I would like to introduce myself. I am Calli’s dad. This time of year, almost every message is focused on gratitude and rightly so, because gratitude is foundational for a full life.
We all know that we should clean our plates and be grateful for what we have, knowing at least in theory, that children in other places do not have what we do. Real and authentic gratitude, however, does not become a reality in our lives through thought, but through experience.
I think we tend to confuse gratitude with happiness, grateful when things are going our way, but struggling in the hard things. In I Thessalonians 5:18 we are told to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” God calls us to give thanks not just in the good times, but also in the painful, hard things. So, what is God’s will in our lives? Perhaps it is far less grandiose than we imagine. His word simply and profoundly tells us to give thanks in all circumstances.
My daughter, Calli, understood this. Although she had several difficult things during her life, the most difficult for her was her unmet desire to be a mom. Calli was living with a broken heart from three miscarriages; she wrestled through the why’s and fought the challenges of living in faith. In her despair, she grew nearer to God and discovered that the Giver is greater than the gift and that God is still worthy of our adoration in the hard times.
Hear her words:
All the pain, all the hardship… it’s all so real. In my pain and in my confusion over the long months that have brought me here, I have learned so much about who my God is. He is good and He is in control. I have learned too that every breath is a gift. He has overcome. I had felt stuck in a moment of despair that repeated itself over and over, but the world kept turning and NOW the world has turned into something I could have never imagined. And it’ll keep spinning… in the palm of His hands. He is on the throne in all my and your circumstances. Some days it doesn’t feel like that though. Believe me, I’ve felt those days and weeks and I’ve needed a lot of help. I’ve felt hopeless and like my pain was pointless. I was reminded, however, that God wastes nothing and that He will use this for my good and His glory. He will also use all this mess for our good and His glory. I just know it.
This kind of gratitude isn’t something we discover as we look onto a plate of uneaten food. No, this only comes through a season of suffering, faith-testing, teeth-gnashing, all-out-wrestling with God over what this life is all about. It comes when we discover that God is able to make all things work together for the good (Romans 8:28), when we stop confusing gratitude with happiness and expecting that God’s job is to maintain our comfortable lives. Perhaps in the hard times we find an authenticity in our gratitude. The Bible challenges us with the concept that our struggling and suffering have a beneficial place in our lives. It is in the hard things that God forges our character; it is in the hard times that we learn empathy; it is in the hard times that we reevaluate our priorities and it is in the hard times that we find humility. Gratitude is the barrier that keeps the struggle from crushing us. Gratitude is the game changer; it rescues us from victimhood and entitlement. It is the foundation from which to live out God’s will for our lives. Gratitude is the lens that enables us to see the blessings that are all around us so that we can see life as the gift it is.
On June 15, 2021, Calli fell into the arms of her savior, Jesus. Her race is run and she has heard, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I too, brokenhearted, will choose gratitude through the wrestling and through the tears until my race is run and I see her again, and her three babies, for the first time. I know that God is using all of this for our good and His glory and one day the joy will eclipse the pain and it will seem as though the pain never existed.
November 26, 2021 at 11:00PM
https://www.thesheridanpress.com/faith/gratitude-when-it-is-hard/article_e7c8d9a4-4d6d-11ec-9ade-2fc27c6b8b59.html
Gratitude when it is hard | Faith | thesheridanpress.com - The Sheridan Press
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