Life Verse

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I read this verse everyday.  It hangs on the wall by my kitchen sink.  As I wash up from breakfast and lunch and dinner I see it.  Hanging there, waiting.  Read me, live me.

I need to read this verse everyday.  It speaks to me and every time I read it I love it more.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I am not joyful always.  I struggle to be joyful when the mountain of laundry overwhelms me.  When the uncertainty of paying bills looms in the near future.  When I see friends hurting so deep that nothing on this earth can even begin to help, I struggle because I do not understand.

There are days when my prayers are just scattered random thoughts.  There are days when I sit down broken and ready to let go of my control, my inadequate understanding of this life.

My thanks are inconsistent.  I like to think that I am grateful, yet some days the blessings I receive are unnoticed and forgotten.  Chalked up to hard work instead of my Father who gives, over and over, forgiving.

I want to live this verse.  To be joyful, full of prayer and thanksgiving.  To find joy in the hard stuff as well as the easy.  To find joy in the mundane and the exciting.  To be thankful for every second, minute, hour, especially when it is spent doing something that I do not understand.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

What about you, do you have a verse that you want to live?  A verse that speaks so deep into your soul that you want to devour it every chance you get.