Joining Arkansas Women Bloggers again today for their Thanksgiving Blogging Challenge…skipping Day 2 and on to Day 3…”I am thankful for”…
Where to start? The list is long. And wow, when I ponder what I am thankful for…I take much of it for granted.
God has blessed me beyond measure; that is certain. But am I thankful only when life is comfortable and convenient? I am ashamed to answer most of the time, “yes.”
This past Sunday, in the 6th grade class I help with, we talked about thankfulness. And perhaps this happens to you now and again, but a few words in Scripture that I have heard and read one million times had new, fresh meaning to me. It’s just like Jesus to keep His Word active, alive, and relevant when our hearts threaten to declare it distant or dry. Here is the verse…
1 Thessalonians 5:18…”give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (Please note I am not a Bible scholar, simply a girl who loves Jesus and has experienced the Bible to be life-changing)
Give thanks in all circumstances, not for all circumstances. I felt relief. Removal of guilt for not wanting to thank Him for pain, for broken relationships, for sickness, for really.hard.seasons.
It’s maintaining an attitude of thankfulness to Him during the hard stuff. Certainly, the hard stuff can deliver strength, long-suffering, and even joy on the other side, but who really wants to say, “yes, Jesus, thank you for pain that threatens to undo me.” Not me, at least.
But oh, how I can look back to the really hard stuff and know beyond a doubt that it was for my good. That I wouldn’t be the mom and wife I currently am without it. That I wouldn’t know that I know the depth of love Jesus has for me simply because I know the depth of the muck I’ve come from…and still have tendencies toward.
So for me, this is so applicable right here, right now in the Fall of 2012. It has not been an easy year for us as a family. So I choose to thank God in the midst of suffering…thanking Him that He loves me right where I am.