One of the keys to life.

"What in the world am I doing here?" "How did I get to this place and situation in my life anyway?" "How did this happen to me anyhow?" Questions like these plague our minds from time to time. Life seems to have a way of happening to us sometimes. However, we also know that life doesn't just happen, but rather life is a series of choices that we make daily and too many of them are made without our anticipation or planning for their consequences. Therefore we find ourselves perplexed or depressed with our life events. Scripture reminds us that we are to be thankful in every circumstance of life, God offers us His love, His strength, His word, and His grace in all the circumstances we face in life. When we turn to Him as our lord and Guide for living then He has promised that He wit[ bring about good in our mistakes and work it out for His glory. Romans 8:28 (NKJV) And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

When you and I have a thankful heart we open ourselves up to many of the invisible but very genuine blessings of God and heaven. So have you thanked God today for His many blessings in your life? Thanksgiving is one of the keys that unlock the blessing of God in your life. There is a line in a old hymn that says, "Count your many blessings name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done." I challenge you to take pleasure in this surprise.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing said, "A grateful thought toward heaven is of itself a prayer." Wise people will tell you that the happiness of a person depends upon the depth of his gratitude and that ingratitude is always a form of weakness.

Henry Ward Beecher said, "Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grows. A proud man is seldom a grateful man; he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves."

Leslie Flynn wrote that, "In Vermont a farmer was sitting on the porch with his wife. He was beginning to realize how much she meant to him. It was about time-for they had lived together forty-two years, and she had been such a help, a very willing worker. One day as they sat together, he said, 'Wife, you've been such a wonderful woman that there are times I can hardly keep from telling you: " May we stop withholding our gratitude from God and others and start enjoying Life as it was meant to be enjoyed. Find the key and use it!

For the Glory of God

Rev. Gerald V. Stump National Chaplain