Gratitude

1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 - Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Be thankful in all circumstances?? That is hard.

It is easier to just take it on and deal with the good and the bad and move on.....

Hmm....yep I don't think it is supposed to be easy because if so we wouldn't really be thankful for what we have, go through, or are given, etc.

Two years ago when my husband and I were both without a job and transitioning into full time ministry, paying our bills was a struggle. In fact I lost my vehicle....actually we both did. Where is the good in that??…It was hard to find it to be honest.

Well we called the bank and talked them to find out what we could do to get one of our vehicles back....they told us what we needed to do. We prayed about it and knew that we needed to do what we had to and God provided a way for us to get one back.

In a time where things were taken away we were then thankful to be able to get something back.

Did that make the circumstance or journey any better no...but it brought us back to the work God does and how thankful we are for his provisions.

There is also something to meaning it when you say thank you. We have made it a phrase we can say out of habit or sarcastically...yep...

Being mindful of our thankfulness can change the way we use it and how we think about it when we use it.

A good way to see gratitude in the every day going and doing is to have a notebook and write something you are thankful for in it, a gratitude journal. It doesn't have to be dramatic or something hard, it can be easy.... for example

I am thankful that I am able to see my kids get along. I am thankful for that friend that I haven't spoken to in a bit for texting me and just saying, hi. It can be anything.

When we write these down we can then thank God for the blessing. When we write these down we can see how much we have to be grateful for.

Learning to have gratitude in the good, bad, big and small is so important so we don't miss the goodness of God.

Psalm 118:1 - Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever.