by Desiree Bustamante

In All Things

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

“Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Revelations 7:12 New Living Translation

Take a moment to make a quick list. On one side, write down all the great moments and blessings of the past year. On the other side, write down the adversities in your life.

In past Thanksgivings, have you ever taken turns around the dinner table to say something you are thankful for? It’s usually the most obvious blessings—our family, friends and livelihoods that we mention. And since those are all worthy to thank God for, they would most likely be what you would mention.

Now flip to the dark side of your list. Can you honestly be thankful for what’s on the unwelcome side? It’s a lot harder. Maybe don’t look at the actual difficulty, but what lies within what you are experiencing. Can you thank God for that illness because it brought you to rely on Him more? Or did the difficulty put you in the path of someone who needed to see God’s love and your faith in Him to provide for you? For that financial hardship because God provided friends to give you what you needed?

“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 New Living Translation

It’s God’s will to give thanks in all things, but the sweetest blessings we can be thankful for aren’t always the most obvious and certainly not the most valued in the world. Spend some time on the dark side of your list, looking at the blessings God has given you in those things, how He may be using your gifts and abilities in those for Him, and be thankful that we have a God who loves us so much and is so gracious to us!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

 “And always be thankful.” Colossians 3:15b New Living Translation

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado