” Thanksgiving is what God wants you to do, especially when giving thanks is hard as a mother.”
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you felt like God had abandoned you? I have felt this way before. Shortly before the birth of my second child, which by the way was 5 years after the birth of my first child. I believed God for a smooth pregnancy, which I had, but also for a normal delivery like I had with my first child. I prayed it, declared it and envisioned it.
But things changed quickly on the day of my EDD. I was greeted with a scan that revealed the placenta descending ahead of my baby. I felt so bad that day, tears welled up in my eyes when the doctor said that a C-section was the next best option.
I was sad and angry at God at the same time. Why didn’t he honor the words that I had been speaking? That moment didn’t feel like the best time to give him thanks. But I still gave him thanks and had my baby via a successful C-section.
Now you imagine a mother who has just lost her child. How easy is it for her to give God thanks in that moment.
Or you imagine a woman who is trying to have a child. She has waited for years, cried many tears and prayed endlessly and still no answers.
Is giving thanks something so easy for her to do in that season of her life?
Think about it.
A heart and life of thanksgiving never comes to you easily.
It will take a lot of courage and trust in a higher power to always find reasons to be thankful. Especially when you are in the midst of difficulty and challenges.
I once read about a woman who was falsely accused of falsifying figures to steal at her workplace. She was put in prison for months, but was eventually released when the real culprit, her boss confessed to framing her up.
She had lived a honest life and kept integrity as her watchword, yet she had to suffer for someone’s evil actions.
I can imagine how difficult it must have been for her to God thanks in that season of her life.
‘What is there to be thankful for?‘ are words I have heard people speak in trying times. Those words sometimes come from a place of pain, bitterness, hopelessness and anger at God and life.
So what do you do when giving thanks is hard.
I will say to you, become like Jesus who stood before the grave of his dead friend and wept. Yes, Jesus wept. But after weeping, he looked up, gave thanks to God and called forth life from a dead situation. He trusted God in that moment to bring back life to a dead and hopeless situation.
You may be going through a very challenging situation in your life right now and you even feel like God has abandoned you. And giving thanks is not in your to-do list.
Do you know what God asks us to do in times like this?
I will tell you what he wants you to do.
God wants you to give him thanks in and through everything.
“And in the midst of everything be always giving thanks, for this is God’s perfect plan for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 TPT
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT
This is what you do when giving thanks is hard.
Are you that mother going through a difficult season in in her life and family?
Give God thanks.
Are you that woman who is broken, hurt and going through deep emotional trauma?
Give God thanks.
Are you that mother who has just lost her newborn child?
Give God thanks.
Are you that mother who feels like God has abandoned you?
Give God thanks.
Are you that mother-in-waiting who is battling infertility and desires to hold a baby in your arms?
Give God thanks.
It is never easy to give thanks in a challenging or difficult situation, but you must try to find that tiny spark of hope and courage in your heart and utter these words, ‘Thank you Lord’.
So whenever giving thanks feels hard for you, remember what God wants you to do in your life at all times – being thankful in all circumstances.
Will you always give thanks to God even when it seems and feels difficult?
