I love that word “gird.” Its definition is amazing, “to prepare for action” and the greek means to “clothe, dressed in readiness.” I honestly think of the word “girdle.” Most of you might be too young to know what that is, but it's old fashioned Spanxx. Right now, we are going to prepare for the action of gratitude.

We are all thankful and grateful at Thanksgiving. In our family, we go around the table and we declare the things we are thankful for like "I am thankful for my family, kids, home, job." No one ever says, "I am thankful for my horrible life, no job, no home, no peace, no answered prayers."

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 it gives us the answer, "Be joyful always, pray continually: give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” I know we pray, “God what is your will for my life?” Well there it is: “Be joyful, pray all the time, and thank Him for all our circumstances.” And then, if that is not hard enough to thank Him for the all, then this following scripture gives us an even more descriptive view of the word “all.” Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Now the big question is: "How can God expect me to be grateful, thankful in the ALL?”

When I was in middle school, God showed me what thankful and grateful looked like, and I have never forgotten it! In the early seventies, the style was a lot of crushed velvet, swinging flare pants, the polyester jumpsuit (now hipster), and a very special pair of white leather sandals. These were very special cause you couldn't get them out of the Penney's or Sears catalog. They were only in specialty stores. In my small hometown in Texas, that meant only one place, and it was way too expensive. I had just heard the preacher give a sermon on “being thankful in the all,” so my “all” was white leather sandals. I prayed, “oh God thank you for my white sandals that I don't have in size 5 ½! Oh God thank you that my mom said no they're too expensive.”

I remember driving down 5th street with mom and thinking in my mind, “God I thank You for the sandals.” All weekend, I was living with the disappointment and doing what I thought the pastor said to do by being thankful. But I kept thinking, “I still don't have the shoes.” Then, something happened during that week. I was still praying, and my little soul was finding that I began to trust God for the all, even if it wasn't the white leather sandals. Standing at my locker, the girl beside me quickly opened her locker and the very sandals I wanted fell out of her locker. Have you ever prayed and someone else got your answered prayer? I burst out with, "Oh I love your shoes!" I really did love them, but it wasn't out of a jealousy. It was out of, “wow good for you!” Then she said to me, "you can have them,.I hate them. My grandmother got them for me and I will never wear them." I said, “Yes! Yes! Yes! I want them!” Then the flood of my prayers was on my heart, standing in the middle of middle school with tears gently running down my cheek.

That experience taught me something bigger than sandals falling at my feet. It taught me that my gratefulness and thankfulness was never about the shoes. It was about the power of God. God used the shoes as a visual aid. It's not about being thankful and praying for the stuff; it's about trusting God to provide--just trusting Him in all things.

Do we trust God enough to thank Him? When our focus is on thanking HIm and praising Him, it takes the focus off of us.

There is a great story in the Bible that shows the action of gratitude. It's Luke 17:13-19. It’s the story of Jesus healing the ten men with leprosy and only one came back to thank Jesus for his healing. Some of us may think how horrible that the nine failed to be thankful, but I know I forget to do it all the time!

How many times have we gotten too busy, too stressed, and too wrapped up in life to stop and thank Him for the All? A heart of gratitude makes room for the Holy Spirit to be made real in our lives, especially in the “all” areas. Thanking Jesus and being grateful in the middle of our circumstances allows God to work in our messy life. He turns our mess into His message!

Being filled with gratitude also brings an attitude of humility. When we praise Him, it becomes less about us and our stuff, and it becomes about God at work in our circumstances. An attitude of gratitude ushers in an expectancy of our prayers being answered. Gratitude creates an anticipation of fulfillment of the promises in the word of God. When we ask Him, we should thank Him.

It says in Philippians 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.” There are so many scriptures about gratitude and thankfulness. I encourage you to search out the truth. When my gratitude becomes a revelation of who God is, I am able to thank Him in the ALL circumstances because I trust Jesus even in the all. Some of our ALL circumstances are really painful, and this is not to overlook the sorrows that we all have lived. This gratitude is so that we can live, that we can have a hope in Christ, and so that we can trust Him in the ALL.

Even though I don't understand the ALL, God, I trust You and thank You in the ALL.

Psalms 106:1, “Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

(And by the way, those white leather sandals that fell from her locker were a perfect fit like I’d thanked Him for: size 5 ½).