Well, welcome back for another edition of our podcast, Struggling Well, on the day for Thanksgiving or at least the day that is designated as a day of Thanksgiving, which is really ironic because most times people are cooking and getting ready to have family and friends over and everything and it can be a stressful time and then what if you don't like the menu that somebody has? How do you be thankful at that?
I have no idea what you're talking about. I just adore being in the kitchen and the smell of turkey per permeating the house for weeks on end.
Yes, love it. I know it.
But anyway, it brings up that thought of Thanksgiving which it is ironic. to me. We actually spent a Thanksgiving in France on a missions trip and realized that the French don't celebrate Thanksgiving, at least not the way we do on that day. And so I think we had chicken that day. I don't know. We violated the turkey rule.
Why? Why? Let's just talk about the turkey for a minute. Why a turkey?
I don't know. I don't know. I guess because I think that's what the early settlers in America ate. But anyway, I don't know why a turkey.
Hey, there are people out there that want to know they are
that are sick and tired of turkey and I say let's free the bird.
Free the bird.
So
I mean go to beef, go to a bird.
I tried to do that once and our girls rebelled and you'd have thought I had suggested the worst thing in life that we'd have steak instead of which I would prefer over turkey. Anyway, Thanksgiving it's interesting because Paul says this in Philippians and this is what I want us to see whether it's on Thanksgiving day itself. I hope it's not. I hope It's all the year. He says, "Always be full of joy in the Lord." And that joy in the Lord. I say it again, rejoice. Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need. Thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
I love that section. That was from the NLT. that we thank him. I rejoice in him. Not in my circumstances necessarily cuz at any time of the year, it maybe for some of you as you head to the Thanksgiving day tomorrow, you're not in a great place and maybe the circumstances of life aren't good. But can you rejoice in him, find joy in him? And in my prayer and everything, recognize that he's coming back soon and I want everything to be centered around Christ.
I don't think I'm thankful enough towards him. I if I'm being honest, I believe that there are many things that I take for granted
and if I just took the time I mean even as I wake up in the morning, I don't typically go thank you Lord that my brain rested for the night. I'm not that, my thankfulness is not that deep. And I wrestle with that sometimes because I know that there's so much I have to be thankful for, but sometimes the difficult stuff trumps me thinking about being grateful to God.
Yeah, it really is an interesting set of verses from Paul because everything really does center around Christ. I want to I want to be full of joy in the Lord.
I want to give thanks to him as I live in Christ Jesus. and like you, Suzi, I don't know that I wake up every morning with that sense of this is a this is a day God's given me. Even the fact that I wake up is a gift from him. And there is so many things that I can be thankful for. because what he promises or what he offers is to experience his peace and Paul says it this way which exceeds anything we can understand and I think people in this world today are longing for peace we don't see it we I mean we do see wars around the world and but people have an inner turmoil within themselves and to long for his peace I believe is found in being thankful and grateful for all that he does for us
so what are some of the things to be thankful for Well, I would say this. I think I as I head to this year of Thanksgiving, which again, I hope my thankfulness doesn't just come on one day a year,
right?
I am thankful for our health. I'm thankful for our marriage. I'm thankful for our kids and our grandkids. And as I look at life and see and understand, I'm thankful for our church. I'm thankful for many things and rather than looking for the things that I don't like. I really think it is what he says there. Be full of joy in the Lord, rejoice in him,
not necessarily my circumstances. And I get recently just been again blown away by the fact that he loves me with an unending love, a steadfast love, a covenantal love that knows no end. I don't deserve that and yet he has given that because of what Christ has done for us. How about for you?
I mean there's a lot of external things to be thankful for. you know you mentioned health, marriage, friends, family, all that kind of stuff. But if we take the time to get into his word and see who he is and be and become thankful for who he is. And I'm going to Ephesians here in chapter 2 where it he Paul writing to the church at Ephesus and says, "But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he has loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved." Well, right there, I could spend a lot of time thanking him for mercy, which is what I do not deserve. him Jesus dying for me when I was dead in my trespasses. I wasn't this great woman that he thought, you know what? She's so great. I'm going to die for her. I was at the very bottom of the barrel and he died for my sins. While I was in sin, he died for me. That's something to be thankful for as all as well. And that he made me alive in a way that I was formerly dead. Even though I was physically alive, I was formerly dead. So to be thankful for the life, the new life that I have in Christ and all that entails And I mean there's so much.
Yeah. Jump in.
No, it's in that it's in that Ephesians passage where he says God has blessed you with your spirit, excuse me, your spiritual blessings in Christ.
When we think about the blessings of God, we often times do look to the external things. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But it is the spiritual blessings that I have in Christ, which is what you were talking about. Everything that is mine because of what Christ did for me. I whatever my life may look like as I head to Thanksgiving, I if I know Christ, I am blessed beyond measure.
Yeah.
And that is a reality that I hope we take with us as we head tomorrow to our Thanksgiving.
You know, I'd say start with the outward things.
Start being, you know, start counting the things that are outside like your family, your friends, and your health and all that. And then work your way in to the very deepest part of what we are to be thankful for. And I believe that as we are giving back to him praise through our thankfulness that we will be blessed and expanded because our thankfulness to him for what he has done. you know even the Lord's prayer when Jesus starts that prayer teaches the disciples how to pray the first thing he comes up with is you know our father which aren't in heaven. Well, man, I've got a father in heaven that's reached down to me. Sent his son to become flesh for me. I wasn't worth it, but he deemed me worth it.
All right? So, even as you head to tomorrow, if there are no external things to see in your life that you're thankful for, and that may be for some of you, if there's nothing there, if you know Christ, there are in there are the spiritual blessings that are in Christ. And we've just kind of scratched the surface. there of what they look like. So, we hope you have a great Thanksgiving and if you don't like turkey,
eat beef.
Eat beef. And that's brought to you by the Beef Owners Association. No, it's not. It's brought to you by us. I hope you have a great day. I hope it's a day that you can be thankful to Christ for all that you have in him.