Do you have something to be thankful for today? Do you have things you can be thankful for, but instead find you are not? Have you ever been thankful for something unpleasant? Maybe you are having a bad day, are you thankful for it? Has being thankful ever brought you hope? I know it has given me hope.
I can imagine everybody has something to be thankful for today. When I think about being thankful for things, I always think of the good things that are happening to me. A pay raise, a new job, new friend or something else positive, all reasons to be thankful. Scripture says, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” Psalms 107:1 (ESV) We can give thanks to God because God is the giver of all good things. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” James 1:17 (ESV)
It is easy to give thanks for the good things in my life, and for me, it helps give me hope that better things are still to come. However, what about the bad things. How can you give thanks for the bad things? I have experienced a few times in my life where things were not good. My wife suffered with mental illness and ultimately took her own life. I struggled with being thankful for this traumatic time in my life even though the Holy Bible tells me to be thankful. “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;” Ephesians 5:20 (ESV) I finally, about seven and a half years after my wife’s death, figured out why I could be thankful during hardships. James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (ESV) I found when challenging times come, God can use them to help me become “perfect and complete wanting nothing.” What an amazing promise! Who does not want to be “perfect and complete, wanting nothing”? I know I hope to be able to do that and knowing how God promises joy when I face bad times, reminds me how God is working in my life. This makes me thankful now and it gives me great hope for tomorrow. Even in one of the most hurtful times of my life, when I was scammed and lost over half a million dollars, I have learned how I can still have joy.
I pray you join me in being thankful for all things. It is when I am thankful to God for all things that I experience the greatest hope. I know that you too will be most hopeful when you are most thankful.
If you do not know Jesus the true source of hope does not abide in you. Learn how to get the hope you need. Learn how to know Jesus
If you have not read my previous blogs you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
eBook or Audiobook versions can be found at WestbowPress or Christianbook.com
I mentioned that I was going through a difficult time right now. Even under these difficult situations I am still thankful. If you are interested in what I am going through, you can read about it here.
