day.

As one songwriter wrote, “He’s Sweet I Know.”

“This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 ESV

“The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever, the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:9-10 ESV

Please pray with me: Dear Lord, I will keep on thanking you for your sweet loving care in the past, present, and future, in Jesus name amen.

May the blessings of the Lord be with you always!

By Hertistine Washington / keeponthanking.com

because of many we get to live another day.

This little tip is for all Lovers: Lovers of God and lovers of God’s people.

I hope you have a Happy Valentine’s Day where you don’t need to ASK for love, but be the recipient of the ACT of love. Or, simply, the giver of an ACT of love. Both are a blessing.

Remember, genuine love works whether we’re working with it or not. Nothing is able to stop the power or true love.

“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Colossians 3:14 ESV

“Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” St. John 15:12 ESV

Please pray with me: I will keep on thanking God for His great love, and for showing me how to love Him and all mankind in Jesus name, amen.

May the blessings of the Lord be with you always!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

By Hertistine Washington / keeponthanking.com

Have you prayed today? Who did you pray to? What did you pray for? Why did you pray? What was your prayer focus? These are just a few questions that come to mind as I get in the posture for prayer. I also hope you consider them when you get alone with God in prayer because prayer is important. It is how we as Christians communicate with God our Father everyday. These questions along with the thought “if I just pray” rested in my spirit today. If I Just Pray, meaning if I ‘will’ pray. Here is the result:

If I just pray, God promises to listen, and to provide answers to my prayers.

If I just pray, I will be comforted and grow in strength and faith in Him.

If I just pray, I will be less anxious and grow in confidence in God.

If I just pray, God will help me to see things in a better way.

If I just pray, God will direct me in watchfulness, prayerfulness, and in steadfastness.

If I just pray, I will be like a tree planted by the the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season.

If I just pray, God promises to be present.

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” 1 John 5:14 ESV

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” Colossians 4:2 ESV

Please pray with me: Dear Lord, I will keep on thanking you for the privilege and opportunities to prayer, in Jesus name, amen.

May the blessings of the Lord be with you always!

By Hertistine Washington / keeponthanking.com

The wind was raging!

It was truly making itself known.

In my room still on the phone,

I begin to loose sight of my conversation

to pay attention to this loud sensation.

I quickly said goodbye to my friend,

As I listened more closely to the raging wind.

I willed to sit still;

My heart pounding within!

I heard sounds of things falling;

Flower pots being tossed about,

And trees singing in the wind.

No matter the commotion, I sat quietly unspoken,

And  I ‘was not’ going  out!

As I sat on my bed

Bowing my head,

I was reminded who controls the sea, wind, and rain,

— The One who controls everything…

God!

When I thought of Him,

Peace and calmness entered my soul.

Despite the high winds,

I now began to feel a bit bold.

I was no longer afraid or alarm.

Because I knew it was God

Keeping my heart calm.

No need to fear;

God is here.

This poem was written to encourage trust in God, and to stand strong no matter how loud the wind blows in our lives.

“And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Mark 4 39-41 , ESV

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.” Jeremiah 17:7, ESV 

Please pray with me: Dear Lord, I will keep on thanking you in this New Year that I have no need to fear. You are still in control of everything, even the wind and the rain,  in Jesus name, amen.

May the blessings of the Lord be with you always!

By Hertistine Washington   /  keeponthanking.com

Happy New Year!

Wow, let us lift our hands in joyful praise of thanksgiving that our God, allowed us to see this NEW YEAR, 2024! Let us shout, HALLELUJAH to the MOST HIGH GOD! Let us thank Him for His grace and mercy! Nothing we’ve done to earn this grace. Only God.

Mind you, God has not granted us life just to say, I’m alive. There is a divine purpose why we are still here. Let’s give Him all the glory and praise!

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! for the LORD is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 100: 4-5, ESV

Please pray with me: Dear God, we will keep on thanking you for your faithfulness and goodness. Thank you for letting us see another year, in Jesus name, amen.

May the blessings of the Lord be with you always!

Happy New Year!

By Hertistine Washington / keeponthanking.com

Happy New Year’s Eve! In a few hours the New Year will be upon us, 2024! Some time zones will make it there before others do. Nevertheless, like you, I’m hoping for the New Year too. I pray you, like me, desire to walk in ‘newness’ of life in this New Year. I’d like to share some things I’m mindful to do in order for the ‘newness’ to come through.

Old habits must be done away with, so the new will come.

Bad company must be avoided, so the new will come.

Negative thinking must be denounced, so the new will come.

Worn out garments must be thrown out, so the new will come.

Just saying, even the top soil in my garden must be cultivated, so the new will come.

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4, ESV

“Therefore , if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV

Question: What need to be done in your New Year, so the ‘newness’ will come?

Please pray with me: Dear Lord, I will keep on thanking you for newness of life, in Jesus name, amen.

May the blessings of the Lord be with you always!

Happy New Year’s Eve!

By Hertistine Washington/ keeponthanking.com

As you begin your day, I hope you know God is with you. Thank Him today. Bless His name. He’s the one who woke you up, and started you on your way.

As we’re approaching the end of this year, 2023, to hopefully step into the New Year, 2024, I encourage you to continue to bless the Lord. As you meditate on the things God has brought you through this year, I pray you can join with me and say, “Oh, bless His name!” God’s been good and deserves our gratitude.

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Psalm 103:1, ESV

“Be thankful unto him and bless his name.” Psalm 4, ESV

May the blessings of the Lord be with you always!

By Hertistine Washington /keeponthanking.com