Your troubles are momentary and very soon hardships will come to pass. If a woman in a tiny village in Ghana can thank God for taking care of her, you can too. Today, count the bountiful blessings God has poured out upon you during this season – and don’t forget to thank him.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a few Thanksgiving thoughts.
And I wonder what your Thanksgiving table looked like yesterday. Okay let me guess. It was crowded with platters of turkey, bowls of stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables, dishes filled with cranberry sauce, a big pumpkin pie [maybe two] to top it off. I tell you, when America celebrates Thanksgiving, it does so in abundance. Because we have been blessed with so, so much; we are so very thankful to God for all the many good things he provides here in America.
And it’s why I'm always mindful on Thanksgiving week to think of places where people don’t have much to eat; people who have very little, but still, are just as thankful. I remember when I was talking with an African sister in Christ in a small village in Ghana. I was really impressed with her quiet, humble spirit. She wore brightly colored tribal clothes with a turban-like headdress. Although I guessed she was young, her hands were weathered and lined. After she shared her testimony in Christ, I asked what her favorite Bible verse was. A knowing smile spread across her face and her eyes lit up. And without hesitation, she said, “Oh, Joni, my favorite Bible verse is Judges 15:1.” And I gave her a puzzled look. So I asked her, “What does it say?” to which she replied, “’But it came to pass within a while after.’ That’s my favorite part, and it came to pass.”
It was a familiar phrase from God's Word, but I had to ask this African woman to explain more about it. “Oh, Joni,” she said with a deep sigh, “It is a hard life we live in our country. The weather is harsh, and our crops sometimes fail. It's at those times we don't know where the next meal is coming from. We have no money, nothing to offer our children. But we have God!" she said in a hearty voice. "And we know he will take care of us. We can look at the misery around us and know that God will see us through. We can smile and say, 'It came to pass.'"
Those words remind me of 1 Peter 5:10, which says, "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you." I don't face drought and failing crops, but I am in a wheelchair and it's why I appreciate the words, "After you have suffered for a little while." Oh my goodness, our troubles are but momentary according to 2 Corinthians 4:17, and very soon hardships will come to pass – they will be behind us.
So today, in light of all the many blessings God has poured out upon us here in America, all the bounty, all the abundant provisions, let me close with this poem by Martha Snell Nicolson. I shared it at the beginning of the week, but it’s worth repeating [and don’t forget you can go to my radio page at joniradio.org and download it]. And it goes like this:
“We give Thee our griefs, O Father, We cast our burdens on Thee, The woes of all Thy children, Are before Thee constantly. We bring Thee our sins and follies, We pour our tears at Thy feet. But help us, O Lord, to remember, That Thy heart might find it sweet, If we brought Thee our joys and pleasures, As well as our sorrow and tears, Would not the sound of our laughter, Make music in Thine ears? To the earthly giver we tender, The smile and the grateful word; How then can we be forgetting, To thank our bountiful Lord?”
Let us hear from you today on my radio page at joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends