BE THANKFUL IN ALL THINGS!

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.”
Philippians 4:6

We all have issues, but sometimes we complain when we shouldn’t.
There was a pastor who was driving across the country with a another man.
At the time, all of the pastor’s children were in private schools.
He began complaining to the man about the great cost of sending a son to college.
The man looked at the pastor and said,
“I’d give anything in the world if my son would go to college.”
The pastor thought,
“Oh, what an ungrateful spirit I have!”
Do you ever complain about dirty dishes?
There are lots of folks in third world countries
that would like to have some dirty dishes.
According to God’s Word, we are to be thankful in all things.
When going through a tough time, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?
However, when we thank him in all things, we are saying to the Lord
that we trust Him to be with us, to help us, to encourage us,
and to teach us what we need to learn from this experience.
Whenever someone would say to a friend of mine,
“My left knee hurts”.
He would ask them,
“Does your right knee hurt?”
When they said it did not, he would say,
“Then think about your right knee”.
On the surface this may sound insensitive,
but I believe his purpose was to steer them toward being thankful for the good things,
rather than focusing on the bad ones.
He was a former marine and a little salty, but he really cared about others.

Rejoice in God’s blessings in your life.
Avoid the temptation to complain and grumble about your life.
It doesn’t mean your situation is not real,
and it doesn’t mean that you don’t want/need relief,
it just means that you are putting your trust in the Lord
to provide for your needs, and to comfort and console you.