"O, Jesus, thank You for my Christmas presents and thank you for coming as a baby." Few children instructed to pray this would find it difficult. Equally it is easy for us to say, "Thank-you God that we had a safe vacation," especially when we note in the newspaper that another family had a child drown on vacation or an entire family was killed in a car crash coming home from vacation. Yes, saying, "Thank-you, God" for the things we like about our life is pretty easy for most of us.
But St. Paul advises in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that we should "In everything give thanks, for this is what God wants from you who are united with the Messiah Yeshua." Now let's start by being clear: Paul is not saying this is how people in the World should behave and this is a good thing because it is plenty hard for those of us who earnestly seek to be followers of Christ.
Thanking God that we can't get pregnant, or that we are when we don't want to be, is irrational to the World and a definite challenge to new Christians and plenty of us old ones. It takes a significant willingness to trust God radically. It takes an utter belief in the rightness of blindly relying on God's trustworthiness when everything seems to be going horribly wrong. It is, frankly, more than making the best of a bad situation, but rather believing in God's ability and willingness to always provide for our highest good in all situations.
This is not anything less than extreme living. Even other Christians may find such an approach incomprehensible. People may accuse us of "not caring" and "being hard" and "being crazy." Such is common for folks who trust God radically at least some of the time. And, if you give this a try, you may find it not only amazing, but easier each time.
So, it is something to at least consider the next time things seem to be going horribly wrong.
But St. Paul advises in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that we should "In everything give thanks, for this is what God wants from you who are united with the Messiah Yeshua." Now let's start by being clear: Paul is not saying this is how people in the World should behave and this is a good thing because it is plenty hard for those of us who earnestly seek to be followers of Christ.
Thanking God that we can't get pregnant, or that we are when we don't want to be, is irrational to the World and a definite challenge to new Christians and plenty of us old ones. It takes a significant willingness to trust God radically. It takes an utter belief in the rightness of blindly relying on God's trustworthiness when everything seems to be going horribly wrong. It is, frankly, more than making the best of a bad situation, but rather believing in God's ability and willingness to always provide for our highest good in all situations.
This is not anything less than extreme living. Even other Christians may find such an approach incomprehensible. People may accuse us of "not caring" and "being hard" and "being crazy." Such is common for folks who trust God radically at least some of the time. And, if you give this a try, you may find it not only amazing, but easier each time.
So, it is something to at least consider the next time things seem to be going horribly wrong.
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