Wednesday, October 1, 2008

~Thankful Thursday! ~Praise~Thankfulness~



He is Your Praise
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 ~

The meaning of thankfulness:

1. feeling gratitude: feeling or expressing gratitude. We must be thankful for small mercies
2. glad about something: glad or relieved about something

Has God blessed you?

Sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers the way that we think that he should answer them. God sees our situation much better than we do and we can trust that he always has our best interest in mind. We only see a tiny piece of the big puzzle and God has the entire puzzle in his vision.

Are there times when you do not feel thankful? Or, you have a hard time trying to think of what you are thankful for? Sometimes situations in our lives can make being thankful a difficult chore. Even in the worst of times we can find reasons to be thankful. Knowing that Jesus loves us and chose to willingly die for us is a very big reason to be thankful all the time.

Knowing that God is in control and that he has a purpose for our lives is another reason to be thankful.
God blesses us in so many ways and sometimes we fail to see or recognize His handiwork in our lives.

Do you have a place to sleep? Food to eat? Family? Friends? Car? Bicycle? A computer you are now typing on to join in Thankful Thursday. I want to choose to see the positive in all things. At least we have the opportunity to make Heaven our Home. We won't live on this crazy place called "earth" forever.

The greatest of all things is Jesus Christ. He paid a very hefty price for us! That should keep us thankful for our entire lives.

Update on my job~ It is a lot different than what I was used to. But, for the last week I've set daily goals and then a goal for the end of that pay period. I DID IT. I've changed a few things and it has made a huge difference. I'm so very thankful for that. I'm pushing up my goal for the next 2 weeks. I'm thrilled that with the gas prices that a tank of gas lasts me at least 3 weeks. Plus, wear and tear on my vehicle which I'm thankful for. (Not thankful someone keyed my car though).

Update on Mr. Ripley ~ I can see such an improvement in his leg. I'm taking care and retraining him not to jump up and especially off furniture. And, he is such a good learner. I've been getting him out every day and letting him exercise his leg and I think that is helping. He's also lost some weight, which is a big plus (I gained it). He has a very expensive front leg/elbow, so we are taking extra special care to get it healed. It has been 6 months since his last surgery. He got to got visit my sister's dogs the other night. One of them just pestered him to death. And, then they got in a contest of who could "mark" my Mom's yard the most. I'm so thankful that this leg is healing. And many other things as well.

See if you can find 5 things every day to be thankful for. It will change your life.

Blessings!





22 comments:

Denise said...

Amen, we need to praise Him continually.

Speaking from the Heart said...

Awesome writing. You are absolutely right, God sees our situation much better than we do. We need to praise him at all times.

Unknown said...

Cheryl,

Wow, excellent post...We must be thankful for small mercies... Amen.. and well said. Amen.

Erica said...

Oh, precious friend, you are so right. We all have so many things to be thankful for. I am thankful for you and your sweet heart. I am so glad you met your goals.
On a different note, I just figured out how to make my blog title what I want it to be and still use the cute topper Kristi made me. If you can please "unsubscribe" and then "resubscribe" to my blog, it will now show up as "Amazing Adventures Await" instead of "."
I was so confused for a while, but I figured it out! Thanks, friend for reading!

Jerralea said...

What a beautiful post! It just reminds me of something I heard once, we need to have an "attitude of gratitude."

I think it's helpful to remember that this life is not all there is, in fact it's just the prologue of our real (eternal) life will be.

Nancie said...

Thank God for His love and many blessings upon us daily. We do have many things to be thankful for each day! I am so glad that you are doing well at work, Cheryl. Thank God for guiding and helping you. May He continue to give you much wisdom and grace. Thanks for your encouraging comment on my post. May God continue to bless and guide you as you trust in Him. Take care. Remembering you in prayers.

Tonya said...

Cheryl,

YOU are SO RIGHT.. there is ALWAYS SOMETHING to be thankful for! I really enjoyed your post encouraging us to "be thankful in every thing." It seems that when our eyes are turned on HIM, it's easy to "count our blessings." It's during those times that we focus on ourselves that we can so easily find fault. THANKS AGAIN for your words of encouragement!

