{"id":21764,"date":"2017-11-24T00:05:01","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T08:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=21764"},"modified":"2017-11-20T11:50:16","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T19:50:16","slug":"november-24-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/11\/24\/november-24-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"November 24, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/p>\n

“Give thanks in\u00a0all<\/u>\u00a0circumstances.”\u00a0<\/em>1 Thessalonians\u00a05:18<\/p>\n

Side Effects<\/strong><\/h2>\n

During the chemo I’ve gone through this year, I’ve had many unpleasant side effects! I’m still battling a couple of them.\u00a0The very term “side effect” conjures up painful memories for me.<\/p>\n

But I was reading recently about another kind of “side effect.” I read that thankfulness has the wonderful side effect of increasing our joy!\u00a0I like that one.\u00a0I can live with that side effect.<\/p>\n

One of the things I’ve learned on this unexpected journey we’re on is that thankfulness is a choice. It doesn’t just happen.\u00a0It flows from our thoughts.\u00a0Proverbs 23:7 tells us that “as a man thinketh, so is he.”\u00a0<\/em>I know I’ve shared about thankfulness before on my journey, but I just can’t get away from it. God keeps bringing my focus to it over and over.\u00a0It is such a key to walking in victory through hard seasons.<\/p>\n

We may not always have control over our situation and circumstances in life, but we do have control over our thoughts.\u00a0It’s so important to think in accordance with the truth of God’s Word.\u00a0Our thoughts will impact our emotions. Our emotions then influence our behavior\u2014and, consequently, our response to life’s circumstances.<\/p>\n

I’ve found if I don’t take control over my thoughts, they bounce all over the place… and my emotions bounce with them. I have to focus my thoughts on God’s goodness, faithfulness, sovereignty, grace, and sufficiency.\u00a0When I think on those wonderful attributes of God, thankfulness\u00a0fills<\/u>\u00a0my heart! And joy then bubbles up.<\/p>\n

I’ve also found in the hard, difficult circumstances of life that I need to constantly look for God breaking into those situations with His goodness and mercy. I can miss how He’s helping me if I’m too focused on the circumstances, and not actively looking for God at work in them.\u00a0God is always at work in our lives.\u00a0He never takes time off!<\/p>\n

“Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind.”\u00a0<\/em>(Psalm 107:8)<\/p>\n

“I will give thanks to You, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonderful deeds.”\u00a0<\/em>(Psalm 9:1)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.”\u00a0<\/em>(1 Chronicles 16:34).<\/p>\n

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me.\u00a0My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him.”\u00a0<\/em>(Psalm 28:7)<\/p>\n

I hope one of these days to be finished with the chemo side effects. But I don’t want to lose the side effect of joy that comes from a thankful heart. I’m asking God to help me continually have a heart of thankfulness.\u00a0Let’s join together in that as we keep praying.<\/p>\n

\u201cFather, may we bring You a heart of thankfulness. You always know what You are doing, even when we don\u2019t. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5F2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21764"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21767,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21764\/revisions\/21767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}