Finding Gratitude Even When We’re Suffering

Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

This next week we will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day. And even though it is the day we set aside each year to think about what we’re grateful for, many of us have feel anything but being grateful.
 
I’m speaking to those of us who each day suffer with a chronic health condition. What can we possibly be thankful for when our lives are filled with pain and sickness?
 

• Who enjoys waking to joints that are stiff and painful making getting out of bed difficult?
• Who enjoys trying to sit down at breakfast when you’re so nauseous that you don’t think you can keep anything down?
• Who enjoys seeing your family walk out the door and into the world when you are stuck at home?
• Who enjoys taking the many medications you must take to treat the disease you battle every day only to have the side effects lash out at you?
• Who enjoys your world being dominated by tests, doctor’s appointments and treatments?

 
No one.
 
But we can choose to look at life differently and with gratitude.
 

• Though we awake to stiff and painful joints we can be grateful for being alive another day.
• Though we may feel nauseous and have a hard time keeping food down, we can be grateful that there is food in our home to eat.
• Though we watch our family go into the world each day without us, we can be grateful that we have a family and one that comes home to us at the end of the day.
• Though we must live with the many side effects the medications we taje, we can be grateful for the treatment options we have unlike others who can’t afford to buy them.
• Though our world is dominated by tests, doctor’s appointments and treatments, we can be grateful for the nurse who speaks to us kindly and for the doctor who is willing to treat us.

 
Yes, no one enjoys living with a chronic health condition, but we have just as much, and even more, to be grateful for. For those of us who suffer, finding something to be grateful for can seem out of reach. But there always is at least one small thing that we can and should be thankful for.
 
You may feel like you don’t even know where to begin to change your way of thinking, take a look at the article on takingcharge.csh.umn.edu, “10 Ways to be a More Thankful Person.” The article shows how feeling thankful can improve our health with the examples of as developing the habit of thanking yourself as you develop healthy habits, and savoring the good moments by stopping a few minutes to focus on the thing we can be grateful for so that when things are tough you have the memory to call to mind.
 
Things aren’t always going to head in the right direction. You will experience pain and suffering caused by your chronic health condition. But you don’t need to add negative feelings into the mix. It can add more sorrow than you need to carry. Yet, as you’ve seen in the article above, you can find something to be grateful for even when you’re suffering.
 
Take a look at the Bible verse above. It says to not be anxious about anything. It seems like an impossible task when all we can see is our life tumbling out of control with no way to stop it. But there is something we can do. We can pray. And as we pray we aren’t to just ask for our needs, but to tell God how grateful we are that we’re not in this alone. Remember that this coming week. Be thankful in all things.

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