First Thessalonians 5:18 tells us that “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” In my own hard situation, I’ve looked at this verse and questioned it. How can I give thanks in bad circumstances?
I was became a sudden young widow and single mom to 7, grief was grueling, my children were hurting, and I was facing a future I couldn’t begin to imagine.
Life stunk. My heart was shattered. Every task seemed hard. And I was overwhelmed.
Maybe, like me, you’ve questioned the Biblical mandate to give thanks at all times.
Do we thank God for cancer or drunk drivers or hurricanes that bring so much destruction?
As I studied this verse, I saw it doesn’t say we’re to give thanks FOR everything but that we’re to give thanks IN everything.
God is good and God does good and that doesn’t change even when circumstances are bad.
Giving thanks opens our eyes to all the good God is doing right in the midst of the hard.
And boy, how we need to see good when life feels bad.
It was only when I cracked open a journal and started to give daily thanks, that I saw all the good God was doing in me and around me.
Maybe one of the reasons God mandates it is so that we will get our eyes off our circumstances and on Him, so that we will see He is ruling even in the hard, and that He is personally caring for us there too.
Gratitude is a choice we make to look for good in every situation.
Giving thanks in all things might not change the situation, but it will always change us in the situation.
My friend, Kellie Haddock, saw the power of gratitude in a hard situation.
On an ordinary day, after an ordinary meal with family, she and her husband were traveling home with their brand new 14-week-old, Eli, in his car seat. She says the sun was shining, they were singing and dancing in the car when —-
That’s the last she remembers. She now knows another car going more than 100 mph went airborne over the median and landed on their car, smashing it to 1″ above Eli’s car seat.
Kellie and Eli were air lifted to the hospital; her husband killed on impact. But in that horrific situation, God’s goodness was clear. Kellie had survived with no injuries defying any physical explanation for survival.
Baby Eli remained in critical car. He’d suffered significant brain injury, with oxygen deprivation, seizures and multiple problems. After three days of not leaving his bedside, the PICU nurses urged Kellie to go home to shower and eat.
Just as she arrived at her in-laws, she got the phone call from doctors she’d been waiting for. After all the tests, the prognosis was in: if Eli lived, he would likely never walk, talk or show emotion.
“My heart broke again in a million pieces,” Kellie recalled. Kellie said it was “the lowest point of my life. I mean I was at the bottom of rock bottom.”
The house was filled with family and friends and Kellie relayed the gut-wrenching news. Her pastor gathered the group and asked them to speak out loud what they knew to be true of God.
So altogether, a chorus of thanks and praise went up from 50 of Kellie’s closest family and friends:
God is good.
God is trustworthy.
God loves with an everlasting love.
God is on the throne.
Kellie says there was no formal prayer asking God to heal; only spoken praise and the powerful presence of God.
An hour later, as she re-entered the PICU, Eli’s nurse ran to her. They’d been looking all over for her. Eli had woken up, was alert and active and had already taken four bottles. The only cut he’d sustained in the accident was gone and less than a week later, he was discharged to home.
Kellie had chosen to give thanks in bad circumstances. She chose gratitude before God ever brought the miracle.
Giving God thanks in bad circumstances doesn’t always change the circumstance, but it always changes us in the circumstance.
“There is always something for which to give thanks; even on the darkest day there are blessings to count. We must remember that if we face the sun the shadows will fall behind us but if we turn our backs on the sun all the shadows will be in front.” William Barclay
Want to go deeper to cultivate a heart of gratitude? I created a 30-day Gratitude Bible Reading Plan subscribers can access here.
Thank you. I needed that! I’m on the other end of life from you. My husband I were in Christian ministry our whole life. Then came the stroke, left side paralysis, vascular dementia, his anger with God, taken out on me, incontinence, up 6 to 8 times a night, ungrateful, uncaring….So different from our life before and not st all what I thought our grsmdparenting years would be like. My faith and trust in a good, loving always-there God has not wavered. I thank Him for that….Exhausted.
I’m so sorry for the daily losses. I only know that looking for good when life was painful was game changing. It was one of the things I could do that helped me find life and hope and God’s loving hand in the hard.
