In Everything

I’ll be honest, its that time of the week when I sit down and write down my thoughts on life and this week I’m feeling a bit obligated to write about giving thanks. Makes sense right? Had it not been that today is Thanksgiving in the states, I probably would have been writing on something else, but I’ll try and make this work. I don’t feel like writing on thanksgiving, but biblically I think that that fact alone may qualify me to write on exactly that.

A couple weeks ago, I taught devotionals on back to back days. I spoke both days on the will of God as shown in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22. Whenever I use this passage, I always preface it with a really exciting question: “Who wants to know the will of God?” The hands always go up as undoubtedly that is one of the biggest desires and prayer requests of so many believers. We writhe in our uneasiness as we think that if we only had more direction we’d be fine. We equate that desire with wanting to know the will of God, when our direction and God’s plan for our lives is only part of His will for us. Go ahead and read that passage and you’ll find out God’s will for you.


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Did you actually read it? You really ought to… Okay, I’ll assume that you read it. There are so many good things in there about what we should be doing at all times and how we position ourselves to be in God’s will and blessing. As an aside for those that want life direction, my suggestion is that you do all the things in this verse and you’ll thus position yourself to receive the Lord’s direction in your life. But what I really want to highlight is the tying verse of this passage. Verse 18: “…in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

I spend too much time in my own head. In this technological day, many of my thoughts go through this filter of what is worthy of being a Facebook update and what is worthy of going in a blog. This could be potentially dangerous as it could (and undoubtedly at times does) perpetuate a false depiction of myself that is visible to others. Nonetheless, it is a way that I organize my thoughts and I typically have two or three inner dialogues that could make their way into blog themes. One such topic of the last week has been the fact that I’ve been feeling restless, insecure, bored, lonely and frustrated at various times as of late. I wish that I could tell you that I’ve got it all together, but I’m realizing more and more that that is certainly not the case. If I had the diction of C.S. Lewis, I would be able to delve into my feelings to all of you. But I don’t and my feeble words could at best scratch the surface of the complexity that is going on in my soul. I can’t make sense of it myself and can only identify certain factors that contribute to this feeling. However, the sum of this feeling seems to be greater than the parts that I see feeding into it.

There are sources to this feeling. The restlessness seems to be coming from a desire for something new to shake up my life. Don’t be fooled by the blog heading, sometimes the last thing my life feels like is an adventure. The insecurity is probably the most embarrassing to admit as I can’t remember another time in my life where I’ve seen or felt insecure. A major contributor to this has been less than expected contact with so many loved ones back in the states. I want people to be interested in my life. Most specifically, I want people who have had a significant impact in my past to be interested in what the Lord is doing now. Seeing that that just isn’t the case with all such friends has led to me feeling insecure. I feel bored because my schedule doesn’t have much flavor or variety especially with other Moshi friends gone. I feel lonely because I’m largely alone, go figure. I get frustrated because life in Tanzania is often inconvenient and any big or little thing can drive me crazy. These are some of the sources that I see, but like I said the sum is greater than the parts.

So that would have been a blog, but how depressing would that have been? I’m glad that its not a blog. For one, as a writer, while I’m not afraid of showing emotion in my writing, I can’t allow it to be a coping mechanism, which it has been at times and that’s not good. Furthermore, I do know that God is greater than my problems and feelings and that He is good. Period. I might feel bad, but He’s good. I might get frustrated, bored or restless but His plan is still perfect. I might feel insecure, but He’s eternally all-powerful. I might be lonely, but He hasn’t forgotten me and He’s with me. He remains worthy in the midst of stuff that doesn’t seem too good.

You hear it often that people say if you need to think of something to say thanks to God for start with your next breath. That’s good and true and we should give him thanks for our very breath. He’s worthy of that. I heard a story about some desert fathers (I think that’s who it was, correct me in the comments if you know better) who had this ritual of continually saying the same short prayer with every breath that they took. How’s that for praying without ceasing? Or how about the fact the Hebrew name for God “Yahweh” fits perfectly into our very breath. Inhale and whisper “Yah,” exhale and whisper “weh.” I think that’s cool. We should thank Him for the simplest of blessings like our very breath.

