Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. I am honored to be on the schedule today to share this wonderful day with you.

In honor of this holiday, today I want to focus on 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 which says, “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” I love these verses. They are so simple, yet so profound. If we followed these words each and every day, I can only imagine how different our lives would be. And think of the impact we could make on the world around us. I believe our good attitude would be contagious to those we encounter in our daily lives.

I have made gratitude a part of my life for a number of years now, and I can absolutely tell you that it does make a difference in your life. Gratitude brings peace and joy, because we are focused on the blessings around us. It helps us to keep our hearts in tune with God and how good He is to us. When we focus on gratitude, and ultimately, on the Lord, it takes our attention away from our problems. It reminds us that even when we have a bad day, so many things in our lives are still going right.

I believe when we follow the latter part of the verses above (be thankful in all circumstances) that will help us to better follow the advice in the beginning of the verses (always be joyful). And I also believe the middle part of the verses (never stop praying) plays a part in both joy and gratitude. Prayer is vital in our Christian walk. When we stay connected to God on a daily basis, this helps us to have joy, and it helps us to have gratitude as well.

But there is one word I want to point out in these verses – all. The Bible says to be thankful in ALL circumstances. I know this can be extremely difficult for us to do when we are in the midst of a storm. Life can be painful and bring us an array of problems. But we are still called to give thanks. I think this becomes easier when we fully know the love of the Lord and when we remember that He works all things together for good.

Dr. Charles Stanley puts it this way, “For us to be able to thank God in all things, we must be able to see him in every detail of our lives. Our hearts should be grateful towards him, even when we face difficulties, because we know he is intimately involved in our circumstances and will work everything for our good if we have faith and obey him (Ro 8:28).” (Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible.)

I would like to encourage you to hold these verses in your heart today. Recite them as you go about your day. I bet you will feel a supernatural peace as you focus on always being joyful, continually praying, and being thankful in all circumstances.

In case you need a little boost getting into a grateful frame of mind, check out this lovely YouTube video. I want to live my life with this mindset: https://youtu.be/zSt7k_q_qRU

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! God bless you!

© 2020 Bridget A. Thomas