“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name.”  Psalms 100:4 (NKJV)

What a beautiful sunrise this morning! Thank You, God, for the colors of the sunrise and the fresh, new day! (You already know that I love sunrises!) They provide an early day opportunity to thank God for that moment of joy we experience when we see their beauty.

God loves us unconditionally and is always looking out for us. There are so many chances to thank God for His work in our lives. When things are going well for us and we are succeeding at work or at home, when our children and friends are all getting along, when our plans come together without issue, when we safely travel; it is easy to thank God and give him the credit for all the positive things in our lives. I don’t know how many times a day I say, “Thank you, Lord!” under my breath as things (that might have been much tougher) work out easily.

But do we thank God when the “dark clouds” come into our lives? It is much harder to thank God when things are rough or don’t work out well. Paul tells us in I Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always”. But for what can we be thankful, when everything seems to go wrong!? It seems harder to find our thankfulness. We definitely have to work harder. But, we can be thankful that God is with us, even when we are angry or discouraged. We can be thankful that we have God to share our pain and that He can ease our burden. We can be thankful for the path that God is choosing for us even when our planned path is not working out.

These tough times strengthen us and our relationship with God as we choose to be thankful even in the most difficult of situations. We learn patience with God’s plan and His timing in our lives. As I began this writing journey, I was excited and motivated after my initial leading. But then nothing really seemed to fall into place easily; it was a lot of work and efforts did not always yield the results I wanted. But as I continued, and thanked God regularly for His guidance, things did begin to align. In God’s time, not mine! We must practice the art of thankfulness in all things!

This week try to thank God when something is not going exactly as you would like. Work to find something in that difficult situation for which to thank God! You will be blessed!

I thank God for each of you! And I thank you for joining me today!