Thankfulness Amidst Adversity

With Thanksgiving having just ended and the Christmas season upon us, I have had the opportunity to ponder recently on many aspects of life, and the reasons for gratitude. As many of you know, my life has not turned as I expected this last year. As a result it has been an interesting mental journey to figure out what exactly it is that I should be grateful for.

I would take you on the mental journey that I went on, but a good portion of it is far too personal for a medium like this. So I choose to leave out the first portion of my thought process. I however would like to share where I ended up on this journey, for I fear that is the important part anyway.

As a background to lead in to my thoughts let me say this. Life has not been easy. I have had to deal with problems, as all people do. During the last year certain events have transpired that have made it difficult at times to remain truly happy.

But amidst all this I still remain extremely grateful for what I have. Maybe the circumstances have actually caused me to be more grateful then I otherwise would have been. The more that I think about it, the more I begin to understand that unforeseen changes should be expected. What would life be without all these twists and turns? It would be predictable, it would be boring. Life would ultimately become stagnant and we wouldn’t see any progression. As I look back on this year I can see a considerable change in myself. A change that could only have occurred had I gone through this refiners fire.

I have learned a great deal about attitude and how that effects out happiness. It would be extremely easy for me to want to give up, to go around depressed. But I choose to not let the circumstances around me affect my happiness. That is beyond my control. As long as I know that I am remaining faithful in my covenants I have every right to be grateful for what God sees fit to bestow upon me at present. I truly have been given many opportunities and I expect to continue to learn and grow in the ways that God wants me to. Thus, while life has been challenging and has seemed to hand me more then my fair share of trials, I feel a sense of happiness. A joy that cannot be taken away from me. I am grateful for the wonderful support that I have had through this all. Those who have stood by me and helped me when I needed can truly be counted as friends.