Learning to rejoice

After I'd been chewing over with a friend what it means to rejoice in God even in suffering, Peter Brain (the Anglican Bishop of Armidale) preached at college. He spoke about how thankfulness can stand strong through suffering and can diminish sorrow, bitterness and despair. It's hard to go too far along those paths if you are always thankful.

So I got to thinking that thankfulness might be the first step towards praise and rejoicing. It's more concrete and easier to grasp, so even people who haven't begun to comprehend and praise God for his love and mercy can at least be thankful that their sins are forgiven and that he has protected their life today. I don't think you should ever lose thankfulness but I think you might learn to add praise and rejoicing to it. I think I'll write more about this later.