Giving Thanks

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

I think Bama Kitty’s arthritic bones are grateful for water at his own level. This little garden statue has a spot that I’ve used for a candle in the past but given all of the rain we’ve had lately, it has collected a little water right at Bama Kitty’s level. Actually I love to catch him drinking water from the strangest places and he seems to be grateful, well, as grateful as a kitty can seem 😉.

I love seemingly little lessons, or reminders, from the Lord about His goodness and blessings. Sometimes life can be so hard that I don’t see those blessings very well. Sometimes pain consumes my brain as it did yesterday after pulling a back muscle just leaning over to get a bag for the garbage can 🙄 (which is better today thank You Lord!), or long term chronic pain or sometimes the hardest of all, the heart pain.

Over the years the Lord has taught me to incorporate the above verse into my life … Be joyful always … that is not easy! But joy is a fruit of the Spirit and I believe the Lord grants joy to my life through the next two points … pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances. Now I don’t kneel to pray every time I need to pray. I just talk to the Lord in lots of ways and situations. I try to start my day off in prayer and in the Word but that doesn’t always happen so, I pray going down the road, working around the house, etc. One of the best words of advice about getting through an MRI (don’t you love that confined space with, and I have seen this, lipstick smudged on the ceiling?😳) was to pray for everyone I could think of throughout the test. Great advice!

I truly believe that one of the keys to coping with life is being grateful! Give thanks in all things (not always “for” all but that’s for another day). Even when I don’t feel like giving thanks, I have to give thanks even if I have to search for something to give thanks about … the air I breathe, the birds in my yard, etc. … it’s critical to coping with life, to having joy and the other fruits of the Spirit, and most importantly, to being a good witness of God’s love, I may be the only Jesus they ever see … I must give thanks.

Dear Lord, please always help us to be thankful in all things. Help us to pray continually, to have a heart focused on You in our daily lives, and to be joyful always.
Thank You! 😊

Kim ❤️🙏