Giving Thanks In All Things!

Please help me welcome my guest writer for today, Shelly Hendricks! Shelly is my mentor! She gave me space on her website two years ago in which to begin writing, and then gently over time pushed me out of the nest to fly solo!

Shelly and I not only share a wonderful friendship and love for writing, we also share the very same chronic illness known as Intracranial Hypertension.

I give thanks to the Lord in so many different ways for bringing Shelly into my life.

I know you'll be blessed by what Shelly has to share with us today.

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."
Romans 8:37

He meant it for evil. Is there any doubt of that? Look at what we deal with on a daily basis. Does it seem benign to you? Insignificant? Harmless? Painless? How about easy?

Of course he meant it for evil. It's who he is, it's what he does, he could have no other intentions toward us.

But, ah, he underestimates our God. No, that's not right. I think it goes deeper than mere underestimation. I think he cannot fathom the heart and mind of our God. It is beyond his capabilities because that much good, even as only a contemplation would make his head explode.

Tomorrow on Thanksgiving Day, as I think of all of the things I am thankful for, as I call to mind each of my blessings, as I savor the lovely things of my life, I will turn those very things he meant for evil into a praise that I offer my King.

I choose 

thankfulness

as my weapon

of choice.

I am thankful for a chronic illness and disability that pull me closer to my Saviour on a daily basis.

I am grateful for the empathy that this pain gives me for others.

I savor the losses as well as the gains, because each one has helped to soften me for the molding.

I embrace the tears because they release my pain to the One who is big enough to hold it, and cares enough to keep each precious drop.

I revel in the laughter because those moments are no longer taken for granted, but held close and brought out like a precious and shining treasure on dark days.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

And I am oh, so Thankful. Because the God of Joseph is also the God of Shelly.

He's the God

of YOU!

"But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."
Genesis 50:20

Happy Thanksgiving,
One and All!

"Dear Lord, not only today, but every single day all year through, I offer my thanks and praise to You. It will never be enough, but it is all that I have, and I will strive to not become distracted from it. Thank you for bearing my sins, my grief, my pain, my faults, and my insignificance on that cross. I cannot wait to spend eternity with You. In Jesus' Name, Amen"

Shelly Benoit Hendricks is a wife and mother of two amazing teens. They live the good life in Central Iowa. Shelly lives with Intracranial Hypertension, and has a shunt in her brain. She is a writer for God's glory. She depends on God for all strength and hopes to encourage others on this journey, through her writing and her devotional books. You can find her books on Amazon.

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

I Thessalonians 5:18

Photo by blancastella