Thanksgiving in reality

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. Not that I'm cooking a big meal or having lots of guests over or watching football games or anything like that. In fact, it will be a quiet Thanksgiving with none of the trimmings. But don't feel sorry for me. I am dedicating this Thanksgiving to really being thankful. For everything. It has been a difficult couple of months for me, and to be honest, I've allowed myself to wallow in self-pity much too often. Emily and the kids moved to Texas, and I have missed them terribly and cried often. I've felt very much alone since they left. And things have been difficult at work -- I won't go into that except to say that I've felt alone there, too. In fact, I've felt very vulnerable for several months. So it has been with great interest that I've read about the Apostle Paul and his ability to be thankful in everything. Say what???? Everything??? I don't FEEL very thankful, let me tell you. But as I've read about Paul being in prison and giving thanks to God (Colossians 1:3) I've really marveled about it. Those prisons were pretty bad. But Paul was able to say that wherever he was, in whatever situation he found himself, he could rise above and be thankful to God. Hmmm. I'm not sure how that works, but I want to find out. I want to rise above the situations in my life and have a thankfulness that is strong. I want to know that in whatever place I find myself, I am thankful that God is with me and loves me and died for me and saved me. So I'm going to work on finding the answer to this on Thanksgiving. Don't be feeling sorry for me, because I'm not going to feel sorry for myself this time. Kim