And in the midst of everything be always giving thanks, for this is God’s perfect plan for you in Christ Jesus. Never restrain or put out the fire of the Holy Spirit. I Thessalonians 5:18-19 TPT.

Offering up words of thanks (God’s perfect plan) for anything we can think of; gives us the “10,000-foot perspective.” When sharing words of gratitude, we blow away the fog of complaint, and improve our attitude which facilitates opportunity for joy.

Yesterday our after-school club kids were anxious and fidgety, they had the  herculean task of paying attention. Even first-graders suffer from bullying, and unkind attitudes from the adults around them. It rapidly became clear, that as we attempted to move forward – that we weren’t going anywhere. You do not need to be a Bible scholar to understand that when you are speaking about God the Holy Spirit, and the response to every question, is another question about bullying; it is time to stop and address what’s happening in these young hearts.

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We stopped what we were doing and listened. Where we felt led to offer another possibility we did ( And we were thankful for Holy Spirit’s help). But mostly, we prayed with these kids. Prayer pauses became the order of the day, and our hope is that our kids left club more unburdened than when they arrived.

I pray today that no matter what’s going on around us, that we will offer up thanks to God, His perfect plan. In order to do this, we need to think about people and things for which we are grateful. This is what I try to do when in the midst of difficulty. And last but not least, that we will offer up our petitions to God with thanksgiving.

Blessings,

Jacquie ♥

Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:6-7 TPT.

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