Give Thanks by Zach Chudy

I was reading 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” and thought of the story of Joseph and how he could have easily seen the situation in front of him (being sold into slavery by his own brothers) as being evil and just bear through it until better times. But he chose to see “Christ” through his situation and realized that all though bad things in our lives are not caused by God, God is in them using them to benefit and teach us. So many people will be talking about a hard time in their life and say “but God pulled me through it”, but in those moments do any of us thank God (“in all circumstances”)?

I was having a really good day last Thursday, just felt relaxed and joyful, when I got a phone call from my dad saying that my place of employment sent me my tax statement and that it was incorrect and I needed to get that straightened out. And he also needed my tax form from UW-Whitewater (which I have deleted because he has never needed that e-mail for the last 3 years). This, although really not that difficult, ruined my day in an instant and just made me irritated.

And then I remembered what I had read earlier that day and chose to see this annoyance as a way to trust in the Lord. I then sat down, prayed, and thanked God for this problem that really made me angry. I chose to experience him in the midst of it. Later that weekend I had found a way to get a hold of my tax form from Whitewater and the right W2 arrived at my house. This was a very simple solution that worked out quite nicely, but in the midst of it I hated it. But when I chose to see the Lord in it, everything changed.

Yes, the result would have still been the same and everything would have worked out, but I would have had no life and no expression of faith in the moment. No matter what it is you are going through or struggling with in your life, thank God for it and He will work with you. That doesn’t mean everything is going to work perfectly but you will be at peace and you are allowing God to work in your life through faith.