“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” Eph. 5:20

We don’t waste our trials when we receive them with gratitude.

Puritan Gurnall wrote, “Christian, has not God taught you, by his word and Spirit, how to read the short-hand of his providence? Do you not know that the saints’ afflictions stand for blessings?”

We don’t have to understand all things, we just can’t understand them all. But because we know God and know that He is good and does all things good, we can receive the afflictions He sends our way with a complete submission to His will saying, “Thanks be to God. He is good!”

There are only two ways of receiving our trials: with thanksgiving to God or with a murmuring spirit against Him. One is the response of faith, the latter the response of unbelief. How will we respond?

Responding with gratitude, with faith will not necessarily shorten the road, but it will make it joyful -even as we cry at times! Responding with murmuring, with unbelief will make the road bitter and of course, it will feel as if it were longer and heavier.

A grateful heart has learned from the Father how to set a table and feast even when the enemies of our Lord and our soul roam around. A grateful heart remembers how to sing Psalms and how to kneel in prayer. A grateful heart can be brought low, but know that it will never be utterly crushed because it rests in God’s character and promises.

May the Lord give us grace to learn how to feast in the presence of our enemies and persevere with gratitude on the road He has chosen for us.

Under His sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego