I love Thanksgiving. It is not only a time for special thanks and turkey and family, it means Christmas is very near again. YEAH! I titled this ‘Always Thanksgiving’ because, while we have one day we call Thanksgiving, the truth is that every day is a time for giving thanks.
I think being thankful is another way I give praise to God and acknowledge Him as great and as my Lord and show Him I believe He is good and providing for me at all times, even if it is not exactly what I had in mind.
There have been times it was difficult to be thankful. I have been jobless, homeless, foodless, hopeless, on the verge of losing everything, and wondered why and how these things happened in my lifetime. Recovery is great, but when going through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23.4), thanks is not the first impulse in my heart.
God’s Word tell me to “Thank God in everything – no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks, for this is the will of God for you who are in Christ Jesus – the Revealer and Mediator of that will. (1 Thessalonians 5.18) and that “…all things work together for good to them that love God…” (Romans 8.28) So, if I really take God at His Word, then He knows everything and will make even the things I think are really bad turn out for good. It has taken some time to work these truths into my life.
One of my favorite movies is Pollyanna. In the movie, she is a 12-year-old orphaned daughter of missionaries who came to live with her rich and strict aunt. Pollyanna is a very cheerful, talkative and radically optimistic youngster who focuses on the goodness of life and always finds something to be glad about, no matter the situation. She plays the ‘glad game.’ The game is where – no matter what is happening – you find one thing to be glad about. Once she had a broken leg. When she played the glad game, she was glad to have crutches.
I think I should have no difficulty finding more than one thing to be thankful for each day and in each circumstance. I have Jesus as my Savior, family, all my facebook friends, I live in a free country, I can pray, I have a Bible, I have a home now, and many more blessing each and every day. Now I have enough to share with others too. I want to always find something to be thankful for and meditate on that each day to help me walk through all the good and bad times of life. I am thankful for everything. I pray you are too.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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