thank God!
It’s really hard for me to remain thankful in all things. In moments of disappointment, hurt, anger, frustration, impatience, whatever, it’s often impossible difficult to lift my eyes and say, “I will thank You anyway.”
And as if that weren’t a sufficient enough challenge, I’m not just instructed to be thankful in all things. I’m commanded to be thankful for all things.
“Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything…”
Sigh.
That means I need to live from a heart that readily says—
- Thank You for my husband’s infidelity.
- Thank You for his decision to leave me.
- Thank You for this loneliness.
- Thank You for yet another high-pain day.
- Thank You for the uncertainty and the unknowns.
I need to start thanking God for my “all things“. Even before they work together for good.
Thanking Him even for what hurts and confuses me, develops trust. It helps me acknowledge that He’s in control, and that He has even this—whatever this may be—in His hands. Thanking Him for what makes my heart ache, builds my faith.
And my faith sure needs building.
But, to be honest, I’m nowhere near there yet. I don’t know when I’ll be able to say with a sincere and genuine heart, “Thank You even for this.”
But this week I am going to start praying, “Lord, I want to want to thank You, even for this…”
Note: it is taking every ounce of my will not to yell this in my tiny apartment with my neighbor asleep nearby.
I thank you, my LORD, that you are God! You are sovereign over every square inch of this universe.
You are the God that put the stars in their place and gave them names!
You are the God who knew me intimately and loved me passionately even before heavens and the earth were even created.
You are the God that would take all the evil that has been done to me and the evil that I have done, you will turn it around and meant it for good!
All for your glory.
All for my joy.
You are the God who does not fail!
You are the God who makes whole!
You are the God who stands in the gaping wound of our broken, wrecked, devastated, torn-apart hearts.
We have no one else we can trust but You.
We have no one else.
I have no one else in the heavens but You alone.
There is no one on earth I desire but You alone.
My heart and flesh and this world has failed.
But you alone are the strength of my heart and my absolute portion.
Forevermore.
And there is nothing that can come between us. Absolutely nothing.
I love you, Lord, oh my soul. All that is within me, I will always bless your holy name.
Forever.
Amen.
@gritandglory says:
you gave me chills…
and my heart resonates with a loud “amen!” too…
this is good :)
today was quite a hard day for me as well
cried a lot
wanted to cry even more
my heart was so hard and unengaged in everything
I ran from hard conversations
pushed people away
and tried to figure it out on my own
but the Lord was gracious to give me perspective
to provide a persistent someone who hugged me and then offered some hard Truth
Thank you Lord that You love me
that You always give me what I need and not just what I want
that You are really the only one who knows what I need
Thank You that even when my attitude sucks and I choose to believe a lie, Your grace is unyielding and never ceasing
when the pain feels too much Your grace is sufficient
You love me too much to allow me to stay the same
I am more than blessed
@gritandglory says:
i love that others are writing out their prayers, too. thank you for sharing yours.
I seem to be learning this lesson too, though mine is under much different circumstances. It’s never easy to praise Him in the storms, but it’s nice to know that the storm has to come to and end and that’s when we’ll get our rainbows! :)
Hugs….I am thinking of you!
hmmmm.
Thank you for my brother’s death.
Thank you for my father’s death.
Thank you for the heartache I now call normal.
Thank you for the sleepless nights.
Thank you for shaking my faith so hard I don’t know which end is up anymore.
I don’t know if I can say that without a tinge of bitterness, or just a hint of sarcasm. I know what you said is so true. I know that I feel God’s presence in my life, He blesses me greatly just when I need His comfort the most. I feel deep love for the savior who sits by my side and weeps with me. Yet I feel such an intense anger exploding at everything around me, even that same loving savior. Anger for what happened, for what could have been, for what never will be, and anger that I have no control over this.
But He is always for me, not against me.
If there is any way through, it is in His arms.
I am thankful always for your words and your honesty and the example that you set for all believers.
@gritandglory says:
sigh.
i love you, hairdo.
You are right… thankful for everything….. I am pondering the meaning in those words. I am not sure I was able to do that when we faced infertility, but I can say now that I am thankful for what we went through, now that it is years later and I am on the far side of it. I can see my growth and maturity, and what that time in my life gave me now.
That is when you will also easily thank Him for this, when the pain has subsided and you are on the other side of this. I am hoping that comes more quickly, Alece, I hate to see you in so much pain.
