Death, Encouragement, Faith, Fear, Grief, Hope, Life, Peace, Praise, Relationship to Christ, Rest, Struggles, Trust, Worship

Gratitude when Life is Hard

There is no one in the Bible who had a more challenging time in life than Job.  Satan requested from God permission to see if he could make Job turn from God.  The Lord told him he could throw anything at Job, but God told Satan he couldn’t take Job’s life.  Job remained true to God even after losing his children, his livestock, his livelihood, and his health.  Even after all this devastation, Job remained faithful to God.  Job 1:21 says, “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”  I am amazed that even after all Satan threw at Job, he was still able to praise God. 

Going through life-altering situations can really throw us into a deep crevasse of despair, anger, and outright anger at God for allowing those things to happen to us.  But I’ve learned something through those times.  I’ve grown in my walk with the Lord far more than if I would never have gone through them, and God knew what I would need to prepare me for the next hard thing down the pathway. 

I’ve had some exceedingly difficult moments in my life that could have sent me into a panic.  After my first husband and I came back from our honeymoon, he went to work one day, came home for supper, and decided to go back to work to finish some projects.  He hadn’t unloaded our truck and decided to take his motorcycle, so he unloaded the bike from the truck, but the bike had a flat tire.  Then he decided to take our VW Beetle, but he didn’t want to take all his tools out of the truck and put them in the car, so he took the truck and headed back to work.  About 15 minutes later I got a call from his boss, who also happened to be an EMS paramedic on an ambulance crew, and he told me my husband had been in an accident.  My mind went immediately to thinking I’d just become a widow.  He assured me my husband was ok, but I needed to pick him up.  It just so happened that the accident was 5 minutes away from our house.  Some teenagers were drag-racing on a curvy, country road and hit my husband head-on.  Everyone was ok, no one was hurt, but it could have gone so bad if my husband had taken either the motorcycle or the VW.  That was my first experience at how God held me in a moment of pure fear. 

Fast forward 27 years and my husband had a stroke, and then the following year an even worse stroke that left him paralyzed on his left side.  I learned how God walked with me through 11 years of taking care of him, learning to live on my own and deal with all the things he normally would have dealt with.  At the end of those 11 years, God took him home, and for five years I experienced life as a widow and found that I could lean on God and He would never leave me. 

God brought me another husband at the end of those five years.  Then we found out on our honeymoon that my new husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  Immediately I prayed, “God no, not again!”  But God held both of us, and after radiation treatment, my husband was declared cancer-free.  That was almost 7 years ago.  Again, God came through, showing His faithfulness.  Even though Satan tried his best to get to me, God wouldn’t let him do his dirty work.

Psalm 23:4 says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”  Notice it says walk through the valley.  We don’t stay there; God guides us through it and stays with us to comfort us. This verse and  Hebrews 4:16 which says, “ Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” have carried me through all those times.  My heart could be at peace because I knew that God would never leave me alone, and I could go to Him at any time and pour out my heart to Him and He would help me.  I found that during those times in my life, my worship was more heartfelt and intense, and gratitude for God’s loving care filled my soul.

I share this to tell you, that even in the middle of the most devastating thing that could ever happen to you, God will always be faithful.  During those times, I may not have immediately given praise to God or shown gratitude for the problem, but when the dust settled, I was able to thank God for being with me through it all, and you can too.  When you find yourself in a hard life situation, remember He will help you and you can give Him praise for taking you through your difficulty.

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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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