Faith and Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, I was thinking of all that God has done in my life. I think that when we're searching for more faith, a good way to find it is by counting God's blessings, recognizing all that we are thankful for. All good gifts are from God.

Thanksgiving should happen all year round. It's not a single day to be thankful. It's a day to remind us to be thankful the rest of the time. Recently I read a post by one of my favorite bloggers, Michael K. Reynolds. He wrote, "Have you ever realized that many of our complaints today are about things we once fervently prayed for in the past?" You can read the rest of the post here.

God is always faithful. I remember a lot of things I've prayed for over the years. Some of them have not yet been answered, but many of them have. Even when God does not give me what I asked for, I am usually glad later that He did not. He knows what is best for us. What I think is incredible is that He actually wants to hear our requests because He cares about us.

One big area of concern for a lot of people is the future. I pray about the future a lot. What am I doing every day to prepare for it? Matthew 6:25-34 has a lot to say about worrying. Basically, it says don't worry. Verse 27 says, "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" The answer is, of course, no. What then, are we to do about the future? Verse 33 says, "But seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

The future is not just ten years from now or even tomorrow. The future is a moment from now. You can try to hold onto the present moment, but then it is gone. Micah 6:8 is a good summary of how we should try to live: "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

As a speaker at my church phrased it a few weeks ago, "Do the next right thing." If you're walking next to Jesus, how could you go the wrong way?

The Lord has been faithful in the past, and He will be faithful in the future. Count those blessings. :)