Give Thanks 2: In Everything. Seriously?

This is the second devotional on Give Thanks, this year’s theme to prepare us to pray for prodigals on June 2, the Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day. This and the next three devotionals will be focused on those who love a prodigal, but they are true and helpful for anyone.

Wow!

The doctor kept saying wow!

It was good news! Our son-in-love Nick, who had gone in for a work up in anticipation of a soon-needed liver transplant, was greatly improved and would no longer be eligible for a transplant. The doctor’s response: I didn’t expect you to be so healthy.

Our response: Thank You, Lord. Praise God! So grateful!

It was not hard for us to thank God for this Wow!

But my friend Marie—she is young—just got a report that she has colon cancer. Young people aren’t supposed to get colon cancer. Can she say, Thank You, Lord?

Another friend has buried 2 loved ones in the past year. Saying Thank You, Lord has not been easy.

I weep with a prodigal lover friend who hasn’t heard from her son for five years.

Other friends, for whose prodigal we have prayed, recently called to say their child took her own life.

Thank You, Lord??

We know the verse:

“…give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:18)

In all circumstances, in every situation: Give thanks.

Easy to do when the news is good. So challenging when the news is not what we want to hear.

How can God ask such a thing? What kind of impossible requirement is that?

The answer is: God is God and God is good.

Sounds simple, glib, out of touch with reality.

But it is true. I know it because God says it. And I have proved it. Over a (now long) lifetime, I have seen it true over and over.

In fact, I have found those two words—Thank You—spoken to God are the key to amazing changes. When I give thanks, even in the hardest circumstances, things change:

God seems bigger. He isn’t bigger–He is already the biggest. But He grows in my understanding and perspective. I begin to grasp that He truly is God—in control of the universe and my life, and even my greatest challenges—and He truly is always looking for ways to do good to me.

My heart changes. The fear, anger, confusion lessen and peace grows.

Doors open. The key that is “Thank You” opens my heart and mind to see good that God is doing, to recognize opportunities, to trust God’s love and goodness at a much deeper level.

For years I have practiced saying “Thank You, Lord.” Now, when little or big challenges come, my first response is almost always “Thank You, Lord.”

Almost always. Still not easy. But, oh, how it protects and encourages and frees my heart and my mind.

“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13)

c2022 Judy Douglass

Here’s a song I love: Gratitude by Brandon Lake

Be sure to let your friends with prodigals know about our day of prayer, to give us names to pray for, to and join us. You are invited too.