Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1st Thessalonians 5:16-18
This past weekend was Thanksgiving in Canada, and while the past few years have been very difficult for myself and my family, we can still find reasons to be thankful. After going through a major health scare I am very thankful to still be here. I am thankful that I have a testimony to share with others about the grace of God. I am thankful for thé rebuilding of relationships with my family members. And I am thankful for everything I see around me in God’s creation.
Are you thankful? Are you struggling in life and find it difficult to be thankful? My wife and I have struggles also, but we have decided to put everything into the hands of God and let Him decide what happens. When we decided to do that a great weight was lifted off our shoulders. We still need to live responsibly but we put our trust in God that things will work out as He wants them to go.
The struggles that we face are just Gods way of strengthening us for the trials that are coming. We see bigger challenges coming our way all the time. One of the biggest and easiest things to see is the change in the weather and the intensity of the storms. Just recently Atlantic Canada was hit by Hurricane Fiona that did massive damage. At almost the same time Florida was hit by Hurricane Ian that was also very powerful and destructive. I’m sure the people in these areas find it difficult to be thankful, but need to try.
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Are we going to see more weather conditions like this? More than likely so we need to be ready. In the Canadian prairies we don’t get hurricanes, but we do get tornadoes in the summer and blizzards in the winter and those are getting more intense also. Are we ready for that? I’m not sure, but we will get through one way or another.
I know on these trying times it may seem difficult to be thankful, but we should be. As the Apostle Paul told us in the Bible verse quoted at the beginning of this post, we need to be thankful. And this thankfulness needs to be more than just one day or weekend a year. We need to be thankful always.
As I was laying in my hospital bed struggling through my illness, there were many times when I found it difficult to be thankful, but I did it. I had Bible verses posted on the wall of my room to remind me to be thankful and rejoice. And if that is what it takes for you, then find a way to remind yourself daily to thank God for what He does for you.
Now that Canadian Thanksgiving is done it’s easy to forget that we need to continue to thank God every day. Make a point of being thankful even when things are not going well. You will feel much better and things will work out.
God bless.
Shiny Side Up 