@danielleH says:
I love that put you that prayer. That is the honest prayer of my heart often times “Lord, help me to want to want to…” And it seems like that’s when He answers with the most comfort and help because we aren’t trying to impress Him with our words while our hearts are lacking.
He is our ever present help in trouble.
I love you.
@coloraturajoy says:
i have thoughts.
i don’t know how to share them yet.
@gritandglory says:
come back when you do, k? because i’m definitely interested in your perspective…
You’re so right…but it’s so hard. Especially when the storms go on for years. Perhaps they rage until we learn to do what you’re saying here?
@gritandglory says:
dang.
i need to be a fast(er) learner.
@pamsplace2be says:
I know this one. & I don’t know if it is truly something you can be thankful for. ever. it is sin and it grieves the heart of God. Sooooo… maybe more like “though you slay me I will praise You” In the middle of the pain. Graham Cooke writes about Lamentation & the power of praising in the middle of your deepest pain. I have found the most peace in that place. But, I don’t think I will ever be thankful my husband was unfaithful and left us. BUT I will praise HIM anyway.
Thank you for writing this, Alece. I always hear from the pulpit, “The Bible says to be thankful in everything. Not for everything.” And yet I know that one very pivotal moment of my teen years was …
One day I was angry at my Mom. I was angry for the same reason I had been angry at her nearly every day for the past 3 years. But I wanted a way out. And I didn’t know what it was. I threw myself down on my bed, and with hands clenched, every muscle in my body rigid, I said through gritted teeth, “God I thank you that I am so angry at my mother.” That’s all that I remember. I probably cried. It was awhile coming, but the anger did break, and I am so glad and thankful that she died with no resentment between us.
I do think that thanking Him for everything is powerful. It’s a way of snatching the seed from the enemy, holding a fistful of thorns to the heavens and saying, “Thank you for wheat!” Because He will still reap from what He didn’t sow.
Wow.
“He will still reap what He did not sow.”
Thank you for this, Sparkle…
@gritandglory says:
i know, right?!
you need to read this, too, michelle:
http://www.gritandglory.com/2009/08/10/a-forest-of-feelings/#comment-21528
I have to say this came up just the other day in my own life. A former co-worker of mine came in to the restaurant, and I found out that his dad (who frequently came in as well) had committed suicide a few months earlier. My heart immediately went out to him, and I’ve been praying frequently since. I didn’t know what to pray – to my knowledge none of the family is saved. And I can’t imagine dealing with something that crushing without the comfort of God. At one point all I could do is raise my eyes and cry to God, “Thank you for reaping where you didn’t sow! Thank you for reaping where you didn’t sow!” Because … that is the cry of my heart. Somehow bring him joy in the midst of this atrocity. Praise God … He can pull life out of the blackness of death. Somehow.
The pictures on the carousel are outstanding.
I thank God for His glory! When all around me looks a mess, He is still painting beautiful landscapes for me to enjoy. And putting ladybugs on stumps…
I need to see the bigger picture.
Thanks, Alece.
Wanting to want to is an honest, good start. Wanting to, truly wanting to, is half the battle, I think. When we align our desires with His, He will give us the desires of our hearts. And He knows our frame, that we are but dust. He knows how fragile we are and how much we can handle.
Look up these verses. I took a long time researching this stuff! :)
You can thank Him for your husband’s infidelity – because it serves to make you run to the One Who is ALWAYS FAITHFUL (Deut. 7:9, Is. 49:7b, 1 Cor. 1:9, 1 Thes. 5:24, Rev. 19:11)
You can thank Him for his decision to leave – because it reinforces the truth the there is One Who NEVER LEAVES (Josh 1:5, Ezra 9:9, Mt 28:20b, 2 Cor 4:9, Heb 13:5b)
You can thank Him for your lonliness – because it pushes you into His arms for comfort (Ps 68:6a, 1 Sam 12:22, Ps 94:14)
You can thank Him for the high-pain days – because you can trust that He knows your limitations and He’s not taking you anywhere He hasn’t already been, it is our honor to enter into and share His suffering, and there are other members of the body who suffer with you, who hurt when you hurt, even if you don’t see it.
