Thankfulness

1 Thessalonians 5:18, "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." (NLT)

It was during prayer this morning that the Spirit reminded me about being thankful. Normally the words thankfulness and thanksgiving are associated with the holiday that we refer to as Thanksgiving. But the Holy Spirit challenged me to examine my attitude this morning. Do I truly and consistently live with and live in an attitude of thankfulness? Am I thankful in all circumstances? Is my attitude one in which I can exclaim and declare to God my sincere praise and thanksgiving on a daily basis? Or do I pick and choose the moments in which I express my gratitude to God? 

I understand that there are those "special" moments in our lives in which we see the goodness of God revealed in a moment of a miraculous demonstration. These events and moments in our lives remind us that God is still all powerful and all mighty regardless of the circumstances. But is it not also true that God provides moments of divine intervention on a daily basis? Many of these moments may go unrecognized or unnoticed because we are so busy living our life that we fail to identify what God is doing in us and for us at that very moment. Could that be the reason that Paul reminds us of the need to be thankful in everything on every day? I will be honest with you and say that I do not know if I meet that challenge every day. I want to meet that challenge and I believe the Lord used this passage to remind me that I need to focus on being thankful every day and not just on certain days that I choose. 

Personal note of Praise: Over the past few months I have been praying for at least five (5) individuals that have been dealing with specific treatments for cancer that had been discovered in their bodies. I have tried to be faithful in praying for each of them by name on just about every day of their journey. I am certain that I am not alone in offering my prayer support to these individuals. One of these individuals is our niece whom I consider my "adopted granddaughter." Four out the five individuals have made excellent progress in their battle with cancer and have received wonderful progress reports. One of the five is still facing an uphill battle as the Doctors seek to find the right regime of medicine to fight the particular cancer that she is facing. Our niece crossed over another hurdle yesterday as she received a wonderful report from her Doctor. I celebrated that yesterday and I celebrated again this morning in prayer. 

I felt that I must write about living in an attitude of thankfulness. It is so easy to live a life in which we fail to recognize the goodness of God on a daily basis. It is so easy to live a life that takes for "granted" those wonderful blessings that God "daily" places in our lives. I have learned my need to make sure that I look around and "count the blessings and name them one by one" (old hymn). I know that I can not name them all but there are many of those blessings in which I need to be more vocal with God and vocal with those around me. Let the Spirit speak to your heart today and enjoy living with an "attitude of gratitude!!!"