Starting our day out being thankful is the way to start our day with joy in our heart. There are always things that we have to be thankful for but sometimes life and its problems can Cloud our minds and all we see is what is going wrong in life. When you are finding it hard to find something to be thankful for take a moment and think about Jesus. Think about what he went through to save you. Think about the love that he has to have for you to endure death on the cross. Think about the physical pain, the emotional pain, the mockery and insults, and the shame that he endured because he loves you so much.

I think that it is fair to say that our children are the only persons that we would be willing to be beat almost unrecognizable for, to have our Back tore open by whips, to have thorns embedded into our skull, to have our body nailed to a cross and left there to die a slow agonizing death, if it would save them from having to endure the same treatment and death. And to be honest with you I don’t know that every parent would actually be able to endure such things, even though they love their children very much. But Jesus did that! He endured it all so that his brothers and sisters, God’s children, could be saved from Death. He endured the awful punishment that we deserve so that we wouldn’t have to. He agonized in pain so that we could escape the punishment that we deserve for our sins. He faced humiliation so that we could be made perfect in the eyes of God. He conquered death so that we would have the chance to truly live. He gave his life so that we would have what we needed to experience true life.

We all have something to be thankful for. Life may be crazy or uncertain right now, you may have chaos all around you. You may be hurting so bad that your heart feels like it is breaking into tiny little pieces, but you still have something to be extremely thankful for. You may be living from day to day, worrying about how to pay the bills, but if your faith lies in Jesus then everything will work out. No matter what situation you are in or what the circumstances may look like right now, you have reason to be hopeful and thankful. Because of Jesus and everything he endured for us we don’t have to worry about facing the punishment that we deserve. And if our faith is in him, then we have (in and through him) everything that we need, everything that we lack in the natural, to do whatever it is that we need to do.

There are so many things that came out of Jesus dying on the cross that we have to be thankful for. We have something to be joyful about every moment of every day. Get your mind off of what is going on in and around you and be thankful that you have someone that loves you so much that they gave their life for you. Be thankful that he took your punishment. Be thankful that because of him you now have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you and you will never be alone. Be thankful that you never have to be powerless, you never have to face hard times by yourself, you always have someone to talk to, you have someone that believes in you, you have someone that will never give up on you, and you are not seen for your faults and failures because he has covered them with his blood. Be thankful that you have someone that is always for you and not against you and wants to see you prosper. Be thankful for Jesus and the life that you have available to you now because of him.