Finding Contentment

Thankful for bad circumstances

This is the last Thankful Thursday of 2007. So what do I have to be thankful for during the past year? It was a roller coaster year - the likes of which I never want to see again.

My husband lost his job; his company didn't want to pay him unemployment and the case went to court; our best friends moved away; my SIL got sick and I had to become the mom of not just three, but five, for a while; I faced the one year anniversary of my mother's death; I faced my first year of homeschooling my children... really, the list could on and on.

What, in all that, do I have to be thankful for?  Plenty.

·         My husband lost his job - now he has a job that allows him to be home with his family every night for dinner and every weekend. He is working 50 hours a week instead of 70-80.

·         His unemployment case went to court - the judge pretty much laughed at his company for even trying not pay him unemployment and we won the case.

·         My SIL got sick and I had to raise five children for a few weeks - I was able to spend quality time and become very close to my nieces, and God allowed my SIL not just to live through what doctors thought she might not, but to return to normal health.

·         I faced the one-year anniversary of my mother's death - and God is slowly but surely giving me peace and understanding that she is happier with Him than she was here on earth.

·         I faced my first year of homeschooling my children - and although the road is rough, I love it. And I can definitely tell my children are better for it.

Every "bad" thing that happened to my family this year has turned into a good thing, a thing to be thankful for. It's a well -used saying, but God really does work in mysterious ways.      

And I have yet another thing to be thankful for. My family has seen more spiritual growth this year than any other I can remember. We have learned to rely on God.

"For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth."

Psalm 71:5 (NIV)