Gratitude

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

My life group at church is studying spiritual disciplines. The discipline we are finishing up right now is Gratitude. I learned a long time ago that being thankful is an attitude saver. I was looking forward to dwelling more deeply on gratitude the last couple of weeks. In fact, I felt like I had an upper hand in this discipline, due to our water heater just going out. There's nothing like the icy chill of winter water gushing through your pipes to remind you of the blessing of warm water! It's easy to take things for granted and there's nothing like the awe of looking over your life and seeing God's hand of guidance and blessing. Our sinful nature makes it so easy to get bogged down with our selfish desires, pain and stress.

God opened my eyes to more than I expected along this gratitude journey. The first week when we began, I had been struggling with a disappointing encounter with someone at our church. I had been praying that God would help me to forgive this person completely, as the situation kept creeping into my mind day by day. I was pleased to find that God completely healed my heart of any resentment within the first day of my focus on counting my blessings. It's easy to keep a clean heart when it's overflowing with thankfulness.

The next week in particular created an emotional challenge I was not expecting. Although I was feeling very blessed, I was starting to become very burdened about a lot of pain around me. The news was full of coverage concerning the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. My next door neighbor, a single mother of three young girls, was dealing with the loss of her sister from a recent car accident. A blogger friend of mine, who is a cancer survivor, was watching her own daughter struggle to live in the ICU, from a virus that was attacking her organs. There are several other things I could name. There is heartache all around us everyday. I began asking myself, "Could I be thankful in these circumstances?" I pray that I will be. My greatest blessing is Jesus and the hope of salvation through Him. It's only because of Him that we can find joy no matter the circumstance.

So, while I'm thankful today for my family's health, safety and many blessings beyond our needs, I find myself also thankful in the midst of chaos. I'm thankful that I read this morning that there has been an uprising of Christianity in Haiti since the earthquake. And if you know Haiti, this is a miracle; there is an incredible amount of spiritual warfare in that country. I'm thankful that I can pray for my blogger friend and that she shares the same hope I do. I'm thankful that maybe someday she'll pray for me in a time of need. And I'm thankful that I was able to spend some time with my neighbor yesterday, that God gave my family the opportunity to invite her to church and to grow our relationship with her, even amidst tragedy.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." Psalm 136:1