(Ps. 3:10, Rom 8:17, 1 Pet 2:21, 1 Cor 12:26)
You can thank Him for the uncertainties and the unknowns – because He is sure, He is certain, His word is true, your salvation is sure, and Truth never changes. (Ps 19:7, Ps 46:10, Ps 119:68, 73-78, 81-92, Ps 141:8, John 8:32, Eph 3:19, Phil 3:8, 2 Tim 1:12)
Take some time to read the message the Father has for you today. Let the truth of His word was over you and minister to your spirit. You are His prized possession, valued beyond measure. You mean an awful lot to a whole lot of the rest of us too. Hugs from a distance.
@gritandglory says:
wow. you’ve got my quiet times covered for the week! thank you for the devotional, terri!
@hannahruthie says:
“help me to want to want…” are some of my most common prayers.. usually, “help me to want to want You.” I’m so glad that He does help us in that way. I’d be nowhere without it.
@rfbryant says:
Thank You, God, for parents who don’t really love each other.
Thank You, God, for my son having to deal with the same broken heart I had to.
Thank You, God, for arthritis in my hand.
Thank You, God, for letting me learn more about who I am.
Thank You, God, for pointing me to Alece, who challenges me to think more about You than I do my own selfish self.
@gritandglory says:
i so appreciate hearing the prayer of your heart.
and thank you for thanking Him for me…
@atangie says:
Your key word ‘for’ is a challenge. Thank you for giving us the honest example you give here of that truth in action.
… for I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angles nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I pray you are blessed, Alece.
I’m thankful for tests that give me the chance to put into place all I’ve learned about what it means to extend mercy and grace…. the chance to choose to respond in the Spirit, not the flesh.
I’m thankful for the rejection of man because I’m reminded all over again that Your love is real and unconditional, that that will never change. And because it gives me the chance to choose to respond in the Spirit, not the flesh.
I’m thankful for when people rip me off, because it reminds me that all I have is Yours. And because it gives me the chance to choose to respond in the Spirit, not the flesh.
@gritandglory says:
seriously. i am loving getting glimpses into all of your prayer closets!
thank you for this window into your beautiful heart, lisa. love you. and thinking of you. a lot.
Wow. Me? Thank you. (I am SO learning to say more with less, and carefully choosing my words, by your example, Alece!)
It’s so interesting, because what you wrote about here is something that I’ve been thinking about lately. What you and others have written here helps me to get God’s perspective on some of these things.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
prayer, petition, request…….in everything, with thankgiving?
It’s difficult to be thankful for the 90% of everything that isn’t going how we want it to. or how anyone wants it to.
but at the same time…i think not being thankful for ALL circumstances is calling God a liar. like He isn’t working for the good of those who love him. like He doesn’t have a great plan…that includes even the worst circumstances…that is in the worst circumstances.
Thank you for the past and present (very difficult) circumstances that cannot be broad casted to the whole world yet.
Thank you for the pits of depression that come and go as a result of such circumstances.
Thank you for everyone who has broken my heart/ for my broken heart.
Thank you for my loneliness.
I’m not sure if it’s kosher to say thanks for my own sin. but we are sinful people and there’s no escaping that. and we are gonna make mistakes. it’s easy just to blame ourselves. but i think all includes our own sin too… even though, for me, it’s a lot harder to see/feel the pain i’m inflicting on others than to feel how others are hurting me.
@gritandglory says:
you get it.
and your getting it helps me get it even more.
love and appreciate you, coop.
oh Alece, you don’t know how much I needed that this week. Going back – as in physically to the location – of so much pain in my life. Of where my happy little life changed so fast. To a place of repetitive abuse. Why am I going back? I don’t know!! I told God I never wanted to go there again in my life – not even to that state, not to that city, never.
And yet, here I am, about to board a plane that will carry me too fast to that same spot. Wondering if I just ignore it, or wondering if I go there, stand looking up at that place and say to it, “you did not destroy me! God was with me, is with me, and has been with me. He brought me out into the light and kept me safe!” But I have been trembling all day thinking about it, physically shaking.
And I read your post and remember a letter I wrote to a friend that said after spending time praying and thinking about it, I came to that same conclusion you did. If I really believe that God both knew what He was doing then and knows what He is doing know, and is working through all this for His glory… then the response is thankfulness – yes, even for that!
But I had forgotten that until I read your post.
Thankfulness is the ultimate victory over what the devil has done to us. “Not only did I survive, you are so defeated – defeated that even what you thought you were doing to warp and destroy, you weren’t. God was laughing at you, mocking you, knowing what glory He would bring through what you thought you could do!” The ultimate victory – we trust so much that we can give thanks because we know our Father’s heart and He is doing good.
