Thankful Memories
Psalm 97:12 New King James Version (NKJV)
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, And give thanks [a]at the remembrance of [b]His holy name.
As we enter into another Thanksgiving season, sadly many have to be reminded to be thankful. I get it though. There are very few people that I have met who are just thankful every single day of their lives. Life happens to all of us and some of it is just not pretty by any stretch of the imagination. When the unexpected, unimaginable, painful thing shows up in our lives it is quite easy for us to shift all of our attention to the ugly and totally forget about being thankful.
The other day I was having a conversation with a young lady who is going through a lot right now. This year has been particularly hard on her health-wise. The issues that she is facing with her health makes being the kind of wife and mother that she desires to be very challenging.
As she was talking to me with much frustration, I could tell that she felt bad for venting her current reality. Her entire household are faith-filled believers in Jesus Christ, which in some ways seemed to add confusion to her crisis. "We are doing everything that we know to do right, but I feel like we are just cursed," she admitted to me.
Conversations like this one can really leave you without answers when you completely understand why the person would feel that way. I wasn't sure what to say in that moment but Holy Spirit had the answer. You see, while focusing on her present pain both of us had totally forgotten to remember a past victory.
This isn't the first crisis that this family has faced. It was only a few years prior that the enemy had attacked them in a way that caused division and separation. Hurtful words were spoken, accusations were made, and the damage seemed irreparable. But today they are together, healed and whole from that destructive situation. Praise the Lord!!!
While this young wife and mother could have been facing this health challenge alone, with no support at home, she has her husband and her children there to lean on. They remind her of what the word of God says about healing. Her children give her encouraging words when she is feeling discouraged. Her husband prays with her and works hard to help carry the burden of medical bills and other expenses of the home.
As we ended our conversation, we both gave God thanks and praise for bringing back to our remembrance just how good He has been and how good He is!!
I don't know what you may be facing at this moment. I don't know what it is that may be challenging you to be thankful in the mist of it. But may I encourage you to look back over the past things that God has done for you. Look at your history of victory with Him and rejoice knowing that if He did it before, He will do it again!
Have blessed Thanksgiving!
Pastor Karen
