I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul make its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! Psalm 34:1-3

It's so easy to be thankful when we get what we want. But, what happens to our praise when our prayers aren't met the way we wanted them to be. Do we doubt God's love? Do we walk away from the Lord altogether? Do we give God an ultimatum? We have a choice to be thankful when we don't get our way. Yet, how often do we take it? How often do we sit at the feet of Jesus and just declare His goodness and faithfulness? If you never received another thing you prayed for could you still proclaim that God is good? So many time we base our views of God on what's going on in our lives instead of who He really is. We live in a "have it your way" society, forgetting that our purpose in life is not to have everything the way we want it. But, in fact is to lay down our lives daily for the sake of the gospel. We forget the big picture. We forget that the Lord is patient with us. 2 Peter: 3:8-9 says, "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." As our Father, I believe the Lord loves to bless us and provide for us. But, so often we forget that He works on a different timeline. We forget that above all He wants our hearts. We forget that God created us to be His hands and feet to bring the gospel to all the nations. We get trapped in this mindset that, "it's all about me." And then we lose focus. We lose hope. We doubt. We choose to stop praising Him. If God answered all of your prayers today who would be impacted besides you? It can be hard to choose thankfulness when we feel anything but thankful. Yet, if we choose to celebrate the goodness of God daily do we have any other choice but to praise Him? No matter what is going on in your life today choose to praise your Heavenly Father. There are a million reasons why you should, but if you're having a hard time being thankful simply choose to praise Him because He's good. You don't have to feel like He's good. Your feelings don't change the fact that He is good. It's just who He is. We pray that you would recognize God' goodness in your life this week. Let your praise shift the atmosphere through every situation as you choose to give Him glory, honor, and praise!