But that thankfulness is hard, oh so hard. I think I’ve been close a few times. Close as in I can look out at the road ahead and realize that it will come one day and not gone running away in terror. :)
Thanks Alece for the reminder. If I get brave enough to go there and stand looking up at that place, I will think about adding this to what I want to say. The ultimate victory.
@gritandglory says:
i so needed to hear this tonight. thank you, ellie. for sharing that. for trusting Him. for going back. for looking that place and the enemy in the eye and declaring your victory in Him.
i’m honored to know you.
@traceepersiko says:
This “all thing” is hard. Today I can muster up one thing. I think sometimes that is just enough.
Sometimes it’s small things i am thankful for. Sometimes it is the big. I want to be grateful with and without both.
I got my two coins in the bowl, well today maybe one, but that’s all i have.
So grateful for you and your great heart.
@gritandglory says:
i don’t feel like i’m ever fully grateful for my “all things” all at once either. bits and pieces here and there. and sometimes (like now) i focus on being thankful for the worsts so much that i end up taking the bests for granted. ugh.
maybe someday i’ll get it right.
or maybe i won’t.
because maybe the point isn’t the getting-it-right. maybe the point is just the journey, the learning, the growing, the trying.
sigh.
i am SO grateful for you, just you, in my life.
@JewelzSightings says:
Sometimes I can’t thank God for the actions of others, but I can thank Him that He is there in my midst.
I used to struggle with people saying flippantly “the joy of the Lord is your strength”…. until I sat with the verses in John 16: where Jesus said “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a while you will see me.” ” you will grieve and mourn while the world rejoices” “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy” I realized that Jesus was telling them it was OK to have sorrow and to mourn… to not feel the joy… Then I realized that maybe the way we use that verse, “the joy of the Lord is our strength” is mixed up. I mean who can have joy in the midst of something or someone dying?
What if the joy is finding Jesus again in the midst of life’s struggles. It’s not something I feel, it’s something I discover as I cry out to Him in my grief, knowing He will never leave me or forsake me, Finding Him in my midst to be enough, even while my heart wrenches in pain.. It is in that I can give thanks.
He sees your heart… it is absolutely stunning to Him…
@gritandglory says:
“finding Him in my midst to be enough…” that is the lesson i’m learning at the deepest core of all this…
@JewelzSightings says:
And you will learn it… I see the heart of tenacity in you. You won’t give up… you love your God too much. It’s evident in the steps that you are walking. He sees it too.
What I know…. is this….. You will come out of this changed in ways you don’t even know right now. All you can see is right in front of you and on some days it’s quite cloudy. You know I live in the mountains. Every week I drive an hour north. I can remember one day in particular when the fog was so thick you could only see the road right in front of you. For about 10-15 miles it was slow going, eyes honed in just trying to see right in front of me. Then suddenly the fog cleared and the mountains were bathed in sunlight with blue skies hovering above them.
I see that for you. Right now, it’s the thick fog… you can only see today, right now, this moment…. But soon the fog will begin to thin out and you will see a little more. Then when you least expect it, the fog will clear completely and it is then you will see the beauty that surrounds you… the beauty that has been exchanged for ashes.
I see it… it’s coming.
Remember why He came. Is. 61:
You will find Him… I know it because He is coming after you. He will not stop until you know how deeply, how intimately, how perfectly you are loved.
“I see the heart of tenacity in you.”
“I know it because He is coming after you.” Woah.
It’s like I can physically feel the weight of these words.
@JewelzSightings says:
Drove up the highway I mentioned earlier… higher into the mountains….today.
About halfway up, it hit… the fog…. within miles it was as I had written above, blue skies, while fluffy clouds, the sun shining down on the mountains. I thought of you…. I thought of what God had put on my heart to tell you today.
How stunning that He would allow me to see something in my heart for you and then manifest it in my sight.
He loves you so!
Oops, sorry, Julie, that was me (Lisa) that said that about the weight of those words, not Alece. I just had to add a comment to what you’d said, as much as it struck me. Sorry for the confusion! :)
I am a jackass for not reading your blog on a more frequent basis. I am so sorry I’ve just now caught up with all this.
Wow. Just…wow.
