Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Give thanks in all circumstances, not only when things are going well, when you are enjoying life – but give thanks in all circumstances, the good and the difficult times. I think when we take the time to be thankful to God, our perspective changes to see how blessed we really are. God saved us when we were/are still sinners, this simple truth gives us plenty to be thankful for. He loves us enough to give us good gifts – maybe we don’t think its good gifts now, but we might be able to see how good they truly are when we see it in the past.
Pray continually. wow, what a challenge. The be in constant prayer is a challenge, but also a comfort. God is there to hear our petitions, but maybe even more importantly he is there to speak to us. Prayer is often thought of as asking God for things, which I think that is apart of it, but also equally important is hearing him speak. When we can take the time to be quiet and hear him, he has the opportunity to change our perspective.
Rejoice always. always? and I thought praying continually was a challenge. Does that mean when I am facing really heard things that I am going thought that I should rejoice? When I learned I am loosing my baby is the appropriate time to rejoice?? yes. we don’t have to rejoice ABOUT our situation, but we can rejoice IN our situation. Rejoice in the goodness of God. We might have to search for the goodness when we are facing hard times, but if we look – I am confident that we will find it.
For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. what does this mean? I like to think of it as if we are focusing our eyes on Jesus, listening to him and enable us to faithfully follow his will for us. When we are able to step back from our life and view it from far away, we are able to be thankful and rejoice – because Jesus is good.
Now don’t think all my days are happy and always rejoicing God. no, there are still really hard days that I struggle to give thanks for things. But in this season of thankfulness, we can take the time to see all that we are blessed with and thank God for it.
Talking about being thankful, I would like to share some things that I am thankful for: God’s love for me – its my rock, my husband – he is so kind and gentle, my family – checking in to see how I am doing, my church – praying and providing support for me, my work – the opportunity to work and the flexibility they give me for my health situation, music – a good song can really sooth the heart sometimes, those on the journey with me of endometriosis – its encouraging to know that I am not alone. I could truly keep going on and on, but I won’t. but let this be a challenge to you – what are you thankful for? maybe life is really hard right now – I get it, but, lets choose to be thankful. maybe your life is overflowing with blessing – awesome, give thanks!