What Are You Doing?

“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT

Boy is that verse a hard one to do!  Are we always joyful? Can we really be thankful in ALL circumstances?  Do we truly believe in our hearts that Jesus has our backs all of the time?  If we have set ourselves apart from the rest, then we should be able to say yes to all those questions.  Even if we encounter sorrow, we know joy will come in the morning because God has promised us that:

 Psalm 30:5
For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.

I feel as though being thankful is a choice we have the authority to take control of in our lives.  The more we are thankful the more doors of opportunity are opened.  If we thank God each morning for life we open the door for blessings.  When we thank Him for our housing or cars we open the door for upgrades because we are already thankful for what we have received.  This differs from begging God to give us new things because we are already grateful for our current provision.  I think we lack due to a lack of gratitude towards God for the provision He gives daily to us.  We often take for granted the little things and when we have a multitude of little things we are not grateful I feel we close the doors to the bigger possibilities God has in store for us.

Let me make this a bit more on the personal side so as not to offend anyone with this particular blog.  Take for instance my trailer.  I loath it on most days with its’ missing walls, holes in the floor, ripped carpet, black residue on the ceilings from the three years of using kerosene and this list could go on. I mumbled and grumbled every day to God that my daughter and I did not deserve to live like this.  I tried getting things organized and cleaned up only to end up with pneumonia.  Yes, it was my choice to not take care of things daily, yet I was not living a normal life.  I was trying to put food on the table, work full time and meet the needs of my drug addicted husband.  There was no time for normal things like housework.

About six months ago, I finally stopped crying about the trailer and decided to perhaps pray to God for a new home and He clearly showed me that I needed to be grateful for the roof over my head, as I was not living in a card board box or my car.  He began to show me things as I grumbled about sleeping on the couch because my waterbed broke and the bed I bought was too uncomfortable.  He taught me to be grateful for little things, such as solid roof over my head.  As I began to change my thinking, I started to thank God instead of crying out for a new home.  Now we have the prospect of a new home right around the corner all because I chose to be grateful and not bitter anymore.

I took me to find the joy in the sorrow and the gratefulness in my heart to see God is a God of provision even if it does not seem like the right place to be at the moment.  I had to get over the “I deserve it” attitude before God could begin to make a new home happen for us. I know wake up thankful for my couch and the roof over my head.  Yes I still get frustrated when some times the light in the bathroom decides it needs some prodding before turning on, but now I just close my eyes and visualize the new bathroom light I will be turning on soon.

Tomorrow’s blog:  Thankfulness continues…….