"Just Thank God"

Life is filled with disappointments and can break our hearts at times. Many times it seems such a great struggle just to move forward. Every time you look for an opportunity, the door is shut. Sometimes our spouses are hypercritical or maybe our children are so ungrateful for all that is done for them. Whose kids are these that are so disrespectful? We face illnesses and life threatening situations and they seem to suck us dry.

Along comes this inspired writer James and he pens for the saints, "Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials." (Jam. 1:2) Right there, from the throne of heaven we are told to thank God for our disappoints and struggles. The loss of a loved one or the gut wrenching heartache over your child and heaven speaks, "Just thank God!" It makes no sense in our weak and wandering hearts. But we seem to miss God at times. We don't know our heavenly Father very well and at times do a poor job at trusting Him. Our attitudes wain and our demeanor turns sour and we still hear, "Just thank God!"

But then if we would look more closely, it is through that great struggle, that heartache that God calls, "I'll use the horror, the dread and hurt for your betterment!" God doesn't cause the problem but does something in us because of the battle at hand. Maybe our lives get a little too comfortable or we get a little too independent and God uses these times to speak to us to draw near, come back! People can use things to harm us but God uses them to help us. Each and every thing we face will make us and mold us into something we lacked if we would "Just thank God."