How Can I Give Thanks When...
We all go through seasons when life is very hard. As believers, we are not immune to the difficulties and tragedies of life on earth. Maybe you are in such a season right now. It is my prayer that by the end of this article you will have found hope and a reason to be grateful for all that God has done and is doing for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
You might ask, “Do you mean to tell me that the pain I am experiencing is God’s will for me?”
Yes, my friend, it is. But remember, that your trial has been filtered through God’s amazing love for you and His infinite wisdom! Satan would whisper to you that God isn’t good, or He wouldn’t allow you to go through your trouble. But don’t you listen to Him! He lies! God has eternal purposes for your pain, purposes that will strengthen you and glorify Himself.
Remember when during a time of great blessing from the Lord, how you rejoiced in His goodness? May I say to you now as you suffer in your circumstance “Don’t doubt in the dark what you knew to be true in the light.” God is still good; God still loves you. “He is your eternal refuge and underneath are His everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27).
Jeremiah 31: 3 reminds us, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again, and you…will be rebuilt.” This trial will not last forever. You are God’s forever loved child, and He is never nearer than when His children suffer.
So, by faith, be grateful for the faithfulness and goodness of your loving Father in heaven. He has saved you and nothing can separate you from His love, not even your present trouble. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) Amen!