Thanksgiving

"In all things give thanks..."
Do you know what those words really mean? Not in your head, in your heart.
The Lord wants us to be grateful in all things. Not just when the sun is shining and your day is running smoothly.
He wants us to be thankful even on the day my mother died of cancer, or on the day you lost your unborn child, or on the day your divorce was final. Doesn't that sound impossible? How can this be?
But the whole idea is to look at Jesus as our role model. The evening before the day he was to be crucified, for sins he hadn't committed, he cried out to God in such earnest that his sweat turned into blood. He prayed for God to change his mind, saying "remove this cup from me..."
But in the same breath our Lord made sure to say "Yet not my will, but yours be done..."
Jesus lived His whole life to glorify the Father. He walked the earth, he saw the evil and the filth and the death first hand. He cried out against it, all the while knowing he would be the one to suffer the ultimate evil, the death that would be the only way for us to have life.
In everything Jesus was thankful. Not that he wasn't distressed, or sad or even angry. But that in everything he trusted and had faith and glorified God. What better way to show his love?
The same thing is not asked, it is required of us!
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in EVERYTHING give thanks; for this IS God's will for you in Jesus..."
This still takes me back to the question how is this possible?
How do you give thanks to God through the death of a mother, or a father, or a son or daughter?
How do you give thanks to God when your husband is cheating, or your best friend is being diagnosed with cancer?
How do you give thanks to God when you are being handed over to the authorities by someone you loved, and being condemned and tortured and spit at and humiliated and nailed to a cross, all by the very people you came to serve?
And that is just it...through all that was done to Jesus, it was God's will being done. And it is the same in our lives, whether we mean for it to be or not. Looking critically at our lives will show that even in everything we suffer through in this life, it is NOTHING compared to what Jesus has done for us!
So, now when I am having a bad day, or I am tempted to focus on what is wrong in my life, marriage, finances, family, and health, I am learning to remember who suffered for me; I am the sinner, I am guilty not HE - yet he suffered so much just for me! And he was thankful and faithful to the end and through him the will of the most high holy God was fulfilled!
And when I remember all that, I think "what the hell do I have to complain about?"
And I begin thanking God for the things that I have.
Thank you God that I have a husband and father for my children, No matter how wrong or annoying he seems.
Thank you that my children are alive and flourishing, No matter how many nights a week they cough all night, or how many earaches they have a month.
Thank you for the job and the money You provided for us last week and are providing again this week, no matter how much more we think we need.
Thank you that your hand is my guide and your death is my life.
Thanksgiving...