Hi, I'm Shelby Abbott, and this is Psalms for Christmas Time, a podcast mini-series from

Family Life with pastor and author, Dane Orland.

Dane is written a book in the Lord I Take Refuge, 150 daily devotions through the Psalms.

And all this month, with a gift of any amount, not only will your donation be matched,

we'll send you a copy of the book to dive deeper into the Psalms and stir your affections

for Jesus Christ.

To learn more about how to give, visit FamilyLifeToday.com.

Psalm 138.

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart.

Before the gods, I sing your praise.

I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness.

I am here joined once again by pastor and author, Dane Orland, who is the author of the book,

in the Lord I Take Refuge, 150 daily devotions through the Psalms.

This episode, we're talking about thankfulness from Psalm 138.

Now, thankfulness in this season of Christmas is something that we feel like we should be feeling,

but often it's difficult in light of being caught up in everything that's going on during Christmas.

So how can we think through the element of thankfulness in this season that's so hurried and busy because of Christmas?

It's so true what you're saying, brother.

We come into the Christmas season and the TV commercials and the billboards and our churches and our friends are all saying,

let's give thanks a lot of times, that's not where we're at in our lives, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, relationally.

And we might say, how in the world am I supposed to be giving thanks to God when I do not feel like I have enough in my life to be thankful for

and what the Psalms are really doing is training us to give thanks because of who God is and what he proved in Christ at Christmas rather than in my circumstances.

...