– Joe Fornear Exhaustion… terrible inconvenience… unsanitary conditions… a nightmare scenario. Maybe God is trying to tell us something about life by the circumstances in which our King Jesus entered into our world. Our journeys can be difficult and…
But a huge stumbling block to this determination (to be thankful) is the stubborn belief that thankfulness is a result of trouble-free existence. "I'd like to be thankful, but everything keeps breaking down around this house." "I'd like to be thankful, but God hasn't fulfilled my greatest need yet."
Certainly the Lord greatly encourages thankfulness, as there are dozens of invitations in the Scripture. Since His love for us is incomparable, thankfulness must be very good for us! At the start of His love letter to the Colossians, the Lord even leads Paul to pray for them to be thankful (1:11-12).
I can still recall the powerful gusts of pain and suffering. I was caught in a hurricane and desperately trying to hold on... to anything. Yet in the midst of my lamentations, God's love was so consistent and available. His love broke through my self-reliance and my do-it-yourself approach to fighting cancer.