Thankful Thursday

Today is Thursday.

Today I CHOOSE to be thankful.

Just as rejoicing, we cannot think of Thankfulness and Rejoicing as emotions for when life is good. We must CHOOSE them. My girls and I have been working on a Character Study in stead of math and reading. One of the Character traits we are studying is Thankfulness.

The basic child definition is "Being grateful and saying so". That is so simple. We all need to practice that, not often, but all the time...allllll the time.

The verse that corresponds to this is I Thes 5:18 "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (KJV)"

Did you notice what my kids and I noticed?

"In EVERYTHING". Whoa! That is hard to digest. I had to teach my kids that they have to be thankful for spankings and time outs. OUCH! Why do they have to be thankful? Because correction is helping them be a better person, closer and closer to being Christ-like. That means we as adults also have to be thankful when life does not go the way we want it to.

So for today I am CHOOSING to be thankful. And when I dig deep down, what am I most thankful for today?

Two things:

ONE: the Word of God

I am hurting inside because my world is turned upside down. But I have the Word. I put aside all self help Bible Study books and just dig deep into my Bible asking the Lord to fill me with his Word. I need simplicity in this. Not hype. I just need his words to flow through my veins and into the depth of my soul. I don't need head knowledge. I need a heart transformation.


TWO: the LIVING WORD

What can I say on this but WOW! We, as Christians, have something nobody else in the entire world has. We are set apart in this area. Most everyone has access to a Bible. Most anyone can pick it up and start reading it. But can they make sense of it? We can. How and why? Because we accepted Christ as our Savior and His Spirit dwells in us. When we accepted Him as our Savior we did not get a small portion of His Spirit that would increase over time. We received the entire kit and caboodle. We have has much of his Spirit in us as the most faithful, mature Christian that we know. (As much as Billy Graham and all the great greats of the Christian world). We got it girls! We got it! And we are the lucky ones.

When I look around this world and I know my own hurts, my heart aches more for those who don't know Christ. Friends, how do they manage their pain? How do they get through tough times? Who dries their tears and comforts their souls? Who holds them when they are lonely? My Christ does all that for me. So today I am thankful for the Living Word, the spirit of Christ that dwells in me and for today, and everyday, I wish this for the entire world.