One Week Down and Saying Thank You = Many More

We are one week into Deployment, wow did the first week fly by. I guess time really does fly by when you are busy! Today is our down day for this week, all the other days and nights of this week are booked! Booked with Wrestling matches for the Bookworm, marching in the Parade for the Princess, Band concert for the Bookworm, Winter Formal for the Princess, Church, Choir and so much more to even mention! My down day today is going to be used to run lots of errands that I must run for the kids. Things that they need for this week for the things that they are involved in. Somewhere along the way I need to find time to drop by the grocery store, and maybe somewhere along the way I'll also find time to breath!

So, I've been thinking alot lately and the one thing that has been a constant thought in my head is this: we are to thank God in every situation;the good and the bad. I know what you may be thinking, the bad? Yes, the bad too. We all know that it's easy to give God thanks in the good things in our lives, but give thanks in the bad? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says,"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."(KJV) A great example of this is the story of Job. Job lost everything and what did he do, he praised God and gave him thanks. If you've never read the story of Job, I encourage you to do so.

How are we suppose to give thanks for the bad that happens in our life? How can we give thanks for a death of a loved one in your family? We thank God for the time that we had with them, for knowing them, for special memories that we have, for the impact that they had on our life, for the things that we learned from them that we will be able to pass along to others. In a span of 6 years, I lost all four of my Grandparents. I lost my Dad's Dad, whom I called Papa, in October 2002. He died right before my family and I moved to Europe. He was in the Army, served under Patton and survived being blown up in a tank during wartime. My Papa had so many stories to share about his time in the Army, I am sure that he would have been thrilled knowing that we were moving to Germany. Three years later in November of 2005, when the Major was deployed, I lost my Grandma, my Dad's Mom. The kids and I flew to the States to stay with my parents for the Holidays, from Thanksgiving to the New Year, my Grandma was barely hanging on. Everyone in our family had seen her except my brother(whom lived in Chicago at the time) and I. Once we both got to my parents home from our flights, my Dad took us to see my Grandma. Even though she wasn't coherent, she could hear and she knew that we were there. About an hour after we had left from seeing her and got back to my parents' home, we received the call that she had passed away. Did she wait to finally let go until she knew that my brother and I had seen her? I can't say, but my heart feels that she did. December 2007 was probably the most shocking December in our family. Bright and early on the 14th of December I received a call from my Brother telling me that our Granny had died, my Mom's Mom, the night before, which just so happened to be on my Mom's birthday. What a shock this was to hear! I had just talked with her on the phone the day before and she was doing well. One of the most wonderful ladies in my life had now passed away, here I was in living in now Italy and now I was flying back to the States to attend a funeral and to say good-bye to woman that had blessed my life from the time that I was born. I was also flying back to knowing that my Mom had to be completely in shock and devastated knowing that her Mom had passed away not only on her birthday, but while she and my Dad were on a plane flying back to the States from visiting us in Italy. One year and one day later, my Grandaddy passed away, my Mom's Dad. We had just moved back to the States from Italy in early November, a week after we moved back my Grandaddy was hospitalized for his breathing and he stayed in the Hospital until he passed away in December. His dying was so unexpected, death knows no boundaries, no one is ever ready to deal with death. He was a great man, very shy, but if he had something to say, he would say it. In a time span of 6 years, four of the most important people in my life were now gone. Four of the most wisdom filled people that I knew were no longer here. Why do I share all of this with you, because I thanked God. I thanked God when they died. I thank God because he had given me so many beautiful and wonderful memories and years with these four amazing people. I thanked God because all four of these people were there when my children were babies and they got to see my children grow and my children know who they were. I thank God because my Grandparents knew the Lord and they each had a personal relationship with Him. I thank God because when I look at my Nativity set in my home every Christmas, I know that my Grandparents are seeing and living the real Nativity.

Would it have been easy for me to not have thanked God when they each passed away, you bet! Here were four precious people in my life that passed away, I could have been mad, I could have asked God why, I could have been mad because here I was living in Europe and I didn't get to see them and spend as much time with them as the rest of my family got to, but I didn't, I thanked God. It was His will.

What about other situations in which it may be hard to give thanks to God. What about people that hurt you(we can't change people), unanswered prayer(remember God will answer in His time), family situations(let go and give it to God, and sometimes you just have to step to the side and walk away), medical conditions(you may learn to lean more on God), moves especially Military moves(the blessing of new friends and a new place to live where you have never been before), Deployment(look forward to what God may want you to learn and teach you during this deployment), new job(you can share your faith in your workplace be a sunbeam for Him). There are so many things that go wrong in our lives, but one is always good and always remains the same......God! God is there for us all the time. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

Many ask why bad things happen to good people. The fact is that bad things happen to everyone, good and bad. God doesn't give us anything that He knows that we can not handle. Did you hear me? God does not give us anything that we CAN NOT handle. God may let bad things happen in our life so that we can grow closer in our walk with Him, maybe it is to open our eyes, maybe it is to teach us a lesson, maybe it is to draw us closer to friends and family, maybe it is to draw us more into spending time in prayer and in His Word. Whatever the situation is that you are going through, God knows why. We must have FAITH-Forsaking All I Trust Him.

What are you thankful for: the good and the bad.