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EN(dur)ANCE by Robin Gudal

What are you thankful for?

Is it an easy question or a complicated one? If the latter, I want to encourage you to be thankful. Ann Voskamp in her book “One Thousand Gift,” challenges us to put ourselves into an intentional space to begin the radical habit of thanking God for our own one thousand gifts. The endless grace of our overflowing God is meant to be experienced directly. The most important thing is simply to begin. God’s just waiting to bless you with the greatest gift of all — more and more of Himself. 

“O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” — 1 Chronicles 16:34, RSV

I am thankful for: first and foremost, for a loving, forgiving, accepting and grace-filled Christ who accepted me, a filthy sinner, to be whole in him. Next on my list comes my love: Greggy. Because of him, we are blessed with four adult children and their spouses, 10 grands and three great-grands, relatives that are important in my life, cherished friends, a job I love and many of life’s things that make daily life comfortable. 

I am thankful for each of you! I am blessed. Your turn … think of a handful of things you can be thankful for.

Lest we forget, not all of life is a bed of roses. With life comes hardship, disappointment and sadness. I have those also! Just as the list above, it is equally important to acknowledge and pray upon these things. One thing I am learning is that when I can allow myself to pray upon such things, I release my tight hand and surrender it into “the hand” of Christ. We can and should trust Him with the hardest parts of our life.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.”  — Psalm 136:1, NIV

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” — Philippians 4:4-9, NIV

Happy THANKSgiving!

Robin (Beckman) Gudal is intentional in life, a wife, momma, nana, friend and a flawed and imperfect follower of Jesus.