All Situations

Donna Braman

BE THANKFUL IN ALL SITUATIONS

Scripture Reading:

Isaiah 63:9

1Thessalonians 5:18

Thank You, my gracious and sovereign Lord, that You have been with me and carried me from the day of my birth until today...that You have known my whole life, from beginning to end, and that You wrote in your book all the days that You ordained for me before one of them came to be.

Thank You that in Your gracious plan to bless and use me.  You've allowed me to go through hard times, through trials that many people go through in this fallen world.  How glad I am that You're so good at reaching down and making something beautiful out of even the worst situations!  How encouraged I am when I think how You did this for Joseph, how his brothers hated and abused and betrayed him.  Lord, You worked these things out for blessing both for Joseph and his family and for countless other people.

I praise You that the things that happened in my past, both enjoyable and painful are raw materials for blessings, both in my life and in the lives of others.  So I thank You for the specific family into which I was born and the opportunities You did or did not provide. I thank you also for my extended family and my in-laws you have blessed me with. 

I thank you Lord for the things in my past that appear to be limitations, hindrances, bad breaks, the wounds of old hurts, the unmet emotional needs, the mistakes or neglect of other people, even their spite toward me or wrongs of me.

SEED WORD:

We don't like to revisit bad experiences or bad relationships but when we can be thankful for the hard times and bad experiences we then can begin to see how God put those in our lives to bring us to where he wants us to be.  When we can let go of blame we can begin to see what it is in us that God is trying to remake or correct. It is not about the other person at all, but about how God can help us to grow in a test of our love, patience, forgiveness and commitment to His ways. Sometimes, now I just say Lord, show me what it is in this situation that can make me a better person or grow in You from this test or trial.