1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

we are always looking for God's will for us.. here is a clear piece of it that we rarely even notice... 

God wants us to be joyful... how many people do we know walking through life completely miserable ? this is not God's will.. the scripture states God wants us to be joyful.. we can walk through difficult life's circumstances without being miserable.. it is a mindset... sure we will be sad occassionally.. but that does not have to be a way of life.. that is a decision we are making.. or not making.. 

God wants us to never stop praying... how often do we stop praying about something because we can't see any change? probably more often than we would like to admit.. I know myself sometimes I feel God doesn't even hear me.. so why bother to continue.. God wants us to stick it out.. continue to pray until the breakthrough comes in one direction or the other.. 

God wants us to be thankful in all situations.. this is the issue with the joyful.. if we are not thankful in spite of situations it makes it hard to be joyful... joy comes from within.. thankful comes from within.. both sides are a decision we make in how we look at our lives.. we can be thankful just to be alive and know God has better for us one day... we can be thankful to no longer be in a situation we were in before.. we can be thankful that our sin did not condemn us to death but God continued to love us and save us for eternity.... 

these are a piece of God's will for our lives...

proverbs 11: 12 It is foolish to belittle one’s neighbor; a sensible person keeps quiet. 13 A gossip goes around telling secrets,  but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.

at night I have an app that reads the bible to me.. this was read to me last night.. 

it got me thinking.. I have someone in my life right now that never talks down about anyone.. he is amazing to me... I have never known someone who didn't say bad things about anyone.. he is teaching me to do better in this area.. I am sure it is hard work for him... the bible says that it is sensible to keep quiet.. yet how often are we quiet? seems we often talk just to fill the silence.. for no good purpose.. I desire to truly down in my heart accept that it is good to just be quiet.. 

in the past I was a horrible gossip.. I had a circle of friends and I would talk to one after another telling them all the same stories.. ridiculous.. the men in my life hated this about me.. 

then over time I started having less girlfriends.. I find that now I am friendly with many people but keep confidence with very few.. and I am thankful for that change in my life.. I am now a trustworthy person.. this is very important to me now.. 

we don't really read the bible.. if we did we would be convicted every single time we open it.. proverbs is so down to earth.. totally talking about our day to day life and how we should and should not act.. yet we rarely even open God's word for anything other than us wanting Him to do something for us.. we are always looking for promises but not for conviction.. I thank God for conviction today to make me a better person..