Be Thankful in all Circumstances.

 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18


¹⁶ Always be joyful. ¹⁷ Never stop praying. ¹⁸ Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.


After listening to today's devotion & reading this scripture in 1 Thess., I was reminded of the things I have been working on. For example;

• When I found out I was pregnant I cried & kept thanking God for this answer to prayer. Since being pregnant, I have had 24/7 morning sickness. During this time Philippians 4:8 has become my power verse. It talks about thinking on things that are lovely, pure, of good report, etc. So whenever I felt sickness coming on I would say, "What things are lovely?" And my husband and I would start naming things that were lovely. It really helped to get my mind off of the sickness and dwell on more pleasant things. I did this often when the dry-heaves started to help calm myself down. 
• Another example are the blog posts that I have been posting this month. In honor of Thanksgiving, it has been my goal to post something, every day, that I am thankful for. Whether it is a good day, or a bad day.
• And lastly, I was reminded of prayer. A few years ago, God convicted my heart to stop what I was doing, whenever a prayer request was made, & say a prayer for those in need. In years past I would tell people that I was praying for them, and then realize later, that I had not prayed for them. In recent years I have made it a habit to stop what I am doing & and say a prayer for those in need. When God convicts our hearts, we need to stop, listen, & obey. I'd hate to get to Heaven & have God tell me "remember all those ppl you said you'd pray for, but never did?"

I don't claim to be perfect in any of my shared examples, but I do my best to make them a habit every day. Lord knows if I miss a prayer request or let circumstances rule me, He'll convict me. Reprimand me. Spank me. Correct me. And give me the push I need to carry on. :) I just really like to do my best to avoid that. Don't you?

Let's work on these things together:

1. Always be joyful.
2. Never stop praying.
3. Be thankful in all of life's circumstances.

It will be hard. We are human after all. And life will throw us some hard, hurtful knocks. But let's find at least one thing out of those hard times to be thankful for. It will help us carry through & have a little joy to focus on. Blessings!

Take Time to Listen.

I wrote a little about my Bible study this morning here at Directed Paths.


Today I read from Acts 16 & Galatians 2:20-21.


The main highlights that I received, personally, was what Wendy Pope said about learning to know when God says "yes" and when He says "no". Learning to know Him well enough that we recognize His voice when He speaks to us. Learning to "go" or to "stay" when He says to.


In Acts. 16:6-8, Paul & Silas trust the voice of God well enough to do both. They started heading toward Asia, but the Holy Spirit stopped them and told them "no". They started heading to the next place & again Jesus said "no". They listened & obeyed.  Then when God sent Paul a vision telling where they should go, they got up the next morning and went. Souls need to be saved. What if they ignored God's warnings? What if they went to those two places to preach any way? What if they had ignored His calling to go to the next place? They could have been killed. Souls would not have been saved.

Are there times in our lives when we ignore the voice of God & His calling in our life? "Well how do we know it's God speaking to us, and not just our own mixed-up thoughts in our head?" Here is how we can know the voice of God:

• Spend time with Him ~ learning to recognize His voice.
• Read His Book ~ learning His ways
• Obey Him ~ learning to trust Him

The question is, "Will we take the time to stop what we are doing to listen to His voice? Will we stop & listen for even the faintest whisper? Or will we be too busy & do whatever we feel we need to do?" 

Just some things to think about. Blessings!