Always be joyful, always keep on praying, always be thankful no matter what happens, for that is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.  Do not smother the Holy Spirit. (I Thessalonians 5:16-19 -TLNT)

“Say what?”  “Be joyful, be thankful no matter what happens?”  “But, you just don’t understand what my family has been through this year,” many of you may be shouting.

• my children lost their dad
• we moved to another state and my kids were treated unmercifully as the new kid in school
• my child came home from school every day crying her heart out because she was not chosen to play in a game with her piers
• my children had to go through the divorce proceedings with my husband and me

And the list could go on and on about the losses that you and your children might have had to face this year.  And yet, in the midst of this, the Bible says “always be joyful, and thankful no matter what happens, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus?

If you are like me, there have been times in your life when that verse was very confusing to you and you might even have wondered as I did, “how can I give thanks in the midst of what I am experiencing?”

May I share with you the thoughts a special group of ladies and myself learned about this verse  recently as we dug into it for meaning in our lives.  Perhaps it will help you during this Thanksgiving season.

(vs 16)  Always be joyful – – Happiness is an emotion:  Joy is a state of mind.

(vs 17)  Always keep on praying – – Work schedule, etc. sometimes prevents the “down on your knees all day praying,” as we sometimes think of always praying means.  But, throughout the day, just a whisper of the name of Jesus, while not on bended knees, is praying.

(vs 18)  Always be thankful no matter what happens, for that is “God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.  Does this mean that it is God’s will that you experienced evil in your life?  Absolutely not!  God is not the thief that comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  What this verse is saying is that it is God’s will that we praise Him in the midst of what happens.

(vs 19)  Do not smother (quench) the Holy Spirit.  And that’s where it all meets up together.  As we praise God in the midst of what happens to us, we quench not the Holy Spirit’s working in the situation to bring us peace and comfort, no matter what has happened.

To those of you who have experienced a loss of any kind this year, holidays can be a very hard time.  My prayer for you is that the God of peace will, indeed, bring comfort to you during this Holiday Season.  As you gather with family and friends, may they surround you with love and an abundance of hugs.

I, for one, am so thankful that I will be able to join with my granddaughter and children illustrator, Hannah, on Thanksgiving Day at her home for a Thanksgiving meal.  We will be joined by my other grandchildren, Hadley and Zach.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that my grandchildren’s parents will be there, along with my husband.  I am blessed.

From our family to yours — May you have a blessed Thanksgiving Season.