FAITH :: Happy Thanksgiving. Why are we thankful?

Welcome to today.

Thankfulness... it's a big topic.

We have to deal with it every year about this time.  And, I suppose that is a good thing. We take all the good things in our lives for granted... assuming WE have made them happen, deserve them, and/or will always enjoy them.

I remember being a kid and deciding what my life would become.  It didn't turn out that way.  Looking back now, I see the effects of all the hard times, the lessons learned, the changes in me, and I can be thankful for them.  Once in awhile, I think about all the other paths that could have happened.  I wonder what I would have become if life had been the way I thought it would be.  What would I care about if there had been no suffering that made me aware of hurt people all around me.

I am getting old now.  I am thankful just to be alive still.  I am thankful for the health I still have.  I am thankful for what might still be in my future.

I have been looking more deeply into the lives of people we seem to think are worth following just because they have wealth, or because they are celebrities, or because they are in the news often.  I wonder what I would be if I had their lives... without GOD.  I don't think I would want to be them.  The money would be useful, but the things they do to get that money are not something I would want to do.  Would I be able to keep my faith in their world.  From what I can see, they seem to trade their eternity for the money that fame brings them.  I don't think it is worth the trade.  Maybe it is a good things I didn't become a billionaire.

I can't tell you how many times I am thankful for my salvation. I wish I had become more devoted to the things of GOD earlier in my life.  I wouldn't have the hard memories I have to carry with me until I die.  

I don't think anyone's life is trouble-free.  The things in my life are mine.  Your hard times are yours.  We all have to find the way through today to tomorrow.  Sometimes we don't choose the right path... but we find a way to recover and look for a better road.

Today I am thankful for what is my current reality and pray for a better one soon.  I believe there will be a better tomorrow.  GOD tells us He makes purpose in all things.  I don't know where today will lead, GOD does. 

Suffering is the biggest problem with our FAITH in GOD.

We think His love means no suffering.

Then we discover how much good suffering can bring into our lives... things and people and memories we never expected could happen. 

If you are in a hard place today, just keep going forward and look for what I call the "hidden secrets in suffering."  They are there.  You have to really look for them.  When you find them you will never be the same person again.

This is why, I think, GOD tells us that we need to be thankful in every circumstance, and it is part of His Will for us.

We are being shown those secrets others can't see, will never find, and don't even know exist.  We will become closer to GOD in the finding.

May GOD bless your life with joy and hope,

love and goodness, meaning and purpose.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

http://work2gather.us

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