What do I have to be thankful for? Are you kidding me??? I can tell you plenty that I can be grumpy for, and I know I'm not alone. There is so much going on in the world that we all have our lists of complaints and agonies. There are way too many issues facing each and every one of us. And believe me, I have my fair share of adversities facing me right now. In fact, I've been trying to repeat over and over in my head "He will not give me more than I can bear. He will not give me more than I can bear. He will not give me more than I can bear." Then, He loads on more and I think, "That's it . . . that is all I can bear" . . . only to turn the corner for even more. When will it stop? When will all the pain and all the adversity and all the brokenness be made whole? It's got to stop, right? How long can I hold on and pretend to be strong when inside I just want to scream, "LORD, LET ME OUT OF THIS. GET ME OUT NOW!!!"

Attempting to have some semblance of normalcy in my morning after getting more bad news over night, I went about the normal routine of replying to emails, reviewing work and approving expenses all the while putting forth great effort to block the banter and screaming in my own head. In doing this, I ran across my daily email from Prime Time With God. Normally on a morning like this I would save that email and announce to myself I would read it later - knowing I seldom return to those emails. This morning was one of those busy days. . . I was getting ready for a Director's Meeting wondering if I needed to print drafts of the budget and trying to remember what else I needed to prepare for the meeting. Needless to say, this wasn't a morning that I would have time for reading emails like that, but I thought, "Hey, yesterday's devotion was exactly what I needed. It was as if they sent that to me knowing what all I was going through. Maybe today is the same thing and since there are more horrible things that have come up since yesterday, today's devotion will probably knock me off my feet." So, I opened the email and started to read the prayer. This is what I read . . .

"Dear Lord, The Book of James (chapter 3) tells me all about the tongue. It's such a little member of the body, but it can do so much harm. We can speak words that bless You and words that curse man who is made in Your image. A few words can uplift, encourage, and do positive things in a person's life and a few words can also put down, discourage, and ruin a person's life."

I thought, "Heh, I just thought this would encourage me today. Guess I was wrong. I really needed something, but oh well."

But, I kept reading . . .

"Please forgive me of allowing any words to leave my mouth that would harm others and dishonor You. I pray that my words will be honest and positive; that they will inspire and challenge others to greatness. Show me who You want me to encourage through my words today. Please help me to affirm someone close to me today, that they will be blessed and You will be glorified. In Jesus' name I pray, amen."

Even though that wasn't the encouragement I was looking for, it did get me to thinking. I had not one happy or encouraging word for myself this morning, so I definitely didn't have anything to share. But yet, I do. . . we all do. Life may be rotten to the core, but I can still share a happy word. Right after I read that I received a call from a friend. That friend didn't know the latest word of my trials, but yet God used her kind words and they inspired me and challenged me to share kind words even in the midst of all the trials I'm going through. Later in the afternoon I finished reading the devotion. There was an excerpt from a comment that George Mueller had said back in the 1800's. I read, "The love of money was gone, the love of place was gone, the love of position was gone, and the love of worldly pleasures and engagements was gone. God, God alone became my portion. I found my all in Him; I wanted nothing else. And by the grace of God this has remained, and has made me a happy man, an exceedingly happy man, and it led me to care only about the things of God."

So, going into Thanksgiving, there is so much I could complain about, but amidst the negative around me I have to realize that I have so much to be thankful for. I am not ungrateful for the worldly pleasures that God has blessed me with like money, place and position because God has blessed me tremendously and I can't ignore that, but the things that I am truly thankful for have much more depth than those worldly treasures. I'm thankful that the grace of God has remained with me even when I'm bitter and angry and complain about the worldly adversities. I'm thankful that like the worldly treasures, these worldly troubles that I'm going through are also temporary. I'm thankful that I have friends and family that are there when I need an encouraging word. I'm also thankful that God will use these troubles in a way that is pleasing to Him. I'm thankful that we all can be a part of His plan. I'm thankful that He is there for me to lean on. I'm thankful that HE is the one in charge and I can give it ALL to Him. I am thankful that there really is so much to be thankful for.