In everything give thanks;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you .
~I Thessalonians 5:18~
I have known this passage of scripture for many years .And for years I completely misunderstood what God was trying to say through the Apostle Paul .
And it's all because of that little 2 letter word "in." Two simple letters can change everything
.Notice that it says that we are to be thankful "in"everything . Not "for"everything .To be
thankful"for"everything would just be weird.But to be thankful"in"everything is vastly different
.Let me give you just one example from my own life .
In 2002 , my husband had a mild stroke while undergoing triple bypass surgery . Now , to be
thankful"for"the stroke would just be strange at the very least . Had I been thankful that he'd had
a stroke would have been completely odd !I am sure I would have ended up in a book on abnormal
psychology somewhere !But I was thankful "in"it because he was surrounded by medical
professionals who were able to do what they needed to do immediately to prevent it from
becoming a major stroke !
What this passage of scripture says to me is that it's all about our heart attitude when we face
trying times in life .
Can we find the bright spot in the midst of all the darkness that hard times seem to surround us
with ? Can we find the good midst the bad ? Can we trust God's heart of love for us and be
thankful for it amidst devastating loss ? Are we able to give thanks "in"whatever place we find ourselves ?
I have found that this does not happen instantly . For me , it's been a long process learned through
many losses in life . I had to learn to be thankful in the midst of life's storms and losses or I could
have easily become a loss in the lives of the people God has placed in my life . May God bless you
as you read this and may He grant you the strength and grace to find the good in whatever tries
your soul at this time .
~Sharon~
