What is thanksgiving? Part 2: Thankfulness

Hey everyone, so this week for part 2 of What is thanksgiving? I’ll be talking about thankfulness because that’s a huge part of thanksgiving is but also because I feel like with everything that’s been happening this year everyone could use a reminder to be thankful for what they have and who is in their life. 1 Chronicles 16:34 says;” Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” This is exactly what being thankful means! Being thankful means to be thankful for what we have. Take my family for example, my dad was adopted and didn’t find his birth family until I was 15 so instead of having 2 sides of family, I have 3 sides and am still meeting everyone on my dad’s side. I consider both adopted and biological sides my family. The way I see it I’m very lucky to have 3 sides because some people don’t even have family to do anything with and if you’re in that position for any reason. I just want to encourage you that even though you may not be in contact with your family or if they passed away you will always have a heavenly father that cares about you so much that he sent his son to die on the cross for your sins.1 Thessalonians 5:18 says;” Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. “Did you catch that? Give thanks in ALL circumstances! I know that can be hard especially with this roller coaster of a year but that doesn’t mean that this year is completely bad because for me personally it’s taught me to be patient and know that this is just a season that we’re in and just like fall, winter, summer and spring. All seasons come to an end eventually. You just need to be patient and have faith that God is always with you no matter what. Colossians 2:6-7 says;” So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Being thankful means to be grateful for what you have and that along with my faith is one the things that have kept me sane these past few years with all the crazy stuff that has happened these past few years because life is just plain nuts and while there have been times that I’ve broke down in tears and have wanted to be negative that’s not who I am and I always try to make a point to stay positive no matter what happens in my life. Maybe you’re in the same boat I’ve been in more times than I like to admit you just want to break down in tears and just hide. Well, I’m here to tell you that while being negative might be tempting at times it’ll only make you and those around you feel worst which is exactly why being thankful for what you do have is important along with self-care and growing in your faith because God truly is your rock that you can lean on when times get tough which this year has been hard on all of us with all this corona stuff happening combined with the election, for those of us that live in Iowa the derecho storm which was pretty crazy to where as far as I know everyone in Iowa lost electricity and had to go out for dinner that day and for some even longer and had to deal with the damage that the storm caused. My point is yeah life can be crazy but it doesn’t mean that there isn’t joy in life that’s what thanksgiving and Christmas is all about and just life in general because yeah life can get pretty crazy at times honestly, my life these days is crazy 24/7 it feels like because of work and just life in general and that’s okay. Life isn’t always meant to always be slow and that’s okay as long as you don’t get burned out which. I have gotten burned out way too many times to where last night I did have an anxiety because I have a lot going on these days to where I ended just relaxing after dinner and just watching a movie and this morning, I stayed in bed until 8 and then watched a minion’s holiday special in the living room with my mom before getting ready for church. Which was honestly really nice and much needed. As I close this blog post and thanksgiving series, I just want to challenge you to find the joy in life because it is there you just have to look more closely. As always, if you need someone to talk to, have any prayer requests, have any questions. Feel free to comment below, e-mail me at Homeschoolgradblog@gmail.com or message me on Facebook! Have a great day and thanks for reading!