@gritandglory says:
thank you, anne. truly.
a year+ ago we swapped a few emails. i’d remembered reading the meaning of shalom on your blog and then i couldn’t find it again since you’d taken down those posts. you ended up emailing them to me which i so appreciated.
when i got to the states last december, just as the bottom started falling out of my world, i went and got shalom inked on me forever. i needed to see that permanent reminder of God’s heart for me — nothing missing, nothing broken. life as it was meant to be.
all because of you.
i’ve been wanting to tell you that.
@mandythompson says:
Girl… I continue to admire your strength. It’s down-right stubborness from where I’m sitting. You’re hard-headed. Full of resolve. And you’re GOING to get through this. You are refusing to let it win. You’re even thankful for the bad.
Amazing.
I wish I could say the same about the “bad” things in my own life…
@gritandglory says:
i’m not YET thankful for the bad. but i want to be. sigh
and ya know, my stubbornness and hard-headedness has been pointed out to me often throughout my life. my mom joked that i was the “strong-willed child” dr. dobson wrote about. but never before has someone used those words as a compliment. a lightbulb just went on in a dark corner of my heart. it’s gonna take me some time to dig back in there and see what that’s all about, but… thank you. really.
love you.
When it seems like circumstances keep piling on, being able to be thankful in all of them can seem hard. Yet, I am finding that it is a lighter load I am thankful. Whether that is because when I am thankful, Jesus strengthens me, or the attitude is lined up with casting my cares on Him, I don’t know the inner workings but in those moments, He gets the glory.
Abba,
-Thank You for the physical weakness and pain that reminds me I am limited in my human capacity and that makes me depend on You more and has grown greater intimacy with You.
-Thank You for saying “No” to physical healing in this life
-Thank You that my parents are opposed to me going overseas so that I seek You for Your leading and lean not on my own understanding
-Thank You for using Alece’s brokenness
-Thank You for breaking me!
Have Your way Lord!
@gritandglory says:
amen!
Wow..when you put it that way it sure does sound rough. When things seem really overwhelming like that does, I remember that God gives me Grace Through the Process. I know where I should be…but wow the process is tough…He will give you grace my friend….He will…somehow you will make it on the other side and see it was only the grace of God!
@jclayville says:
i love you. that’s all. i love you!
@gritandglory says:
i love you too!
Alece,
I discovered that when I thanked God for those same things — those painful things that were crushing me, somehow He began to take away their power over me. It surprised me how thanking God for the hurt could change so much. But it does.
It’s beautiful to see what Jesus is doing in you.
@gritandglory says:
i think you hit the nail on its head. it takes away the power of those things that are painful… man, that’s huge.
I wonder if there’s a distinction in the thankful “for” and thankful “in.” Maybe when we’re in these situations, and circumstances are awful, we just need to pull out the things we ARE thankful for. We can be thankful God is with us. We can be thankful for his immeasurable wisdom and love. Thankful he is there to pick up the pieces.
Honesty in prayer…Standing bare-naked before God. We are only dressed in the Emperor’s New Clothes anyway, if we think we can whitewash who we are before His eyes.
One of the most life-changing prayers I ever prayed was after 15 years of running from Him, I looked up at the sky and yelled, “God, You KNOW I’m too angry at You to talk to You now!”
And you know what? HE already knew it….was just waiting for me to acknowledge it.
Same thing here; admit where we fail; tell Him where we want to go, to be; it’s the only way to get there.
Reminds me of a blog post I wrote: http://lunamosity.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/598/
after this disappointing Thanksgiving day….
Bless you Alece, in your trek toward God.
Ok, seriously. You are reading my mind and writing down exactly what I need to hear. In my counseling, I’ve been having to relive a lot of memories I would frankly rather forget about; and it has been so hard to be thankful for them, and for the way they shaped and prepared me for God to step into my life, because they still hurt so much.
It is SOOOOO easy to see Him, see His love and glory and presence in my life the last 3 years, after he saved me from my horrible sin. Not so easy to see Him before that, when I was sinned against over and over and over again.
So, I am taking what you wrote, and writing it along with the Ephesians 5:20 verse in my prayer journal, so I can see it every day.
“Lord, I want to want to thank You, even for this…”
Thank you.
@gritandglory says:
my heart aches for the ways others’ sin deeply hurt you. you are worth so much more than how you were treated. i know it will be a long process of truly believing that. i’m really glad to hear that you’re seeing a counselor, because i know how much mine has helped me.
i’m here.