Give Thanks

This past weekend I was blessed enough to be able to head back to Canada to celebrate thanksgiving with some great friends. For those of you in N.America who haven't figured it out yet, Canada celebrates Thanksgiving in October!!! It was great to have a change of scenery and visit with people I love dearly.

We sat around a beautiful table at my friends parents place to enjoy lots of laughs and some amazing food(I love turkey!). However, the part of the day that meant the most to me was the devotional time my friend shared. She could have done the traditional 'lets go around the table and say what we are thankful for.' Instead, she spent time in prayer, and asking her husband and I what we thought.

The scripture brought to us was from James 1, and talks about having joy through suffering and times of trial. It is so easy for us to give thanks to God when everything is going great, but what about when times are tough? Instead of retreating and allowing our hearts to become hard and bitter, we should be giving over all the more praise to God Almighty! It was a good reminder for me, and I hope for some others sitting around the table that day. In the end, knowing that we all have so many things to be thankful for, we went around the table and spoke out what it is about God that we are thankful for. For me, its his Grace. I am always learning how to sit under and receive it. Even when I don't understand and cannot(or will not)receive, He is gracious!

Give thanks!

Blessings.