With Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner, I’m going to be writing a series on thankfulness. The plan is to update my blog every week throughout the months of November and December with my thoughts on a Bible verse about being thankful.
For this first thankfulness post, I’ve chosen Philippians 4:4-7: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
There are so many moments in our day-to-day lives that can easily foster anxiousness in our thoughts. We live in a broken world filled with trouble, heartache, biases, and lies. And as these things leak into our daily existence, it’s hard not to feel anxious sometimes.
Life is hard.
But in Philippians 4, Paul’s focus isn’t on the bad we can find in every day. His focus is on the peace of God. His focus is on rejoicing and entering into every situation with prayer and thanksgiving.
Rejoicing, by definition, is to show great joy or delight. So we are to take on this world with joy, delight, and the peace of God. All of these qualities go right along with thankfulness.
Let’s ask God to be our joy and delight. Let’s allow Him to infiltrate our lives with everlasting peace, regardless of our circumstances. Let’s approach our daily lives with a fresh perspective, so that we might be able to view anxious moments with thankfulness.
That’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? How do we approach moments that normally bring us anxiety and give thanks instead?
I don’t think we’ll experience an immediate shift away from anxiety. But I do believe the more we give thanks, the more that becomes our automatic response. Muscle memory. And when thankfulness becomes our automatic response, our perspectives will naturally start to change.
Let’s be thankful in the anxious moments this week. Let’s be thankful even when life is hard. Let’s be thankful because we know that no matter what, God is our peace.
I’d like to end every post in this thankfulness series with a short prayer of thankfulness. Here is this week’s prayer:
God, thank you. Thank you for being our peace, even in life’s darkest storms. Thank you for allowing us the chance to be thankful in each moment. Please help thankfulness become our automatic response. We love you, Jesus. Amen.
And my friend, never forget… you are onederfully created.
Love,
Becca
