Giving thanks when life is hard on this edition of Truth in Love.

I'm Heath Lambert and you're listening to Truth in Love, a podcast of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors,

where we seek to provide biblical solutions to the

problems that people face. It is Thanksgiving week in the United States of America, and that is the

sort of informal beginning of the holiday season in America. It is a time of families getting together. It's a time of joy. As

Thanksgiving fades into Christmas, it will be a time where we purchase gifts and spend even

more time with family members. But this week, many of us will gather with our families and friends

and share a feast for the purpose of giving thanks

for the blessings that we have received. This is a glad time in the lives of many people,

but also for many people, it's hard. The holiday season, the time of Thanksgiving when we're

supposed to be giving thanks is difficult. For many of us,

this will be the first Thanksgiving feast without a precious loved one who has perhaps died

in the last year. For others, holidays like Thanksgiving are plagued with bad memories because

it was on that date that they lost a precious friend,

a precious loved one. Others will struggle through loneliness because they sense that they don't have

friends and family to celebrate with. For others, there'll be many other difficulties, perhaps a lost

job or a difficult financial situation.

For many people this Thanksgiving, it will be hard to give thanks.

And it's because of that reality that I want to think about this theme of giving thanks

when thankfulness is hard as it shows up in Psalm 69.

Psalm 69 is a text of scripture that is about glad thanksgiving to God.

Psalm 69 verse 30 says, I will praise the name of God with a song. I will magnify him with

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