Suffering Magnifies our Blessings

“The very pleasures of human life men acquire by difficulties.” - St. Augustine

I have recently found myself thanking God for things I have never thanked Him for before. For example, Jonathan has lots of curly hair, and curly hair sheds…a lot. It used to drive me crazy to for so much of his hair to end up all over our shower. (He does try to clean it up though.) But after the pain of walking through almost losing him, I find that I thank God for that hair every time I shower. It is a visual reminder that I still have my husband. Pain gives us a hard but vital lesson in thankfulness. It expands what we see to be thankful for in our lives. Who would think that hardship and suffering could make you MORE thankful? Yet to surviving the painful seasons, we are thrust into a crossroads:

We can accept His hand in our lives and become thankful and changed for good,

OR

We can run from our pain or wallow in our suffering and become bitter and stuck.

It’s life or death for our souls. If we don’t choose to reframe our hearts in gratefulness we will remain trapped in pain. Lament needs to be poured out, but gratefulness must come after or we remain stuck. The act of being thankful helps us see goodness all around us again and widens our view. The very thing that threatened to break us now gives us the gift of a new perspective. Just like the heat of summer magnifies the refreshment of cool water, we gain a deeper well for joy through pain. When you know what it is to lack, being full is sweeter. When you have been lost in the dark, the light seems brighter. When the oceans rage almost drowned you, the firm ground is more precious.

Though I still have a lot to work through, I’m truly thankful that the blessings around me are more magnified. Why should I let little things bother me? I have my husband and my children for today. I want to treasure them and not waste any moment I have. I want to enjoy God’s good things in life, Himself being the utmost. God has no limits, so let me not limit what He can do in me. He truly gives beautiful gifts of redemption in the hard places.