Encouragement, Healing, Love, Praise, Relationship to Christ, Repentance, Salvation, Struggles, Thankfulness, Trust, Witnessing, Worship

Thankfulness in Trials

Today we are looking at an example of thankfulness in the middle of trying times. In our Bible Journaling Scripture, we are looking at the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers. The story is found in Luke 17:11-19 with our focus on verse 19, “And he told him, ‘Get up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.’”(CSB) In the story, ten lepers came to Jesus asking Him to heal them. Jesus told them to go to the priest to show themselves, and as they went, they were healed. However, only one came back to thank Jesus for his healing.

J. Vernon McGee, in his commentary on Luke, says, “Jesus healed ten lepers. Only one of the ten, who was a Samaritan, returned to thank Jesus for what He had done. Jesus then did a second thing for him—He forgave his sins. The other nine lepers were healed but were not saved. Thankfulness should be in the Christian’s heart. Why do you go to church on Sunday? Do you go there to worship God and thank Him for all He has done for you? Part of your worship is to thank Him. About the only thing we can give to God is our thanksgiving. How wonderful it is just to thank Him. We are even to make our requests to God with thanksgiving. We ought to have a thankful heart toward him.”

I have heard this story and read it all my life, and one thing that jumped out at me as I was reading Dr. McGee’s comments, was that the leper was saved, and the rest were not. Because in verse 19 Jesus tells the leper that his faith that Jesus would heal him is what saved him. The Bible tells us that without faith we cannot be saved. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (KJV) Therefore, not only was the man healed because of his faith but he was also saved because of his faith. Because of his faith, the leper came back to Jesus to thank him. As Dr. McGee states, thankfulness must be part of the Christian’s heart and life.  

When we are going through trials, it isn’t always easy to be thankful. I’m sure the lepers weren’t jumping for joy at having a disease that distanced them from the rest of the population. However, Jesus healed them as they were going to the priest to be cleansed. They weren’t healed at the time He sent them, but as they were headed down the road to the synagogue they were healed. When they saw they were being healed, only one came back to say thank you. He knew the Source of his healing and could do nothing else but say “Thank you.” A heart of thankfulness even in daily struggles shows God that we trust Him even when things aren’t going the way we desire. It shows our love for Him and is a part of worshipping Him. Worship isn’t just singing songs or hearing a sermon, it’s telling Him, “Thank you,” for saving us, guiding us, teaching us, and loving us.  

Instead of grumbling about having leprosy, the man took the time to thank Jesus for healing even though his healing wasn’t complete at the moment Jesus told him to go. His healing happened on the way. We may not see the end of our trials yet, but we can still worship Him with gratitude, not for the trial, but for knowing that He is with us, and is working everything out for our good. (Romans 8:28) Having a heart of gratitude helps us look at the situation with different eyes. Instead of saying, “Why me?” we can say, “I don’t understand why, but I know You are planning things out for my good, so thank you God.” Is that easy? Not always, but when we have a heart attitude of gratitude and thankfulness, the trials will seem a little less difficult because our attitude has changed, and we know we are not alone. So, if you are going through struggles, try an attitude of gratefulness, you may just find that it isn’t as hard as it seems.

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Donna Knuth Rice

I am trying a blog for the first time in my life, and frankly, I feel like I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing! But, here goes. I work at a Christian Television network in the Correspondence Department, where I write letters and emails to our viewers, pray with them for their needs, and send materials they request. I am a Christian. I was saved at the age of 11 during a youth meeting at my church. My pastor led me to the Lord, and to say the least, my life has been an adventure. I am a widow. My late husband, Allen, passed away after 34 1/2 years of marriage. He had been sick the last seven years of his life, and it was a struggle, for him and for me. We met as part of a singing group that was affiliated with a Christian Radio station, and we sang together all through our lives together. We both worked in television and radio all through our married life, mostly for Christian stations. Besides singing I also play flute. I had the luxury of having parents who started out as music teachers...so music was in our house constantly. Some people describe me as being a loud-mouthed lime type...can't disagree with that. I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth more times than I can count! I also have a tendency to say exactly what's on my mind...which is why I get myself in so much trouble! LOL! Trust me, that's something me and God have been working on for a very long time. I have no children here on earth, although I have a baby in heaven. My baby here is my dog Jack. He's a black lab/ chow mix. He's a big boy....thinks he's a lap dog! Can't think of much else to say. The reason I started this blog is because a few months ago in church, a guest pastor came and delivered a message, and when he asked for those of us who wanted prayer to come forward, I did. When he came to me he asked me if I did any journaling. I told him no 'cause I wasn't very good at it. He told me to start, and prophesied over me that my journal thoughts would impact other people. I wasn't sure just how I was to go about doing this. In fact, I was a little hesitant at first. I started journaling at home, and our assistant pastor's wife asked me to submit something for our Senior newsletter. I didn't the first edition, but something I had heard on Christian radio a long time ago and has stuck with me all these years, came to mind so I submitted an article. That article will be my first post. I don't claim to have all the answers, and my thoughts may seem a little "out there", but I feel God has been prodding me to do this, and so here I am. I hope what I post will bring encouragement, and "Something to Think About".

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