GBC Community Update: How to be truly thankful

Good morning. Welcome from snowy Edmonton!  Jennifer and I are in Alberta visiting Isaiah. It’s been great to see him in his element and where he now serves.
If you’re grumbling about the weather I can tell you, it’s WAY colder and there is a lot of snow here. Perspective is an amazing thing!
 
 
Prayer for Transition, Provision, and Mission
We will be hosting prayer for thirty minutes before the service for the next 5 Sundays at 10 am in the Adult Ministry Room.  Prayer will be in-person and online.  There will be a time of praying for pastoral transition, raising funds for the next year, and gospel fruitfulness leading up to Christmas.  Coffee and donuts will be available for those who need fuel before prayer :) 
 
 
Thought for the day: How To Be Truly Thankful- Some Thoughts on Developing Gratitude as a follower of Jesus
We’re getting close to American Thanksgiving (no, I will not be commenting on Black Friday) and I’ve been thinking about being thankful since our own Thanksgiving last month. Plus, I just have a lot of things I’m thankful about this fall so its on my mind.
 
Here's a question, and perhaps a different way of addressing this issue: do you feel pressured to be thankful as a Christian? Have you ever thought about it?  Let me tell you what I mean.  There seems to be an almost unspoken pressure in the realm of Christian social media circles to be thankful for each day you have on earth.  Instagram captions about thankfulness are in style. Even if you’re not on social media, do you ever feel pressure to be grateful? Have you wondered how to be truly thankful? Are these social media posts genuine or are they faking it?
 
Don’t get me wrong- you SHOULD be thankful.
 
If we get right down to it, we all should be thankful every day.  Think about it, we don’t deserve the next breath that we draw apart from the fact that God is gracious enough to give it to us. We do nothing to earn it or the gift of life we’ve been given.  So we should be grateful that He has us on this earth to fulfill some important part of His will.  But the reality is not every moment, or even every day, is Instagram-worthy. It’s definitely a hard line to find, let alone to walk it.  And so, often it’s faked. Have you ever done that? I know I have.  The reality is a truly thankful soul is hard to achieve and hard to keep at times.  So, over the next few updates I’m going to share some thoughts that might help us find our joy in true Christian gratitude no matter the circumstances and in a consistent manner.
 
In His grip,
Pastor Chris 
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