11

A large part of where I need to be more thankful is in the hidden blessings. Many times these can be disguised as hardships, failures, or frustrations. But when we choose to look beyond the momentary trouble, God can reveal to us the immense blessing that pours from them. Sometimes this can be a trouble that we have in our own lives and other times it is when we witness someone else experience something which leads us to thankfulness and gratitude.

An example in my own life is CK's Papa Lee. I only knew his Papa for a short time - about two and a half years and met him around five or six times. But something in me was drawn to him. His nature to me was sweet, calm, and attentive. Although I am sure that other family members could tell me things that I wasn't aware of, this was my breakdown of the older man. He battled years and years of a few types of cancer that wore his body down from I'm sure what used to be a strong and able bodied man, to a weak and frail one. Two months before Chris and I got married Papa got very weak and we knew that it would only be a short time until he passed away. For years family members had tried telling Papa of Christ's love for him but he would look away and never understood it deep down.

It was getting close to the end so his children and grandchildren made the trip to Gresham, OR to tell him goodbye and have some good last memories. One afternoon Chris and his brothers and dad went through the Four Spiritual Laws booklet with him. If you don't know what this booklet is, it's the gospel in a few pages, a way to share Christ with someone. After they were finished the family headed outside for a walk, all but Chris and Papa Lee. Papa looked over at Chris and told him that what they just read he believed for the first time. A few days later, Papa went to be with Jesus.

This story, although heartbreaking because of disease and suffering, is joyous. If we were to focus on the loss of Papa, his years of debilitating disease, or the fact that he wasn't able to celebrate with us at our wedding or the birth of Siena... we would miss it. Because he was led down a hard road, his family members knew that time was short. They didn't have forever to share Christ's love and they took a step of faith - a hard one to take. But Papa is in heaven now, praising and glorifying God forever.

JOB Day 11 - Write down one of the blessings God has revealed to you through a painful trial

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**If you desire to cultivate a heart of thankfulness & are willing to try it for 31 days (give or take - there is always grace here) - post a comment during any of my blogs that relate to thankfulness.
I will send you a gift at the end to show my thankfulness for you. If you are curious what the JOB is read my post here.

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The List:

1. Your name and your blog's name

2. Your blog's url

3. Write "A quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."

4. Favorite Quote

3. Favorite Song

6. Favorite Band/Singers

7. Something you want to say

8. Tag Friends