The Thankful Month

The picture that accompanies today's post is one that a friend of mine posted recently and it really convicted me.

If you're on Facebook any, you have probably seen people on your friends list taking part in the "Thankful November Challenge".

The object of the challenge is to post one thing you are thankful for every day of the month leading up to Thanksgiving Day.

I have taken on the challenge and to be completely honest,  sometimes I have a difficult time with it (especially the further we get into it).
 

I don't have a difficult time because I don't have anything to be thankful for (far from that)... just sometimes I allow myself to become so worked up, focusing on everything that is going wrong that I close my eyes to all the blessings.

We can be so quick to update our status with the latest gossip we just heard from "big mouth Betsy" or so eager to use our social media timeline as a cheap therapist on which to cast our frustrations....but we sometimes second guess ourselves when it comes to posting thankfulness for something good that God has done in our lives.

But why?
The Bible tells us multiple times to give thanks....

 

1 Thessalonians 5:18

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 

Colossians 3:17
"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." 

Psalm 107:1
"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Psalm 100:4
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

And that is just a select few of the instances in which we are told to give thanks.

You make be thinking to yourself  "I'd be more thankful, if I had more to be thankful for!"

Well first of all, that's flawed thinking from the beginning...if you aren't thankful with the small things, God won't bless you with the big things.
Second of all, there are people out there with a lot less than you that are a million times more thankful for what they have.

As I begin to branch out of my comfort zone, I have a growing interest in helping a group from my church at the homeless shelter. I have only been able to be involved once so far at the shelter, but just from that one experience....conviction hit....

Here are a bunch of ladies who literally have all most nothing to their name, some separated  from family, and they are just thankful to be alive and taken care of. They are just thankful to have a hot supper, a slice of cake, and someone  just to sit down with them to talk about life.

And we feel like being ungrateful because we wanted the Iphone 5 not the 4S.....


Or, you may be thinking to yourself  "I just don't FEEL like being thankful..... this happened, that happened",  and the list starts flowing....

Just remember, sometimes bad things happen as "blessings in disguise".... like the following post I saw a while back titled "Conversation with God":

Me: God, can I ask you something?

GOD: Sure.

Me: Promise you won't get mad?
GOD: I promise.
Me: Why did you let so much stuff happen to me today?
GOD: What do you mean?
Me: Well I woke up late,
GOD: Yes
Me: My car took forever to start,
GOD: Okay....
Me: At lunch, they made my sandwich wrong and I had to wait.
GOD: Hmmmm..
Me: On the way home, my phone went dead, just as I picked up a call
GOD: All right
Me: And to top it all off, when I got home, I just wanted to soak
my feet in my foot massager and relax, but it wouldn't work. Nothing went
right today! Why did you do that?
GOD: Well let me see..... the death angel was at your bed this morning and
I had to send one of the other angels to battle him for your life. I let you
sleep through that.
Me: Oh...
GOD: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your
route that might have hit you if you were on the road
Me: ............
GOD: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick and I didn't
want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss work
Me: Oh.....
GOD: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was going to
give a false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't even let
you talk to them so you would be covered
Me: I see God
GOD: Oh and that foot massager, it had a short that was going to throw out
all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you wanted to be in
the dark.
Me: I'm sorry God.
GOD: Don't be sorry, just learn to trust me,in all things, the good
and the bad
Me: I WILL trust you God
GOD: And don't doubt that my plan for your day is always better than your
plan
Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, thank you for everything
today.
GOD: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your God and I
love looking after my children.

Kinda makes you see things in a different light, doesn't it? 

So as you continue the November Challenge, remember that being thankful isn't confined just to the month of November.

Being thankful shouldn't just be an action. it should be a way of life....especially for the Christian/

We all have stuff to be thankful for, sometimes you just have to take a step back and a quiet moment away from the crazy messed up world to see it.

If you woke up this morning... you have something to be thankful for, because someone somewhere didn't.
If you ate something today... you have something to be thankful, because there are people starving around the world.
If you went to a job today...you have something to be thankful for, because there are many people today who are unemployed.
If you have a bed to sleep on and a roof over your head...you have something to be thankful for because some people live on the streets.

If you have at least 1 true friend...you have something to be thankful for, because true friends are rare and valuable.
If Christ has saved you... you have something to be thankful for because you don't deserve salvation. You did nothing to earn it.

“We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.”

“One of the main reasons that we lose our enthusiasm in life is because we become ungrateful..we let what was once a miracle become common to us. We get so accustomed to his goodness it becomes a routine..” 

“Sometimes we focus so much on what we don't have that we fail to see, appreciate, and use what we do have!”

“Gratitude doesn't change the scenery.  It merely washes clean the glass you look through so you can clearly see the colors.”

Live...Laugh...Love

Until Next Time, 

Racheal <3