Being Thankful part 2

My cousin Donna sent me this excerpt from "In this Mountain" awhile back and it's taken me awhile to chew on it and process it. It's pretty powerful stuff. The book is based on a preacher and this is from a sermon that he preached -

"In Everything....Give Thanks!...
Generally, Christians understand that giving thanks is good and right.
Though we don't do it often enough, it's easy to have a grateful heart for food and shelter, love and hope, health and peace. But what about the hard stuff, the stuff that darkens your world and wounds you to the quick? Just what is this "everything" business?
It's the hook, It's the key. Everything is the word on which this whole powerful command from Paul to the thessalonians stands and has its being.
Please don't misunderstand, the word thanks is crucial. But a deeper spiritual truth, I believe lies in giving thanks in ...everything!
In loss of all kinds. In illness. In depression. In grief. In failure. And, of course, in health and peace, success and happiness. In everything.
There'll be times when you wonder how you can possibly thank Him for something that turns your life upside down. Let us, then, at times like these, give thanks on faith alone...obedient, trusting, hoping, believing.
Perhaps you remember the young boy that was kidnapped and beaten and thrown in prison, yet rose up as Joseph the King, ruler of nations, able to say to his brothers, with a spirit of forgiveness, 'You thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, that many lives might be spared'. Better still, remember our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who suffered agonies we can't begin to imagine, fulfilling God's will that you and I might have everlasting life.
Some of us have been in trying circumstances these last months, unsettling, unremitting, even we sometimes think, unbearable. Dear God, we pray, stop this! Fix that! Bless us - and step on it!
I admit to you that although I often thank God for my blessings, even the smallest, I haven't thanked Him for my afflictions.
I know the 5th chapter of Thessalonians pretty well, yet it just hadn't occurred to me to actually take Him up on this notion. I've been too busy begging Him to lead me out of the valley and onto the mountaintop. After all, I have work to do, I have things to accomplish...
I want to tell you that I started thanking Him for something that grieves me deeply. And I'm committed to continue thanking Him in this hard thing no matter how desperate it might become and I'm going to begin looking for the good in it. Whether God caused it or permitted it, we can rest assured - there is great good in it.
Why have I decided to take these four words as a personal commission? Here's the entire 18th verse:
"In everything give thanks...for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
His will concerning you. His will concerning me. This thing which I've taken as a commission intrigues me. I want to see where it goes, where it leads. I pray you will be called to do the same. Lets look once more at the four words God is saying to us...by looking at what our obedience to them will say to God.
Our obedience will say, "Father, I don't know why You're causing, or allowing this hard thing to happen, but I am going to give thanks in it because You ask me to. I'm going to trust You to have a purpose for it that I can't know and may never know. Bottom line, You're God, - and that's good enough for me." . . .
There are of course many more words in the first letter to the Thessalonians. Here are just a few:
Pray without ceasing.
Abstain from all appearance of evil.
Quench not the Spirit.
These words too contain holy counsel and absolute truth.....

I know I posted awhile back on 1 Thess 5:16-18:

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

This was just too good not to add and I wanted it here so I can always come back and read it. It also reminded me of Pastor Cecil's quote "God said it, I believe it, and that's good enough for me!"

6 more weeks to go! (hopefully)

Ok, so maybe I shouldn't have put neither as an option on the names!! He will probably be Gunner, Kyler or Keller. I still really like Kyler, but I'm not convinced it's a manly name. I also don't want him or anyone else to think that he's Tyler's replacement.
I haven't blogged in awhile - I've got a lot floating around in here, it's just not something I've been able to express. The anxiety has come back full force. I got optimistic and bought his crib and some clothes, but I think it was too much too fast and I just shut down and couldn't even think about it anymore.
I was sitting in church Sunday and was reading James and I came across 2:14-26 and it's about how faith without works is dead faith: faith without deeds is useless; Abraham's faith was made complete by what he did and by his works his faith was made perfect. I need to have faith that God can get this baby here safely and I need to show that I have that faith by my deeds. If I say that I have faith, but continue to live in fear - that's letting Satan take control. So my goal is to get the crib put up this week and to go shopping next week and get the big stuff we're going to need.
I'm reading a book by Jan Karon called "In this Mountain" - it's a fictional book about a preacher that has some really good insights, but it had this quote in it from St Francis de Sales:

Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow, the same everlasting Father
who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either
He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

Isaiah 41:10 has also popped up a couple of times in the last few days:

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand.

I said at the beginning of this pregnancy that I was just going to enjoy every minute I had so there were no regrets. I have forgotten that - and I need to focus on this baby and give him all the love and excitement he deserves.