“Can you thank Me for trusting you with this situation, even if I never tell you why?”
We’ve been through holidays before where normal is no longer normal. After spending both Thanksgiving and Christmas at the hospital when Finn fought for his life in 2012. Holidays now have a new meaning…
As we now have had two Thanksgivings since bringing Finn home, we face yet another holiday season where the unthinkable weighs heavy on our hearts and we can either decide to keep our head down and just get through it or ask God to use this time to heal, speak truth to our hearts, and teach us how to be thankful…I’m choosing the later.
We’ve been in Ohio for the past week and have been able to attend the church I grew-up in and hear “Uncle Ali” preach…the sermon was one of those heart pricking messages that I just can’t let go…Alistair referenced Psalm 57:9 and the biblical response around thankfulness…
9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
He spoke about Helen Roseveare, a veteran missionary who spent 20 years in the then Belgian Congo practicing medicine and trained others in medical work. Alistair recently visited with her when he was in Ireland a few weeks ago. He referenced a bit of her testimony (there are so many stories during her life, but this one was very apropos)…
“He whispered to me ‘Can you thank Me for trusting you with the situation?’ That was amazing. I had always thought of me trusting Him but this was Him trusting me.”
“In saying that, He was really saying: ‘Yes, I could have prevented this. I could have stopped it happening, but I, the Almighty God, have a purpose bigger than you can see. I know where this is going to lead to, you don’t.
‘Can you thank Me for trusting you with this situation, even if I never tell you why?'”
She then explains how she was able to say ‘thank you’ to God even in that place of despair…
“In that moment of saying ‘thank you’, immediately I was filled with a tremendous sense and understanding of the peace of God.”
“Once you thank God, you can’t have any bitterness towards Him. You can’t reject Him.”
All the Delightful Things 