"Always be joyful.

Always keep on praying.

No matter what happens, always be thankful,

for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."

~ I Thessalonians 5:16 - 18 LAB

*Because it is Thanksgiving week, our sermon at church on Sunday, surrounded these verses. To begin, we were supposed to 'huddle up' in groups of 2 - 5 to see what those verses meant to us as readers.

Mark read from his translation of 'in everything give thanks'. He said, "My wife fell a couple of weeks ago and broke her collar bone. We don't have to be thankful that she fell and gto hurt, but we are asked 'in everything' to thank God."

Other comments: 

*  'Our joy is through Christ who loves us."

* "God is always with us."

* "Do we ever lack because we fail to give thanks?"

* "It is when it is hardest to tell God thanks, that He helps us and understands."

*  "If we are thankful, we are full of thanks."

* "Always mean always; not just when you feel like it."

* "Our joy is in and through Jesus."

"Things which happen to us can be put into two categories:  things we think are good for us and things that we believe are bad."

Our minister said (and we may have heard it before), "What happens if God only gives us today what we were thankful for yesterday?"

Dear Father God, thank You for the gift of joy! Help us to be more and more grateful. We are thankful for so many things. Lead us. Guide us. Direct our paths. Not just at Thanksgiving but every day. In Jesus' Name. Amen.