FireQuill Publications
The Short Stories And Bible Studies
The Short Stories And Bible Studies
of Kathy Kearney
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In Everything?
By Kathy Kearney (C) 1973
I Thessalonians 5:18 gives this rather terse bit of advice. No, not advice, but a command. “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Pleasant injunction. I get $5 from an unexpected source for an emergency, and my grateful heart rushes to do this verse’s bidding. All is smooth and “the medicine goes down.”
Up until a certain incident in my life, I never had a scrap of trouble with that verse—until five years ago.
Five years ago I had surgery for cancer; surgery that left an unsightly scar on the right side of my neck. Oh, how I hated that scar! Sure, I could thank God for the healing of my cancer through medical treatment, but accept that scar—never!
I did everything and anything to cover it up. In sweltering heat I donned turtleneck sweaters. I wore a scarf with open-collared shirts. All new dresses had to have high collars. But collars have to come off at the end of the day, and my mirror would show that angry, obvious, red ropy looking scar. Well, I determined that no one but me would ever lay eyes on it—surely someone must carry a turtleneck bathing suit!
But what really showed was my attitude. It’s hard, if not impossible, to cover up an angry raw attitude. Of course, if anyone had told me that my attitude was more prominent than my scar, I would have disagreed. How did I know that? Well, someone did, and sure enough, I disagreed hotly.
But this dear friend Trish wouldn’t back down from my raw angry response. Gentle but persistent, she played hardball by quoting that verse. “Kathy, your attitude is rebellious, and you are arguing with God. That scar is part of His plan for your life and His glory, and you are crying, ‘Foul!’”
Even in my anger, I knew she was right because God’s Word is right. I recalled how God gave both my husband and me, separately, when I entered the hospital five years before the passage from Romans 8:28, “For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” If this verse is true, then my scar came under the all-encompassing “all things” that worked for my good.
As my friend and I read the verse from I Thessalonians together, I felt a longing to submit this situation to God with thanksgiving for I was weary of the battle. Later, when I thanked God for my scar, a great sense of relief came over me.
After that a whole new world of discovery opened before me. A grand awareness of God’s sovereignty in my life gave my Bible reading and praying an aliveness that hadn’t been there before. I began to see God’s hand in every area of my being, gently pressing me to Himself. It came to me that nothing, absolutely nothing could come into my life without God’s permission. I was his dearly beloved child, He my loving Father. I could safely thank Him for everything, even if looked bleak, terrifying and destructive.
Is what I discovered a new concept? Hardly. Thousands of years ago a man named Job suffered the ultimate of loss. His family swept away, his worldly goods trashed, his health destroyed. The words he uttered as he sifted through the ashes of his former prosperity were not the expected and understandable: “Why me?” But rather, “The Lord gave and Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21) Blessed be the name of the Lord!Listen to him!
He’s praising God in the midst of horrendous loss. Listen to Him seated on garbage dump covered from head to toe with agonizing, itching boils when his wife comes to him and bids him curse God and die. “You speak as a foolish woman. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10)
When we give thanks to God in everything, we are agreeing with Him that His plan for our lives is right. This attitude of gratefulness makes submission not only easier, but also divinely wise. It also opens our eyes to see the positive things that can occur.
But what if I don’t feel thankful. The verse addresses our will, not our feelings. It doesn’t say, “Be thankful.” It says, “Give thanks in.” Sometimes I have given thanks from a heart of sorrow and hesitancy. That’s all right, my emotions are totally unreliable gauges of God’s grace. Obey the command, God will take care of the willy-nilly emotions.
Several weeks after I thanked God for my scar, my friend and I went to a banquet. It was a warm evening, and I wore a dress with the collar open. We went into the ladies’ room to freshen up and I when I looked into the mirror I commented, “You know Trish, I can hardly see the scar. It blends in with my skin and looks pink not red. It’s changed!
My friend looked at me with a grin and remarked, “I don’t think your scar has changed all that much, but you heart sure has.”
I Thessalonians 5:18 gives this rather terse bit of advice. No, not advice, but a command. “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Pleasant injunction. I get $5 from an unexpected source for an emergency, and my grateful heart rushes to do this verse’s bidding. All is smooth and “the medicine goes down.”
Up until a certain incident in my life, I never had a scrap of trouble with that verse—until five years ago.
Five years ago I had surgery for cancer; surgery that left an unsightly scar on the right side of my neck. Oh, how I hated that scar! Sure, I could thank God for the healing of my cancer through medical treatment, but accept that scar—never!
I did everything and anything to cover it up. In sweltering heat I donned turtleneck sweaters. I wore a scarf with open-collared shirts. All new dresses had to have high collars. But collars have to come off at the end of the day, and my mirror would show that angry, obvious, red ropy looking scar. Well, I determined that no one but me would ever lay eyes on it—surely someone must carry a turtleneck bathing suit!
But what really showed was my attitude. It’s hard, if not impossible, to cover up an angry raw attitude. Of course, if anyone had told me that my attitude was more prominent than my scar, I would have disagreed. How did I know that? Well, someone did, and sure enough, I disagreed hotly.
But this dear friend Trish wouldn’t back down from my raw angry response. Gentle but persistent, she played hardball by quoting that verse. “Kathy, your attitude is rebellious, and you are arguing with God. That scar is part of His plan for your life and His glory, and you are crying, ‘Foul!’”
Even in my anger, I knew she was right because God’s Word is right. I recalled how God gave both my husband and me, separately, when I entered the hospital five years before the passage from Romans 8:28, “For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” If this verse is true, then my scar came under the all-encompassing “all things” that worked for my good.
As my friend and I read the verse from I Thessalonians together, I felt a longing to submit this situation to God with thanksgiving for I was weary of the battle. Later, when I thanked God for my scar, a great sense of relief came over me.
After that a whole new world of discovery opened before me. A grand awareness of God’s sovereignty in my life gave my Bible reading and praying an aliveness that hadn’t been there before. I began to see God’s hand in every area of my being, gently pressing me to Himself. It came to me that nothing, absolutely nothing could come into my life without God’s permission. I was his dearly beloved child, He my loving Father. I could safely thank Him for everything, even if looked bleak, terrifying and destructive.
Is what I discovered a new concept? Hardly. Thousands of years ago a man named Job suffered the ultimate of loss. His family swept away, his worldly goods trashed, his health destroyed. The words he uttered as he sifted through the ashes of his former prosperity were not the expected and understandable: “Why me?” But rather, “The Lord gave and Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21) Blessed be the name of the Lord!Listen to him!
He’s praising God in the midst of horrendous loss. Listen to Him seated on garbage dump covered from head to toe with agonizing, itching boils when his wife comes to him and bids him curse God and die. “You speak as a foolish woman. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10)
When we give thanks to God in everything, we are agreeing with Him that His plan for our lives is right. This attitude of gratefulness makes submission not only easier, but also divinely wise. It also opens our eyes to see the positive things that can occur.
But what if I don’t feel thankful. The verse addresses our will, not our feelings. It doesn’t say, “Be thankful.” It says, “Give thanks in.” Sometimes I have given thanks from a heart of sorrow and hesitancy. That’s all right, my emotions are totally unreliable gauges of God’s grace. Obey the command, God will take care of the willy-nilly emotions.
Several weeks after I thanked God for my scar, my friend and I went to a banquet. It was a warm evening, and I wore a dress with the collar open. We went into the ladies’ room to freshen up and I when I looked into the mirror I commented, “You know Trish, I can hardly see the scar. It blends in with my skin and looks pink not red. It’s changed!
My friend looked at me with a grin and remarked, “I don’t think your scar has changed all that much, but you heart sure has.”
