She Connects: Thankfulness As A Response To Who God Is

As we are now in the 11^th month of the year (WHERE DID IT GO?!?) A lot of us are looking back at 2015 and reflecting. Just like the natural seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall our lives tend to have a seasonal rhythm. Some seasons are filled with life and everything seems to be blooming and prospering and other seasons are filled with change and transitioning and often the hardest seasons are filled with nothing—silence, emptiness and death. Though the seasons change, the Sun doesn’t. As a Christian, though the seasons of life change, the SON doesn’t. How do we maintain a spirit of thankfulness even in the hard and dry seasons?

Paul said he had learned the secret of being content in ANY and EVERY situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want (Philippians 4:12) and that secret was the simplest truth of “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). This scripture is not new to you and actually it’s used a lot. However sometimes it’s used in the cheesy way of “ALL MY DREAMS CAN COME TRUE BECAUSE I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH HIM WHO STRENGTHENS ME.” But this scripture is so much deeper than that. Paul can be content in everything because he knows WHO GOD IS.

Paul is telling us that life is going to change. One day you may be on top and the next day you might be on the bottom but the secret to remaining content and THANKFUL in everything is knowing that through HIM we can bare it all because he strengthens us. As I look back on my 2015 there’s moments where I’m like “How did I survive that?” “How did that not break me?” and the answer is not my own strength, the answer is Jesus’s strength and Gods ever present hand! There were nights when I cried out in prayer and somehow my spirit still had a “THANK YOU JESUS” inside to let out. I truly believe that when we say thank you and give thanks even when it’s hard, those “thank you’s” carry us through the dead seasons. No matter what may come and no matter what lies behind, give thanks, in and through it all.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

That scripture is a roadmap for thankfulness. Rejoice! Rejoice in your worship, in your words and in the way you live throughout the day, even if it’s a hard season because who God is demands our rejoicing. This doesn’t always mean to smile and be glad, sometimes it means to just turn worship music on and rejoice in WHO GOD IS. It then tells us to pray without ceasing! Prayers are incense to God! Tell him how thankful you are! Tell him your needs and concerns! Talk to your Father and the final outcome with be a heart of thankfulness. When we remember WHO OUR GOD IS, the only response is thankfulness.

xo,

torrie