How to be Joyful, Prayerful and Thankful When it’s Hard

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 reminds us of the importance of prayer and thankfulness, and helps reframe our focus to one of joyful gratitude.

Life Verses

Do you have a life verse or life verses? Mine is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

~Be joyful always
~Pray continuously
~Give thanks in all circumstances
~For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

I love these 3 verses because although they are short, they are so profound and life changing.

Joy

I’ve always loved the word JOY. Funny story. On one of our family road trips Scott asked us what our perfect band name would be.

Scott’s was Piss and Vinegar. Sorry to include that in a post on my favorite Bible verses. 🤣

Ellie chose The Strawberries

And Ashley picked The Fried Pickles.

Then there was my chance. And what did I pick?

The Joy Band 🤣

We all laughed so hard. They all thought it would be the absolute worst band name ever! I probably would not have sold a single record with that name. But- I’ve always wanted to exude joy.

Back to 1 Thessalonians.

“Be Joyful Always”

That’s a tall order. We just don’t always feel joyful. We get grumpy and self focused. But we can ask God to help us in this. Joy is a gift God has given us: it’s one of the fruits of The Spirit we find in Galatians 5:22-23. When I’m feeling grumpy, self centered or just off, I start naming my blessings out loud. This reframes my focus and brings joy.

Prayerfulness

When you see, “Pray Continuously” or in the ESV “Pray without Ceasing” it can seem a little overwhelming! Obviously we must live our lives doing all of the normal routines in our day. We need to take care of our kids, homes and do our job. But, what if we did those things with a prayerful attitude?

What if before we even get out of bed in the morning we start our day in prayer? What a HUGE difference that would make in how we live our lives!! Not every day, but most days, I pray Psalm 25:4-5 over my day.

Show me YOUR ways, Lord

Teach me YOUR paths.

Guide me in YOUR truth and teach me

For YOU are God my Savior and my hope is in YOU all day long.

When we take our kids to school, we can pray for them and the other kids in carpool before they get out of the car. Or if our kids are older, do a short devotional with them and pray with them before they drive off. What if we prayed for our spouse every morning? And for our extended family and friends? I desire to do a better job of this because I see such a big difference in my attitude on the days I’m less “me focused” and more others and “prayer focused”.

Thankfulness

The verses don’t say give thanks FOR ALL circumstances, but give thanks IN ALL circumstances.

This life is hard. You will face lots of challenges. And most likely will have times when you ask God, “Why!!?? Why did you allow this to happen?
What do you want me to learn through this trial!?”

When Covid was first a thing, my mom got super sick. She was on a ventilator, in a coma, in ICU for a week and the hospital for 38 days. It was awful. At the same time, my husband, as a hospital administrator, was working around the clock. It was tough to have joy and be thankful in that season.

That’s when we look back at the verse and realize we aren’t called to give thanks for every single hard thing that happens in life. BUT- we are called to give thanks in all circumstances.

We can thank God for his faithfulness. That He never changes. That He is always with us. Always for us. And always working things for our good and his glory.

Focusing on these verses won’t change our circumstances, but they can reframe our focus to one of thankfulness and gratitude.

We can have joy and gratitude because we have hope. As Christ followers, yes, we live with the hope of eternal life with God; but we also live with joy and hope because we live with God now. In this life, The Holy Spirit indwells us and leads us.

So where do you need to trust God and thank God today? Even in the midst of hardship, we can always find things that bring us joy, things we can pray for and things to be thankful for.

What are you especially thankful for today? I’m thankful for my family. Sounds trite to some, but the fact that I have a faithful husband who loves me and daughters who are kind, thoughtful and love The Lord and others…I am beyond thankful ♥️

Grateful for you!