“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1 We use the word forever fairly loosely; but what does forever truly mean? By definition, it means “for an endless time: for all time; for a very long time.” [Merriam-Webster] My mind can’t fully comprehend such a period of time. Time marches on, endlessly. We age with each passing moment. And with each moment, we have God’s love. We have it when we rise. We have it when we rest. We have it during our strongest moments and during our weakest moments. His love endures forever. Nothing we do can take His love from us. We can’t lose His love. We can’t throw it away. We can reject it – but it is still there. Paul summarizes God’s gift of love best in Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
The verse from 1 Thessalonians keeps coming back to me. I wrote earlier about the very first verse in a particular passage about being joyful. The very next verse is just as powerful: “Pray continually.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Sitting down tonight to reflect over gratitude, I asked the Lord for guidance with my words. As I finished that thought, I was struck with how awesome the power of prayer is. Now, I realize this is not a new thought nor a new concept. But to me, that’s the true significance in it. The very task of prayer is simple – a conversation with God. But how often do we take it for granted or overlook all it can do for our hearts and minds. I know I do. It’s easy to remember to pray when we’re struggling – whether with health, finances, or relationships. When life is hard, we call on God for comfort, for healing, for wisdom. But the point is, we are so blessed to get to call on God. Period. When we are joyous, when we are sad, when we’