Thankful.
Every Thanksgiving, we are reminded to celebrate all we have to be thankful for in our lives.
But God doesn’t want us to just be especially thankful once a year. He longs for us to be thank-full every day, in every situation, every time we can.
You recall that verse “Give thanks in all circumstances” we hear every year around Thanksgiving? There’s more to it….for it wasn’t meant to stand on its own!
"Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Be cheerful no matter what.
Being of good cheer is part choice, and part based upon how we handle the emergencies and hard situations we face. Which links it to the next instruction in this verse:
Pray all the time.
All the time. Out loud, in your mind, or with your spirit, constantly bringing everything to Him in the moment.
And when we connect with Him as we do so?
(We can) Give thanks in all circumstances.
Only when all three occur together does the last part of this verse make complete sense:
This (cheerfully praying with thanks every step of all we encounter) is the way God wants His Beloved to live….
Choosing joy.
Connected with Him.
Celebrating with thanks.
This Thanksgiving season, take the time to look back on how God has been with you in every season, and what He walked you through.
Smile.
Laugh, twinkle your eyes or flash your dimple!
Because cheerful inside usually leads to a sign on the outside! 🙂
Pray.
However you pray: Whether by speaking it. Thinking it. Writing it. Singing it. Drawing it. On your own. In two or three. At home. At work. Over coffee. While walking.
Thank-fully.
We are so extra blessed when we are part of God’s family!
We are loved beyond measure by our Father. We belong.
We are inheritors of the Kingdom, made whole and clean in Jesus. We are free.
We have access to resources surpassing our comprehension through Holy Spirit. We are never alone.
Because God is fully with us through all things, we can always, and in all ways, have a reason to be thank-full. Especially when we are at work!
And then these verses, in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, become as they were intended by God in our lives: Thanksliving as we express how thank-full we are to Him!
Karla Lees, Christian Women at Work