Thankfulness......

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I have been wondering about what I will say when we do our always tacky, yet fun tradition of telling what we are thankful for this year. I am then lead to remember when I help out with the 2's class and the teacher led the students to say "Thank you God for the flowers" "Thank you God for the birds" "Thank you God for our friends" and on and on. I began to question my own thankfulness. When did I surpass a point where I am "above" thanking God for EVERY little thing that He has done/made/created/crafted?

While reading through 1 Thessalonians last night my attention was drawn to 5:16-18. ("Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.") In the Thanksgiving theme, I realized how incredibly tough these two verses are (I think I say this about most of the verses in the Bible.) I am pretty sure that I have battled with depression since I was diagnosed with diabetes. There are highs and lows, but for the most part to be "joyful always" seems almost impossible for me. Even more difficult is the last verse saying to "give thanks in ALL circumstances." I will be honest that over the course of my walk, I can say that I have failed miserably at giving thanks for everything. I think the commonality between everyone is that it is super easy to give thanks when things are going well. But when things start to go down hill it is much tougher to give thanks. I have been trying to figure out what Father meant when He told us to always be thankful, and I have come to realize that there is an understanding that we are to give thanks because we are joyful in the Lord, Himself, not what He can/has done for us. I find that when reading these verses with that understanding it makes it a little more attainable to be joyful always and to give thanks in all circumstances. This has led to another Truth I think. (I did want to say that my blog is very much a facet for me really apply what I know and read and learn in a way that brings life to word, at least in my life.)

TRUTH #3: BY BEING JOYFUL IN GOD, HIMSELF, IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE JOYFUL ALWAYS AND TO GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.