Life Can Be Good Again by Lisa Appelo

Author:Lisa Appelo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Grief and Bereavement;Consolation;Change (Psychology)—Religious aspects—Christianity;REL012010;REL012000;REL012120
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2022-03-10T00:00:00+00:00

How Can We Give Thanks in Bad Circumstances?

First Thessalonians 5:18 tells us, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

How can we give thanks in devastating disappointment? How can we give thanks when the person who pledged lifelong love has capitulated and pledged that love to someone else? How can we give thanks when the economy cripples the business we labored and sacrificed over? What about when our child is dealing with a condition we can’t fix, or we’re diagnosed with a chronic condition that steals the life we planned?

Does 1 Thessalonians 5:18 mean we’re to thank God for cancer or drunk drivers or broken dreams? No. We’re not commanded to be thankful for evil. God doesn’t call us to give thanks for everything, but to give thanks in everything. Even in life-shattering loss and disappointment. Because even in the worst circumstances, God is powerfully at work. Even in the worst circumstances, we can trace God’s mercy. And even in the worst circumstances, if we open our eyes, we will see the good God is doing right in our midst.

Three years ago, in that glorious lull between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I kicked back my La-Z-Boy chair and opened my laptop to start a new writing project. My college son, Seth, walked in the back door after his last day at work before moving to the university he’d dreamed about attending since he was a young boy. He said his back hurt.

“Go get a hot shower and see if that helps” was my mom advice.

But a few minutes later, he emerged from his room, now crying and saying he needed to go to the emergency room. When your twenty-year-old sports-loving son says his back hurts enough to go to the ER, you close the laptop and go.

After an inconclusive ER visit and some pain meds, I made an appointment with a family doctor for the next day. That doctor thought it was pulled muscles from a bad golf swing and ordered an MRI. I accelerated the MRI because Seth was supposed to be starting spring classes soon.

Early the next morning, my cell phone buzzed. It’s rarely good when the doctor calls on a Saturday. The MRI showed a lemon-sized mass on Seth’s lower spine. Seth had been in grueling pain, and it was getting worse. He was unable to sleep or get any comfort from pain medication, and now we knew why. But we wouldn’t know anything more until we could get to the neurosurgeon on Monday.

After telling Seth as gently as possible what the MRI showed, I got into the shower. My world seemed to be closing in on me again. A host of possible scenarios and fears cascaded through my thoughts, and tears flowed freely. In the midst of paralyzing fear, the practice of cultivating gratitude saved me. Though we were facing scary unknowns again, I realized giving thanks to God in everything meant I could thank him in advance for what I did know.

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