Laura suggested the final Gratituesday of 2008 should be How God was Great in 2008. I love this idea, so much that I already blogged about it a few weeks ago.
As I reflect on 2008 I can clearly see a larger picture unfolding. I know that sometimes, when you are in the middle of a trial or difficult circumstance it is hard to see beyond your situation. Just one year ago I was sitting in a 3 bedroom house, with a husband who was so drugged he couldn’t work, kids that had just been uprooted for the third time in a year, my grandfather was living out his final days in the hospital, and all my close friends lived somewhere else.
Now I look across the street at my old house, and I am alone because my husband is at work and I didn’t drive him there. My kids are surrounded by good friends, it is a joy to see their faces light up when we walk into church on Sundays. My grandfather passed away in January of this year, but I am rejoicing that he is now with Jesus and no longer suffering. I have made many good friends here in Maryland and am thankful to be surrounded by such wise women!
Looking back on our struggles over the past two years I am tempted to wonder, why me? But I will not. These last few years have taught me more about myself and helped me to grow in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I am thankful for my trials not because they made me strong, but because they made me weak. I realize now that the Lord doesn’t need strong vessels, he uses the weak ones. It is only through Him that I can be strong. How thankful I am that I am weak on my own! It really takes the pressure off of me! If I had to do everything on my own I would be a miserable failure, unable to cope with the storms that come my way.
If my strength lies in Him, then all I need is faith. Faith to persevere through the hard times, be joyful in all things, and give thanks to Him for everything.
Looking upward in 2009…
