Thankful for Trials

You may have wondered if I had fallen off my “rocker” (hey I am 50!) by looking at the title of this blog, “Thankful for Trials”. Let me assure you I have not nor have I become masochistic in my thinking. Permit me to explain myself.

A number of months ago a young lady from my church challenged her FB friends to consider being thankful for things in life rather than complain about circumstances and see how it would change our thinking. I decided to take up the challenge and though there are days I could and have indeed complained about things I feel my attitude is changing somewhat as I do thank God for situations in my life. Not surprisingly it is a lot easier to be thankful to God for the blessings and good things that happen in my life, as the old hymn encourages us to, but I have found that I can thank God for the trials and what I would be tempted to call “bad” things and circumstances in life the past while. Over the past few years I have begun to learn to give thanks to God for situations I have found myself in.

It was 33 years ago on March 20, 1979 that as a senior at Prairie High School (now Prairie Christian Academy) in Three Hills, Alberta that I gave my sermon on “Patience through Trials” using as my text James 1:2-4. I actually still have a tape of my sermon given that day and was tempted to pull it out and see what a 17 year old said about trials. Not wanting to bore you with all my sermon in a nutshell I shared that I was thankful that God had enabled me to triumph over my trials as I noted that the past couple of years prior to that time I had experienced some health issues. I shared how that I had to drop out of grade 11 and finish it by correspondence due to asthma conditions that caused me to cough constantly and have a hard time breathing. I even had spent some time in the infirmary at the school at Three Hills that year already and yet I felt I was learning patience. On that day that I gave my sermon I was thankful to God for teaching me patience and indeed had used as a hymn (we had to choose a hymn or special number to go along with our sermon) the old hymn Day by Day. The first few lines of that hymn state: “Day by day, and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here; trusting in my Father's wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear.” Truly I felt I could thank God for my trials as I was starting to learn patience through them.

Exactly four days after my senior sermon I was back home in Calgary enjoying a weekend with my family. As we were expecting some relatives for dinner that night my mother asked me to polish the silverware neither of us realizing that this would cause me to have an asthmatic reaction. To make a long story short for the next 11 weeks or so I endured coughing spells lasting all day which kept me out of the classroom at Prairie. Actually I ended up spending my days in my dorm room and fellow classmates would drop off my homework assignments. At that time I admit it was hard to thank God for my trials health wise, I mean had I not just said I was learning patience (!) yet looking back on it I can say I thank God for my health trials there since through that experience I actually was recommended to a doctor who treated my allergies/asthma and I have been much better these past 33 or so years.

Another example of how I thank God for trials is related to another health situation (sorry this was not meant to be a health blog, but health issues have indeed been a means God has used in testing me!) that I experienced a few years ago. Over the past few years I have had to deal with a choking problem related to various health conditions. It got to the point where just over 5 years ago I ended up being taken by ambulance to Edmonton because of a choking episode. Now, you may wonder why I would thank God for allowing me to experience a choking episode but this particular episode ended up resulting in the discovery of a small tumor in my stomach. Though it proved to be benign and relatively small it was removed. I thank God for the trial of choking for I am 100% convinced that if I had not had that choking episode and ended up having to have a minor operation the doctors would not have discovered the small mass in my stomach otherwise. As the first few lines of the second verse of the hymn declare: “Every day the Lord Himself is near me, with a special mercy for each hour; all my cares He fain would bear and cheer me, He whose name is Counsellor and Pow'r.” I am more than convinced that God was with me through that trial with the tumor and I thank Him for allowing me to go through it.

There have been numerous other occasions when God has allowed me to go through trials, whether sometimes caused by my own foolishness, or otherwise, to teach me various lessons that I would not have learned if everything in life had been easy. I am not saying that I was or am always thankful for the trials as I fail many times, yet over and over again often in hindsight I have seen God has worked through trials to mold me. I can remember times when I was looking for work and wondering why certain things didn’t turn out the way I wanted. I remember years ago considering a pastoral position in the States and then saying no to it. I remember at the time thinking I had done the wrong thing in turning down the position but later realizing that it was for the best. There have been other times such as when I had a car accident and ended up upside down in a ditch just shortly after realizing in my own spirit that things were not as perhaps they should be with God. God used that incident to get my attention and I thanked Him for allowing me to go through that episode.

No, as I said before I am not a super Christian, far from it, and there are many times in life that I complain about my lot in life but as Scripture says to be thankful in every situation I am slowly learning to be thankful to God in my trials. I admit that I do not look forward to facing trials of any kind. I don’t know what the future holds just as I didn’t know that four days after saying I was learning about patience through trials back in 1979 and then faced more yet I pray that I will be able to say thank you to God for what my trials teach me. Yes I have a long way to go and I know that many of you have gone through many more trying times than myself but I would encourage you to not only be thankful to God in the good times but remember that He is with you in your trials and ask Him to help you be thankful even in those situations as He uses them to mold you for His purposes.

In closing let me encourage you with the words of the hymn that I used on March 20, 1979 when I gave my sermon on Trials.
“Day by day, and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here; trusting in my Father's wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear. He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure, gives unto each day what He deems best, lovingly its part of pain and pleasure, mingling toil with peace and rest.
Every day the Lord Himself is near me, with a special mercy for each hour; all my cares He fain would bear and cheer me, He whose name is Counsellor and Pow'r. The protection of His child and treasure is a charge that on Himself He laid; “As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure," this the pledge to me He made.
Help me then, in every tribulation, so to trust Thy promises, O Lord, that I lose not faith's sweet consolation, offered me within Thy holy Word. Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting, e'er to take, as from a father's hand, one by one, the days, the moments fleeting, Till with Christ the Lord I stand.”