Give Thanks

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."  1 Thessalonians 5:18

We just had Thanksgiving.  I wasn't going to write a particular post on it, but I read something tonight that got me thinking and, hence, writing a blog post when I really should be going to bed.  

In the past 3 years, I have made a conscious choice to be grateful.  I started in Oct. 2010, also at Thanksgiving, making a note of at least one thing I was grateful for every day.  I did this publicly on Facebook.  I was going to take up the challenge of doing it for one full year.  And I did.  At the end of that year, I didn't want to stop.  It was an amazing thing for me.  On the hardest of days, I thought and prayed and begged God to show me something to be thankful for, and He always did.  And some days, there were many, many more than one.  I started reading a book around that time, called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  And I was inspired yet again, to turn my daily thanksgivings into "gifts" and I was going to go past the 365 I had just done, and all the way to 1000.  I finished my own personal one thousand gifts in mid-July of this year.  

All of this has done something in my head and my heart.  I have re-trained certain thoughts and patterns that I didn't even know were there.  And in living this life of gratitude, I realize I am not just a more content person, but I am living more closely in the will of God.  It is easier to hear His voice when I know I am close to Him.  Thankfulness draws us close to Him.  It's so much more simple than I thought.  

We are called to give thanks in everything, to rejoice always, to talk to God in our hearts, thoughts, actions, words, every second of the day.  To be in "communion" with Him.  

We are not called to be thankful when things are going well, or when there are no financial struggles, or when our kids are behaving perfectly, or when our spouses are being faithful.  We are called to be thankful in ALL circumstances.  We are called to a spirit of thankfulness when the whole world may be falling apart.  

We walk in God's will when we give thanks when our kids are running off the rails.  Give thanks when your spouse has an affair.  Give thanks when your parent is diagnosed with cancer.  Give thanks when you feel like you can't get out of bed even one more day.  

God is not asking us to be thankful FOR those specific things.  But His great call on our lives is to cultivate a spirit of gratitude in our hearts that transcends those details; those painful, raw, unjust, disgusting, shitty details of this earthly life.  And when we do so, when we are thankful in the midst of our pain and grief and raw emotion, we fall into line with His will, and he showers us with grace and healing and blessing and love.

Our God is a God of contradictions.  What seems like it should be one way, is always another with Him.  It was not natural to give thanks when I started the "challenge" 3 years ago.  3 years ago, I was pretty close to clinical depression.  And I'm not saying medical help cannot assist someone who IS clinically depressed, I am simply speaking for myself personally.  Turning my heart and mind to thankfulness has brought me and raised me out of that pit that I couldn't see out of.

I wonder how many marriages and relationships and churches and friendships could be saved if we would just "give thanks in all circumstances."  It is His will for us, His beloved bride.

Embrace a spirit of thankfulness today.  You just never know where God will take you.

(Apologies for the strange formatting of the font in this blog.  I couldn't figure out how to fix that).