THANKFUL IN ALL THINGS

Can I just be honest? March may have started off with a bang, but it wasn't in a good way. The bang, by the way, was quite real - I got in a car accident. To add insult to injury, I was cited in the accident (even though I really don't think it was my fault at all).

Because of the accident, I was over an hour late to my next set of interviews. So, instead of being able to have a nice cry, I had to be all adult and conduct interviews instead.

I got home just in time to make it to my doctor's appointment for yet another sore throat. Since I was all stressed out, my heart was beating erractically. It was so erratic that my doctor refused to let me leave unless I had an EKG. She said I could be in defib of some kind and have a heart attack or stroke on the way home. Yes, that kind of news is just the thing to get my heart to stop palpitating. Turns out, it was my normal weird heartbeat rhythm.

I got home and realized my editor wanted me to write a sidebar on the tradition of Lent. Um, okay. I felt rushed and stressed and my throat hurt!

It was just one of those no good, rotten, horrible days. But in the back of my mind, God's quiet whisper said, "Be thankful in all things." I was thinking, but didn't say, "You've got to be kidding me! This has been the worst day ever and I am sick again! What in the world is there to be thankful for???"

Then I remembered back to Sunday. We are doing a Bible study by Jennifer Rothschild called The Fingerprints of God. During this past session she told a story from the life of Corrie Ten Boom. For those of you who don't know, Corrie Ten Boom and her family were put in a concentration camp for hiding Jews during World War 2. Well, the barracks that Corrie and her sister were in were infested with fleas. It was awful as they were tormented continually, making sleep difficult.

Corrie heard her sister thanking God for the fleas and she had a hard time doing that and said so. Well, it turns out that those fleas were a gift from God - although an unusual one. They kept the guards out so none of the women were molested.

As I remembered that story, I looked back at the events of my no good, terrible day. Yes, I got cited but I wasn't hurt at all. I have major back and neck issues and it could have been a very bad thing for me, but it wasn't. My EKG was fine - there was nothing wrong with me that calming down and not drinking more caffeine wouldn't cure.

The more complicated my circumstances, the bigger God appears in them - if I let Him.

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all."

Even though it didn't feel like at the time, God's hand was on me and He DID deliver me. Realizing that, I could be "thankful in all things."

~ Blessings, Bronte