This is another verse on "thankfulness" that comes to mind..

Psalm 118:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Laurie Ann said...

Awesome post, Cheryl! I loved the message of having an attitude of gratitude, even when we can't seem to find things to be thankful for. If for no other reason than Christ alone, we can be thankful, indeed.

I'm so glad Ripley is healing and re-training so he'll stay healed. I have a furbaby named Wilson who I love dearly, and I can imagine you've spent some time in prayer of him, as I have Wilson.

Have a wonderful Thankful Thursday! I love this day!

Debra Kaye said...

My sweet sister, Cheryl...

How I love your thankful heart! You, my friend, are a jewel!

I am going to list you and your MLS company in my prayer journal and ask the Lord to bless it and to continue to enlarge your territory. (You are going to think this is funny (funnier than you think I already am)...but I just figured out what MLS was...it has nothing to do with dictation...its real estate...right?)

Anyway, I love ya...happy TT

Unknown said...

Another AMEN Cheryl!

God deserves nothing less than a thankful heart for all He does for us!

Thank you sweet friend for the beautiful reminders lately!

I hope you stop by my blog to pick up an award for sowing seeds of love!

In His amazing grace,
Jill

Unknown said...

What a blessed heart you have!

Melanie said...

Love this post, Cheryl! We are all so blessed but it is so easy some days to not realize it and see the many blessings. Thanks for a great reminder.

Happy Thankful Thursday!

Darlene said...

Preach it sister!! You are so right. I tend to get on my pity pot and think that things are so bad...when really they are not near as bad. My family is healthy, we are paying our bills on time, we have a Savior who we can talk to at any given time. Wow, we are blessed! Thanks for the reminder that HE is in control and know so much better than I do.
Thanks also for stepping all over my toes. I really needed to hear this today.
Glad things are better on your job.
Keep pressing on!
Darlene

Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting said...

You are so very very wise and true. I adore this post. Every word. Thank you!

Happy Thankful Thursday!

http://crazyadventuresinparenting.blogspot.com/2008/10/thankful-thursday-29-days-of-giving.html

Lisa@BlessedwithGrace said...

Cheryl, I always love your posts. You are so uplifting and encouraging. Thank you for reminding us why we should all be thankful. Glad to hear about the job, and that it is going well.

Michele Williams said...

Great post. We need to praise Him at all times. God bless you dear.

Beth K. Vogt said...

I always appreciate your exhortation and encouragement to be thankful. Beautiful photo this week too. Thank you for the idea of thinking of 5 things to be thankful for. I'm going to try that this week.
Beth@TheAccidentalPharisee

Anonymous said...

Thanks Cheryl! After a tough day at work, you have reminded to look on the bright side of life.

GranthamLynn said...

Oh Cheryl,
What a great post. Thanks for sharing it with us. And I love your challenge of 5 things each day!
Thanks so much.
Have a Blessed week.
Sherry

Cheryl said...

Great post Cheryl! We should be thankful everyday. Praising HIM is such a good feeling! God Bless~

Tracy said...

Amen! You are so right. There is much power in a grateful heart! Like you, I want to chose to look at the positive and be thankful, regardless of the circumstance. I like your challenge to find 5 things every day to be thankful for...great reminder -- thank you!

Glad you are settling in and feeling good about the job change. Doesn't that make you feel good to set and meet goals? You gotta love the degrease in gas use! (Hear that kaching in the background?)

Glad Ripley is doing a bit better. Your story about the marking contest made me laugh out loud.

Happy Friday buddy,
Tracy

eph2810 said...

Amen to that, Cheryl. Yes, even in not so good times, there are always things to be thankful for. We sometimes miss the blessings because we dwell on our circumstances.

How awesome that the leg of Mr. Ripley is healing so well.

Sometimes we have to set goals with our work - staying focused - glad that you were able to do that.

Thank you so much for sharing your grateful heart with us.

Be blessed today and always...