30 Days of Praise Day 19 I Thessalonians 5:18

In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus

Since we went to church last night and the time spent before it was taken up with cleaning, errands, etc, I felt a strong conviction this morning to actually take a Sabbath day. You know...relax, rest, sit quietly. Three things I am horrible at. Throughout the day I've been chomping at the bit-to go do this, go run, get ahead for the week...DO something! Instead I chose to obey the still, soft voice of my Savior wooing me to spend the day with Him. And I'm glad I listened! I've spent most of the day in bed reading Tim Tebow's book Through My Eyes and what an incredible inspiration it was! Tebow's influence for Jesus has been wide and far reaching in his young life. Each chapter starts with a Scripture, this one being one of them. I love the analogies that football lend to real life, because on and off the field, we face battles. We get hit, blocked, and even hurt in our everyday lives, face opponents that are bigger than we are, just like football players do on the field. I think sometimes as Christians we expect everything to be rosy and for us to somehow be exempt from hard times. God doesn't promise that, but He does promise that he will be with us to the ends of the earth and that His power in us will overcome the world. He also tells us His WILL for us during these times is to give thanks. Wow. So if you're ever wondering what God's will for you is, this verse is a good place to start. That means we give thanks when we're grieving or when we're happy, when we don't understand what God's doing in our circumstances, whether we win or lose, whether or not we get ahead at work, whether we get what we're asking God for or not. IN EVERYTHING, give thanks.