Okay so I have to apologize to my blog followers. I really can not tell you where the time has gone. It has been five weeks since my last blog, and I feel like I've traveled down so many different sidewalks, highways, and up mountains!!! Don't we always feel like we are climbing some mountain? Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining one bit, I truly think God uses our mountains to teach us. And I am so very thankful for these times.
One thing that has really been on my heart this last week is thankfulness. I know, I know Thanksgiving has come and gone, and well quite frankly I missed the boat on writing a blog on all the things I was thankful for. However, I did read blog after blog, and tweet after tweet about all the things other people were thankful for :) Everyone seemed to be thankful for all the "good" things. I know, who wants to put the "bad" things out for the world to see that we are thankful for, and just because we didn't blog or tweet about the "bad" things doesn't mean that many of you aren't thankful for them.
I just wanted to remind you that we need to remember what Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." This means even the things that maybe we might not feel thankful for, we should. The Bible tells us that for those who love God all things work together for "good", for those who are called according to his purpose. Sometimes we go through a situation or climb an endless mountain where we might think...what "good" is this? If God says all things are "good" why does this seem so hard or so painful? Well good news...Romans 8:29 tells us exactly what "good" means. It says "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son." That's just it! "Good" means that we will be transformed into the image of His son Jesus Christ. So no matter how bad something might hurt or how painful it might be, lets try and remember, that particular circumstance is making us more like Jesus!! Believe me I know that sometimes it is so much harder to do than it is to write it here in my blog. There have been times in my life were I didn't feel this way, however when I look back at those times I can truly see how God used that instance to transform me.
My husband and I lead a small group for our church, and we talked about this very same topic Monday night. One of our group members gave this really awesome analogy that I am going to leave you with. She said when someone refines silver they keep the silver in the fire until it comes out beautiful and shines so bright. In this case we are just like the silver. God allows us to go through the fire and sometimes stay in the fire for awhile so that when He pulls us out we are more like Him, beautiful and shining oh so bright! I encourage you to look at the mountains in your life and thank God for them! You will see that you are blessed by these mountains.
