On December 1 - one month from today - I will be having shoulder surgery. Am I looking forward to it? ARE YOU KIDDING? Of course not. However, it's a must do or I will eventually lose the ability to move my arm. This may be sounding like whining about now, but I can assure you that this is all about THANKSGIVING.
Usually the house would be filled with delicious smells and scrumptious food, lots of laughter and noise, everyone talking at once and of course, football. But not this year. It will be quiet as that kind of celebration will have to be postponed due to my constant companions for the past three months - pain and suffering. I mean who can lift a 25 pound turkey stuffed with one arm?
And yet, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and my heart is so grateful to God because He has put in my path people I would not otherwise meet and there have been several opportunities to share the wonders of Jesus with them. THAT fills me with great joy! But it is not what I'm expressing thanks to God for right this moment.
NINE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SIXTY TWO DAYS
He has allowed me to NOT have to have any kind of surgery for 324 months which is 1409 weeks which is 9862 days or 236,678 hours. I could go on, but you get the idea. How many of those nine thousand eight hundred and sixty two days did I humbly thank Him for my good health? I can't honestly say but I know that while I pray everyday not many of those prayers are actually prayers of thanksgiving. The truth is, we usually don't remember to give Him thanks for certain things until those certain things are gone or are in jeopardy or cause us some sort of pain.
C.S. Lewis wrote that "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains". Yes - pain is HIs megaphone and some times it is so loud that it is deafening and we can't hear Him. Life can get really messy and ugly and the struggles and sorrow so severe that one can become numb, discouraged, even despondent if the suffering is prolonged. In retrospect I can "see" now that the reason I could not hear God in the darkest times was because He was holding me so close that my ears were covered.
These times are when you stand firmly on what you already know about the character of God. You know He is good, you know He is faithful, you know He is Holy, you Know He has a plan, you know you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, you know He never leaves you or forsakes you, EVEN WHEN YOU CAN'T FEEL HIS PRESENCE or SEE ANY PURPOSE in the raging storm in which you find yourself.
We are oh so thankful when He chooses to heal but we can be thankful when He chooses not to. We are thankful when we have financial security but we can also be thankful when we do not. We are thankful when He sends us that life companion but we can also be thankful when He does not. We are thankful when He blesses us with children but we can be thankful when He does not. We are thankful when we have plenty to eat but we can be thankful when we are hungry.
How do I know? Because it is written, " Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) How do I know? Because it is written, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) Because it is written, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18) Because it is written, "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (Galatians 2:20)
God does not exhort us to do anything that He does not also enable us to do.
Join me in praising in the pain, rejoicing in the rain and practicing gratitude for the next NINE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SIXTY TWO DAYS.
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