Day 60

Well, I have been at this for 2 months now.  It amazes me how much there is to be thankful for if I just look.  Some things are private and I don’t share them, but there is almost always something that I can share.  From the natural world around us, to the spiritual blessings we have in Jesus, to modern conveniences, our relationships, or good things that happen to those around us…the list goes on and on.  I know some of the things that I list may seem pretty trivial, but even the smallest things are worthy of thanksgiving.  If you’ve ever done without something as simple and common as toilet paper, then you realize what a blessing it is! 

Even some things which may not seem like a blessing at the time, can be.  Spending 7 years waiting for children definitely did NOT seem like a blessing, nor did having 5 miscarriages.  Now I can look back and be thankful for that time.  It gave Dennis and I seven years for our relationship to grow and allowed us time to know each other better than if we’d been dealing with all the complications of parenthood.  It allowed us to cherish, even more, our children when we were finally blessed with them.  And we wouldn’t have the 3 that we now have, if we hadn’t lost the others (I really don’t think we would have decided to have 8 kids!)

Another thing that didn’t seem very thankworthy at the time is failed relationships from the past.  Broken hearts are never fun (whether yours is the heart being broken or you are the one doing the breaking), but each person that plays an important role in our lives changes us and enriches us in some way…even if it is just teaching us that they aren’t the person that we need in our life.  We also learn to trust in God’s timing and direction when things don’t work out the way we might think they should.  We learn patience and compassion by going through our trials and troubles…as well as humility.

So today I’m thankful for the pains and sufferings of my past.  I’m thankful that God has seen me through them, and that He has used them to teach me a thing or two.  Now I need to learn to be thankful for the pains and sufferings of my present.

1 Peter 1:6-7 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: