by  Fran Geiger Joslin

Giving thanks comes easily when life flows smoothly and no problems exist. I’m in that space right now. At ABH we marvel at God’s blessings. We marvel at how “God is in a hurry,” according to Pastor James, our director of operations in Africa. Friends and supporters show great interest and excitement over God’s blessings and direction for ABH.

If you’ve known me very long, you know this feeling of God’s amazing blessings wasn’t always the case. My first husband, Brian, battled brain cancer for nine years before dying from the disease. During those nine years, although we experienced blessings, we also endured intense hardships including financial distress and the fear of loss. After Brian died, at times I only felt hardship. Extreme sorrow. Loneliness like I’d never felt before.

I discovered that God’s blessings often run in tandem with hardship and pain. Sometimes we feel God’s blessings intensely because we also feel the difficulties of life intensely. The extremes give us perspective. If we didn’t experience anguish and suffering, we might not appreciate the blessings as much. We might take them for granted.

God’s Word tells us to “give thanks in all things.” (1 Thess. 5:18) It’s tempting to skip the word “all.” We sometimes tell ourselves that God surely doesn’t mean we should give thanks even in the hard things!

But if we back up a little and look at the context of 1 Thessalonians 5, we see some interesting insights. Verses 12-15 list ways to love others. The author then makes three staccato commands in verses 16-18a: “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; give thanks in all things.” Why? “For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (v. 18b).

These three commands should define us as believers. Others should see us as people who rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and who give thanks in all things. It’s easy to rejoice and give thanks when life is good. It’s easy to pray without ceasing when life isn’t so good. God wants us to practice all three things both when life is good and not so good. We can almost always find something for which to rejoice and thank God. Most of us would agree there is almost always something for which to pray.

Take stock of your own life. Would others describe you as one who rejoices always, prays without ceasing, and gives thanks in all things? If not, what needs to change? Consider listing the things for which you can rejoice and give thanks. Then record the items for which you can consistently pray. If nothing else, you can ask God to help you become more joyful and thankful.

Challenge yourself to write your own dayenu, as we did in our ABH newsletter and at our ABH Thanksgiving dinner. The Hebrew word “dayenu” means “It would have been enough.” The dayenu reminds us to show deep gratitude for each blessing, recognizing that each one qualifies as more than enough on its own. Click here to see an example from The Chosen TV series.

I’ll write a few of my own:

• If God had increased my self-confidence because of Brian Geiger’s love and belief in me, but didn’t strengthen me after his death, it would’ve been enough.
• If God had strengthened me through the experience of losing Brian and single parenting, but didn’t give me another love in Howard Joslin, it would’ve been enough.
• If God had given me a second love in Howard Joslin, but hadn’t “tricked”* me into running a ministry, it would’ve been enough.
• If God had “tricked” me into running a ministry but didn’t give me enormous blessing from training pastors and their wives in Tanzania, it would’ve been enough.

*To understand why I joke that God tricked me, read our story over two blogs that begin here.