What Mary shares and your own experience, I can relate to on a lesser degree. Life is especially challenging for me right now. Mom, a stroke survivor seems to be experiencing diminished cognitive ability, lack of motivation and it’s just me, and only daughter, attempting to care give and push her to keep her independence. My husband has lost his job, two now in one year, in a field he’s been working in over the last 11 years, and me, painfully no career but with a dream of building my own business in the healing arts and spiritual wellness. I’m 44. Life has not been what I wish it were.
But, I’m so glad I came upon your post and yours and Mary’s comments. I need to remain grateful, so I asked Google how could I be grateful in difficult times. How to be grateful, exactly? How to even be expectant, a grateful hopeful heart?
Now I’m reading your post and it’s moved me to remember that there is good in all the pain because God is trustworthy. He is good. It’s so much more than the typical, “count your blessings”. It’s become cliche. I really want to know HOW. And I see that I have to be a sleuth and really look to find what is good.
Wow….This brings so much hope to me in my time of despair. God is truly amazing. Thank you o much guys for sharing. Needed this.
Keep up the good and I pray and hope God grant you guys strength in all you do.
This is so good! I would like to ask permission to print this out and give to 7 ladies in my small group that I lead. Many are struggling with situations that are overwhelming at times and a few are seeing God’s Grace open up before them.
Thank you for this opportunity to be reminded of God’s love in all of your posts!
Carol King
kingcarola@icloud.com
Absolutely Carol, please feel free to share.
Thank you for this article. It makes more sense than thanking God for the difficulties.
May I print this and share it with my prayer partners, a group of ladies who meet every
Tuesday for a couple hours of prayer.
Lorraine,
Please feel free to share this. Blessings to you!
Lisa
I so needed this Thankyou, Thankyou!
So glad, Kathy!
This morning I was reading the book “Soul Keeping” by John Ortberg and I was in the section about the soul needing gratitude. Just a small passage from the book: “In another of his letters, he (Paul) exhorts Christians to give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Remember, these people had been redeemed by God – followers of Jesus – yet they needed to be reminded to be grateful. Not just when things went well, but in all circumstances. If anyone would practice gratitude, shouldn’t it be Christians?”
Later on at noon I “happened” to read your post in my wife’s fb account. Now, if that is not a confirmation by the Holy Spirit, a special notice for me by God, I don’t know what it is. THANK YOU
Thank you so much. ever since I had started reading your articles my life has totally changed. I used to complain a lot to God when I pray. But now I have learn to give thanks to him each and everyday and it feels good.
Kerry
It was late at night, around midnight , 2018, my son was on life support and I had just lost my husband,my brother and two,sisters( one who I looked after all her life,as she had a mental illness) all within six months of each other , as my brother and sister were single ,I had to handle their funerals.
The doctor came to me and asked how long I wanted life support to go on for!!
Sheer panic ran through my veins, I had no one to ring for advice.
I said to myself, ‘ Millions of women around the world are alone and in crisis tonight’, I’m just one of them.
So I said to God , you’ve bought me to my knees, thy will be done.
Right then,a miracle, doctor couldn’t explain,vital signs
returned to normal and home the next day.
While he still has his genetic condition, I just finished eating one of his lovely fish he catches.
He is enjoying his life.
Praise God.
Thankyou Lord for all these people who have shared their stories
I am so encouraged my faith is restored my situation is insignificant compared to these ones
I have a peace in me I cannot explain but it is good
All praise and glory to God
What Kelly shared, really help me to give God thanks in all situations and continuely.
Thank you for this i really needed it reading this article moved me to joyful tears. Lord Jesus, I thank you in what ever situation I find myself right now let your will be done!
Thanks for this article. I had not understood this verse very clearly. I have some health issues and was wondering how this verse fit in.
This is a real blessing to me .It has once again stimulated my faith more than ever before . God really bless you Rev Lisa Apple .
God is good all the time. It does someone good to give him the gratitude that he deserves. After all he created us and it is only right and fitting to give him the glory and honor. Thank you.