My dear wife
Frankie has been having a difficult stressful time at work, so she prayed for
God to give her guidance while on her way to work Thursday. When she arrived at
work a pastor in another department sent her an e-mail quoting 1 Thess. 5:18: “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus for you.” During the day she received three more e-mails from
people in different departments with a paraphrase of this passage, “In all
things give thanks.” Friday Frankie was
in St Louis at the Science Center. Upon entering a man... a total stranger,
stopped her and said, “In all things give thanks.” For anyone out there who is
struggling and thinks God has deserted their sandbox... think again! These five
people all independently chose this passage to share with Frankie, and four
paraphrased it the exact same way, all at the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Work is still difficult and stressful; the problem hasn’t
been fixed yet. And we don’t really know how God will intervene. But somehow,
knowing God is right there in our sandbox... real-time, makes everything
bearable. The clearest personal promise of God in scriptures is “Fear not, for
I am with you.” This point is documented with some variation in over thirty
scripture passages, normally in the Imperative Indicative, a command followed
by an undergirding statement of fact: “Fear not”, the command, followed by “For
I am with you”, the statement of fact: “Fear not, for I am with you.” Being
thankful during adversity demonstrates our trust in the God who is always right
there with us, working our things... our difficulties, into good in accordance
with His divine purpose. If we look closely we will see His footprints in the
sand... feel His breath on our shoulder...
“IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS ...
FOR I AM WITH YOU”
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