Always giving thanks for the good and the bad

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NKJV)

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Within us there should always be a spiritual joy that is ready to overcome the sadness of the world. We can find that joy by praying for all circumstance we are faced with and by giving thanks for all events that take place in our life. For we never know when what may seem to be the worst event in life might be just what we need to see God’s will accomplished.

“To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. Let's not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.”  ― Henri J.M. Nouwen

In my life there have been many failures. Like many others I have been trapped by regret wondering why I didn’t do something different when instead I could have been rejoicing over the lessons I learned. As I have looked back over the years I have seen where many of those failures have becoming teaching points for others that I can use to encourage and give hope. Let us always give praise for the good and even the bad in our lives that God will use it for the good of us and others.

In Genesis 50:19-21 Joseph spoke to his family and said, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?  But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.