"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks"  1 Thess. 5:16-18

It is not always easy to rejoice. It's okay to be honest. There are times in all of our lives when we just don't feel like giving thanks.  I know this from personal experience. 

In February of 2008, my husband lost his job.  I am a stay-at-home mom, and so this was terrifying, but my husband and I chose to be thankful that the Lord would have something lined up for us, we just didn't know what it was.  Well, this excitement and thankfulness lasted all of about two weeks.  Then reality set in.  We had sent out at least one hundred resumes and flown to another state to search for jobs.  Nothing.  One month, two months, nothing.  Needless to say, my natural reaction was not to rejoice or give thanks, and, honestly, a part of me didn't even want to pray.  I was so frustrated that God hadn't "fixed" our situation yet. 

Then something miraculous happened.  The Lord called my husband to serve him.  Not to full-time ministry, but just to serve.  So I watched the Lord start working in my husband and his obedience to the Lord, and I started praying that He would give me this desire to just obey and not worry about our situation.  He did.  As I studied His Word more, ways in which I wasn't obeying became very apparent.  One thing that kept coming up was this need to rejoice.  And not just to rejoice, but to be thankful, always and in everything.  The only way that this can be done is to pray without ceasing. 

The Lord is so good.  By His grace alone I can say that I am truly rejoicing in everything, and I am truly thankful for the situation that we are still in.  The Lord continues to be faithful to provide for our needs, but there is one area that has always grieved me.  I have debt that needs to be paid off in order for my husband to pursue this path that he is on.  In March of 2008, my love of sewing resurfaced, and I started designing bags, and a few weeks later, Rejoice! Bags was born.

Again I can say, the Lord is good.  He is so good that He sent His Son to this horrible world to die for our sins 2000 years ago.  We will never be good enough to deserve this gift or to earn our way to heaven.  Praise the Lord that He gave of Himself to pay the price for us!  If you have never accepted this free gift of salvation, or just have questions, please contact me at the link above.  I would love to share with you all that the Lord has done in my life.

Thanks for taking the time to read about how Rejoice! Bags was born.  Have a great day in the Lord!

Larissa