When Ronda was eighteen, she was in her second year of nursing school. While she was at her friends place, they decided to go horseback riding. When they arrived at the stables, they were given horses that would try to out run each other. Since neither of them were beginning riders, they thought this would only give them a more exciting ride.

The horses certainly tried to out run each other. From the very beginning, Ronda struggled to control her horse. He kept on running off the path and into the thick forest. As they rounded the last turn in the trail that led back to the stables, Ronda’s horse certainly wanted to be the first one to get there. He charged ahead totally out of control. As the horse swerved to avoid a puddle, the momentum threw Ronda into the air with tremendous force. The trees circled above her as she crashed violently against one of them and fell to the ground.

When Ronda sat up, she knew something was wrong with her legs. Her friend quickly got help. As she was lying in the ambulance on her way to the hospital, she knew in her heart that she was paralyzed. “How could this be? I won’t be able to walk again!” she thought. She simply wanted to die. Everything seemed hopeless.

And yet, there was hope. Twenty-eight years later Ronda looks back and knows that Jesus gave her hope to overcome all the trials she would face. “I knew that if I trusted and depended on Jesus, He would help me overcome my anger, frustration, and fears,” she said. In many ways, Jesus was the only hope for her life. What would she have done without Jesus? Regardless of the circumstances of life, may we find our hope in Jesus Christ!

An evergreen is always green despite the changes in weather around it.

It is green in the heat of summer as well as the cold of winter. So also our lives are to be characterized by an enduring thankfulness that is unaffected by the changes around us.

When the heat of a pressured week or the deadly cold of pain strikes us, we should stand “ever green,” always thankful, regardless of what surrounds us.

The apostle Paul was an ever green. He will always be a great example of someone who was continually thankful. Even though he penned several of his letters under house arrest, he never lost his thankful attitude. “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Circumstances never robbed Paul of gratitude.

Paul always saw the bigger picture to life. When Paul prayed for the Christians at Colossae, he constantly gave thanks to God for them. Paul was thankful that they received the gospel and it transformed their lives.

Paul was also thankful that they were sharing the gospel and it was spreading throughout the region. He was also thankful that the gospel was being taught and people were growing in their faith and love.

Let’s be ever greens! Let’s give thanks in all things as we see God at work in our lives and the lives of our brothers and sisters in the Lord!

“We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints” (Colossians 1:3-14).

“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Colossians 1:9).