The word you cannot say too often.....THANKS

Scripture I'm Reflecting on:  Job 2:10
. . . Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?...

How often do you give thanks to God?  "A lot", ok good.  How often do you thank God when you have a great day, a great result, a compliment  a promotion, a raise?  "All the time", ok good.  How often do you look back and thank God for something you thought was bad at the time, but now you see what God's plan was and are thankful?  "Often", ok good.

How often do you thank God while trouble is happening in our life, right then at that moment?  ....  I'll bet our answers vary here quite a bit.

Reflection:
Job was one of the wealthiest men of his time.  In a flash however, he lost all of his possessions, children, and for the most part of his health.  The verse from Job 2:10 that I have quoted above, came after all of this happened.

Obviously, its easy to give Thanks to God for the good things in our lives.  Its also easy to thank God for things that are bad, after we have had time to reflect and/or see how his plan unfolded.  But we are told we should be give thanks, ALWAYS.

Easier said then done you say.  Well you're preaching to the choir.  Why in the world would we be thankful for being sick?  Being turned down for a job, laid off, or fired?  Relationship problems?  Well, the answer to this goes back to one of my previous posts, in that the Bible tells us we have the privilege of suffering for Christ.  When we hit bad times in our life, we are being given an opportunity to show just how strong our faith is, and it is at these times that we have the opportunity to please God more than in any other time.  This is something we should be thankful for....

It's easy to say we have unconditional trust in God, we believe in God's plan, and so on.  But if, when the bad times come, we complain, whine, act confused, or question God, then we are simply all talk.  I can personally admit that I had a day of being "all talk" this week, as a nagging cold hit me on top of some other lower points all at once.  But when I read this passage just tonight, I realized how foolish this attitude was.

Final Thought:
Think of what you consider to be the "worst" thing happening for you right now.  A relationship.  Project.  Paper.  Health issue.  Your baseball team is in last place.  Your favorite TV show got cancelled.  Now go pray, and give thanks for this part of your life.  Maybe it is part of a plan that will turn out to be good.  Maybe this "bad thing" will all come around full circle into something good.  Or maybe it won't.  Maybe it is Satan tempting you away from God.  Or maybe it's just something you'll have to deal with.  Regardless, be thankful for this opportunity to show off your faith, by remaining loyal to God despite a rough patch in life.

I Thessalonians 5:16- 18: "Always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Jesus Christ"