In All Circumstance
“Give thanks in all circumstance; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
On a Friday night in September 2023, 4 days into my school year I started not feeling well. Eventually I would be diagnosed with Neuralgia and Bell’s palsy. Some unknown virus had attacked my nerves and it was excruciatingly painful. I was unable to teach and there were days the pain was so intense I couldn’t get out of bed. Not to mention the disfiguration of my face that the Bell’s Palsy caused making it difficult to leave the house. No one could explain what caused this, why I was suffering, how long it would last and if it would be temporary or permanent. I remember sitting on the side of my bed and looking up at my husband asking him “is this how God is showing his love to me, is this how he feels about me” Just days prior to becoming ill I had prayed a specific prayer. The author said “if you need a greater awareness of God’s steadfast love today ask him to show you, ask God to show you afresh the wonders of who he is.” At the time I prayed this prayer my husband and I had been walking through a difficult season, and I desperately needed to see God’s love in it. And now I was facing all these new difficulties with facial paralysis and pain that affected every second of my day. And in the pain and weakness I began to believe the lies of the enemy, that I was unloved and unlovely. I was now in a dark place.
The good news for anyone who is experiencing a dark place right now; God says He is with us. Psalm 139 7-12 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
The Lord was there and he began to speak to me through family, friends and people here at church. These encouraging messages helped me to face the prayer I prayed and go back to the devotion. I studied it again and asked the Lord to show me his love and how he feels about me. It was then He whispered to my heart; “my love for you is not in your circumstances, but what I did for you on the cross.” In 1 Thessalonians God is not asking us to look around in our circumstances for something to be grateful for. He is telling us there already is – THE CROSS!
I don’t know what circumstances you are in or walking through but I know you are not alone. You have a savior. Jesus gave his life for you on the cross. No earthly circumstance will win over the hope and future we have in Christ Jesus. Circumstances and situations can cause us to be thankful and affect our level of gratitude and, but they cannot be our only source. Circumstances and situations change, we need to draw from what is eternal, our salvation. “Thanks be to God, He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Corinthians 15:57
A little over a year later and the pain has since subsided. Only some residual paralysis from the Bells Palsy remains. In this difficult season I have learned to look for eternal blessings. In the past I would thank him for earthly blessings. There is nothing wrong with that but they are temporary and changing. I have learned to cherish the hope I have in Jesus and draw my gratitude from he who is unchanging and unshakeable.
-Leah Widrick