However, I know that hearing people say that doesn’t always evoke thanksgiving. The reason for that is that we’re not thinking about our breath most of the time. Its become too natural, just like eating, drinking, sleeping and everything else like that. Perhaps taking such things for granted, our minds are instead racked with the problems and situations that we are currently facing; the lost job, the broken relationship, the uncertain future, you name it. These situations can often lead to feelings like those that I’ve struggled with lately. It can be hard to thank God even for simple things when such feelings can be so debilitating.

Enter the verse that I mentioned… “in everything give thanks.” “In everything,” how many things does that leave out? I love the revolutionary aspect of following Christ. So many things about the Gospel of Jesus Christ fly in the face of common mindsets and practices found in most cultures and eras. This is one of those things. It is a nice sentiment to say, “when the world gives you lemons, make some sort of fruity drink,” but if you look around, you’ll realize that the common practice is that if life gives you lemons, you are entitled to complain and gripe about the situation. However in this passage, the Lord teaches us neither of these two reactions. Paul writes that no matter what happens, we are just people that give thanks. If you get lemons, give thanks. If you get watermelons, mangoes, peas or potatoes, give thanks. No matter what happens give thanks.  It is revolutionary. Discouragement is common. It comes from either the natural outcome of a fallen world and human soul or from the supernatural attack from our adversary. Those things would want us to become ungrateful and by the world’s standards, you’ve got every right. However, following Jesus turns everything on its head and we get to do something far more meaningful that flies in the face our circumstances, we give thanks. That’s a beautiful part of living in this Kingdom.

Don’t get it twisted, this isn’t a façade masked in Christian practicum. We don’t take the paddle on the back side, grit our teeth and say “thank you sir, may I have another?” We actually have something to say thank you for in the midst of life’s toughest dishes. Let’s start with our salvation. How about we say thank you that no matter what happens in this life, we have already received eternal life that ensures that this vapor of a lifetime will be eternally pale in comparison to the life to come. That’s a nice start. How about thanking God for His promises in His word like Romans 8:28 - “And we know that all things work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” We can say thank you because we know that God is even using the bad situation as promised in James 1:2-4. And if all else fails, we fall back on the fact that we are people that live by faith and that means we realize more is going on in the spirit realm that we can’t even see. God is at work and for that we give thanks.

So today, I choose to give thanks. I thank the Lord for my breath. I thank the Lord for my salvation and the promises that I find in His word. I thank God that He’s doing more than I can see. I thank God for my 26 children and the good work that He is doing in each of their lives. I thank God for my beautiful fiancé. I thank God for my family and friends back in the states that are praying, supporting, and encouraging me. I thank God for my friends and co-laborers here in Moshi. I thank God for His calling on my life. I thank God for the opportunities that He gives me daily to worship Him. I thank God for His strength to be victorious in all situations. I thank God that sin, sickness and death don’t have the last word over me or my loved ones. I thank God that He has the final and ongoing word over my life and the lives of my loved ones. I thank God because He is good, all the time; for this we give praise.

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The Rundown: Well, its been a normal week. The students at Fountain of Hope are on break so ICC was pretty chill this Sunday as there were only a handful of people there. It was good. Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday in Tanzania (or most countries for that matter), but I did go to a nice get-together with other internationals today. I got my fill on turkey and got to hang out with some friends which was nice. I’m not doing anything on the actual Thanksgiving day though (that is today, by the time I post this bad boy). I definitely wish that I could be with loved ones in the states watching football and getting my grub on, but I thank God that I’m still in Tanzania and that my furlough doesn’t start till January. He has reasons for those things and I’m glad I can be with my kids. Yeah, so that is pretty much it. I threw some reaction buttons down at the bottom of this post (and all the other ones), if you don't have a minute to comment, take half a second to hit one of those. If you didn't like it, then don't do anything. I thought about having a dislike type of reaction, but that would be counter-intuitive to my self-esteem.

Happy Thanksgiving, family.