Giving Thanks in All Things

In the past it has been very difficult for me to give thanks in all things, because most of my life I have been a glass half empty kind of girl.  I am saying, "past", because I have laid my burdens down.  I pray I do not pick them up again.  It is hard to let go of habits, but I desire to let them go. Even as I write I can feel myself picking the burdens up.  How do you give thanks when you are always in pain even when the pain is a dull ache? How do you give thanks when you feel you never have the energy needed?  How do you give thanks with any illness?  A severe or a mild illness? How do you give thanks knowing there is no cure for your diagnosis and it may become increasingly worse? How do you give thanks when Doctors give negative reports?  How do you give thanks when you see yourself as worth nothing? How do you give thanks in a fallen world?  

My eyes must be on Christ and what He did at the cross.  I am a new creation and things of this world should not be my focus.  I often times make things in my life the focus, but I am attempting to rest in knowing I am a new creation. My focus should not be on an illness, infertility, or the "what if's" in life. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" He sees me as beautiful.  He sees me as special.  He accepts me just the way I am. 

Oddly enough I am thankful for the "thorn in my flesh."  It has driven me straight into the arms of Christ.  My thorn at this time is pain and infertility, but again I say to myself, "My focus must be on Christ and not things of this world."  Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." 

I continue to struggle in giving thanks in all things, but I believe I know there is thanks to be given.  Blessings are a gift from above.  I do not want to take my blessing for granted any longer. First and foremost it is written in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weaknesses." Paul said he would "boast all the more gladly" about his weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on him. Paul was given a thorn in his flesh, but through his weakness, Christ was glorified.  I don't want to suffer in vain.  That being said I am human, therefore I know some days are going to be harder than others.  My personality usually seems to focus on ALL the negatives, but I want to learn to enjoy the life I have been given. I don't want to worry my life away.   

These are just a few blessing from above that I am enjoying while I am in this world. 

I am thankful for children and family

I am thankful for innocent faces

I am thankful for vacations and moments where I sincerely just enjoy the moment

I am thankful for being able to walk and for hugs

I am thankful for a supportive husband who can be silly at times

Although I am no longer a child, I am thankful for those moments when I have the energy to play as if I were

I am thankful for parents and grandparents

I am thankful for being loved

and the ability to love

I am thankful for fun moments when worry holds no place in my heart

Most of all I am thankful for a Father who cared enough to give His one and only Son, the Son who cared enough to lay down His life, and the Holy Spirit who was sent to live and work in us!