Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 5:20  ESV

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  Thessalonians 5:18 ESV

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests made known to God.  Philippians 4:6 ESV

Yesterday we talked about being thankful as we go into this Thanksgiving holiday.  We talked about how we should be thankful for every little thing.  But today I want to talk about being thankful for everything, even the bad stuff.  Yes, even the bad things that happen in our lives.  You see, if you are a mature Christian then you understand that just as our scripture passage says, we are to be thankful for all things.  But if you are not a Christian or if you are just beginning your walk with Christ then you may think I’m cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.  There was a time in my life when bad things would happen and someone would tell me to be thankful, I thought that their Crayola box was a few crayons short.  But the Bible actually tells us that we are to be thankful for all things and in all things.  This means that we are to thank God for the good things in our life.  We are to thank God for the bad things as well.

Now maybe you are reading this thinking, “Yes, I know this and I do this” and if this is the case, you may feel free to skip down to the part where I tell you to have a great day.  But if you are reading this and thinking that this is just crazy talk, then bear with me.  I totally understand the fact that this sounds kind of crazy because there was a time in my life where I whined and cried to God about every little thing that went wrong.  I would have a pity party and ask him, “Oh God, why me?”  But you see, I went through this process and now it is all crystal clear.  So let me walk you through.  If you can learn from my mistakes and skip the painful steps that would be great.

I was raised in church by a Christian mother and grandmother.  They were awesome examples for me to follow.  I had a loving father, he was not a Christian until many years later, but he was still a good, loving father.  I was raised to know right from wrong.  As I got into my college years, I thought that I knew it all and pride got in the way and I began to do things on my own.  What a mess that made.  I continued to go to church, but I didn’t rely on God as I should. I was just going through the motions.  I suffered consequences of my actions and this is when I wondered, “Why me, Lord?”  I just wasn’t bright enough to see that I had strayed from God and removed myself from his zone of protection.  In all honestly, I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

After many years of squeezing God into my life when I could make time and going to church when I felt like it and living for me, me, me, I was drowning in misery.  Even the things that I thought would be so good, turned out to be bad.  God finally showed me that if my life was all about Him, that He would guide me.  You see, I don’t know what my future holds, but God does.  So, when I focused on Him and made my life all about Him, then I came to understand that even when things seem bad or they don’t go my way that He is working all these things out for my good and His glory (Romans 8:28-29).  Once I wrapped my head around that, then I realized that when things seemed to be falling apart they were really just falling into place.  In the case of my life, I had made such a mess that God had to completely destroy what I had built and rebuild it His way.  I am so grateful that He did.

You see, when we learn to trust in God and I mean, really trust in God, it is easy to thank him for the bad and the ugly stuff.  We understand that we must suffer a little while, but then God will perfect us, establish us, strengthen us and settle us (1 Peter 5:10).  God wants the absolute best for His children.  He doesn’t want us to just survive in this world, he wants us to thrive in this world.  He wants others to be able to look at us and say, “Yeah, I want what they’ve got!”

So as we go through this week where our focus is on Thanksgiving, focus on God.  Know that His will is good and perfect.  Know that our prayers shouldn’t be like a list to Santa, but that we should praise God and thank Him for all things; the good, the bad and the ugly.  Know that He’s got our back and He is going to do what is best for us, even if it means that we must go through a period of suffering.  Trust in Him and His plan.  He wants good things for us, and He is working to give that to you even in the bad times (Jeremiah 29:11).  My prayer for you today is that you have reached that point in your life where you trust in God completely and you understand to be thankful for the suffering because it produces perseverance and perseverance produces character and character produces hope (Romans 5:3).  So focus on God, trust in Him to grow you up in the way that He would have you to grow and in all situations be thankful to Him.

Have a great day!