Thank God for the Ugly

“Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  Philippians 4:6 NIV

I have quoted this verse for as long as I can remember when I would get nervous about something.  But today on my walk, it hit me in a different way.

Lately I’ve been involved in a difficult situation.  One that makes life hard.  One that I wish I could change.  One that I have gone to the Lord about over and over and over.  One that really doesn’t look like it’s going to get better anytime soon.

This morning on my walk I was listening to a sermon and one part of it struck me right between the eyes.  The pastor was preaching on Philippians 4.  He barely made mention of the word “thanksgiving” in the sermon.  But the Holy Spirit highlighted it for me.  I cannot tell you much about the sermon because I was preoccupied with what this verse says

Don’t be anxious, we all know that part, right?  Pray.  We pray about our anxiety, don’t we?  But are we thankful for our circumstances?  Honestly, I’m not.  In fact as I locked my door in the cool of the morning before the sun even was up, I was already lamenting to the Lord.  Do you like how I used the word lamenting?  It sounds so much nicer than complaining.  It makes me sound like the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah.

But as the sun rose bringing light to the day, so the Holy Spirit shined His light on my heart.  Thank me for your circumstance.  Yikes!  After a few paces I did what I had not done before.  I thanked God for my situation.  I thanked Him for how He was using it to shape me into the woman He would have me be.  I thanked Him for the opportunity to serve Him in this situation.  I thanked Him for the future with this situation.

By the time I was back at home my heart was in a different place.  Had my circumstances changed?  No.  But I was doing life differently.

May I challenge you to thank God for the difficult in your life.  Thank Him for the ugly.  Thank Him for the impossible.  I don’t know what happens next.  But I know I want to walk in obedience to Him.  Will you walk with me?