Giving Thanks for Suffering
- nichollambrecht
- Nov 28, 2024
- 3 min read
When everyone goes around the table on Thanksgiving to recite what they are thankful for, it's usually for friends, family, a roof over heads. I mention those all the time when it's my turn. We can be thankful for anything we say we are thankful for. We have much to be grateful for.
Yet, have you ever heard someone say, "I'm thankful for my suffering this year."
Or what about, "I'm thankful I got hurt."
How about, "I'm thankful I lost my job."
If you've said these or heard these at a thanksgiving table, I would venture to say you are one in an extremely minute almost non-existent minority.
But why aren't we claiming praise over the very struggles that test our faith, our purpose, our survival in pain?
We are called to.
Yes. You heard that right.
You mean to say that we are called to be thankful for the darkest moments of our days when we can't see past the next minute or the next hour, constantly lifting our hands in exasperation and confusion?! That when loss comes knocking at my door, I'm to welcome it in with open arms and rejoice?
Bizarre sounding. I know. Trust me.
I feel like these are the conundrums that keep some folks from wanting to turn towards the Word because it doesn't seem to make sense.
Why would our God want us to rejoice in our most trying moments? Why would our loving God ask so much of us in a time when we have so little to give?
Romans 5:3-5 - 3" Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
If my life were good and perfect all the time, what need would I have for God? How would I know the sweetest of victories if I never tasted the salty tears of loss and despair?
This year has been better than the last but it still had its trials and pitfalls, its moments of anger and strife, tears and bitter pockets of hopelessness. But He never left me.
When I chose to feel, to listen, to keep my walls down and my heart open, He filled me with promise, with strength, and with hope. Our suffering can paint the brightest picture filled with a love deeper than our words can describe. A finished painting that has yet to be revealed because with each new endurant suffering, a new stroke is captured, building upon our Hope.
Jesus bore our sins so that we could have right relationship with God. He suffered and endured more than any of us will. And He did it because He loves us. Because He wanted the world to have Hope. He rejoiced in His suffering to pour His love into our undeserving hearts.
This year, I choose to rejoice in my sufferings. They were not moments meant to hurt me but to build me. To create a stronger foundation. To make my prayers louder, bolder, fuller. Those moments are reflecting broken pieces that are becoming whole in a way I didn't know possible.
For that,
I am thankful.
I am thankful for my family, for my husband, for my friends, for the roof over my head.
I am thankful for my pain, my suffering, my despair.
I am thankful that my sadness has been transformed into gladness.
I am thankful for Love and for Hope.
I am thankful to be called His child.
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