Thankfulness When Life Stinks – Part 1
A friend of mine is putting together a cool project to kick off 2021, around having people share their word for the year. You know how many people pick a word to focus on each year? That word. When I heard about the project, I hadn’t picked my word for 2021 yet. But within a couple minutes of thinking about it, I had chosen my word…thankful.
Written by Sarah McGuire
A friend of mine is putting together a cool project to kick off 2021, around having people share their word for the year. You know how many people pick a word to focus on each year? That word. When I heard about the project, I hadn’t picked my word for 2021 yet. But within a couple minutes of thinking about it, I had chosen my word…thankful.
Thankfulness is so powerful, yet it takes intention and discipline, at least for me. In a backwards way, not an intentional one, it’s sort of been my word for three quarters of 2020.
Before we get to that, let me share with you about my first quarter of 2020…Just about one year ago this time (it was the first week of November) we finally had what we hoped were some answers to my health challenges that no doctor had been able to figure out – mold, in our house and our church (and homeschool co-op) – the two places I spent nearly all of my time.
Through a series of events, within the week, we made the heart-rending decision that we needed to move. Yes, we would remediate, but we didn’t think I could live there and heal. This was a HUGE decision. Monumental. This was the family homestead. This was the house my FIL had designed and had built and where my husband had grown up. This was the house we LOVED and had planned to live in the rest of our lives. This was the house on the most beautiful, perfectly laid out two acres we’d ever seen with the in-laws next door on another 2.5 acres, giving our boys 4.5 acres to roam and play and built forts and have daily chats with grandma and grandpa. We had a lovely swimming and fishing pond visible through double French doors at the front of the house, pine woods, flowering tree lined drive, fruit trees and bushes, and space to do the homesteading we enjoyed (before I got too sick to do the work). This was our dream home. This was our refuge.
Can you hear the grief? And that was only the beginning. In the process of getting out of mold, we could only keep things that were solid, non-porous and every surface could be thoroughly cleaned and wiped down with a special solution that kills mold and breaks down mold mycotoxins. We can save the pots and pans, woohoo! (You can hear the sarcasm, right?) That means every item was hand sorted. So the pictures, the 1800 books, my kids’ prized artwork drawing pieces hanging on the wall, the quilt from grandma, my wedding dress, special mementos, gifts of artwork my husband drew for me for birthdays and Valentine’s Day, all our upholstered furniture, heirloom dressers, family pictures on the wall, all my kids’ stuffed animals and nearly all their toys, almost everything had to go. Over two thousand square feet of house plus a garage and workshop and 20 years of memories and the life we’d built piece by piece went down to two utility trailers. And…we didn’t have another house to move to.
I grieved. Hard. I yelled at God, literally, evening after evening as I sat in the house by myself (we had moved in with my in-laws next door after Thanksgiving, so the rest of the family was there) sorting and throwing out and cleaning. I cried and cried and cried. I asked why, not in a “what can I learn from this” way, but in a, “this is so messed up and makes no sense and how could you” way. I knew God doesn’t necessarily protect us from incredibly hard things and that sometimes He even brings those things to us deliberately to direct us where and into who He desires us to be. I didn’t expect Him to make life easy for me, but at the same time, I sure didn’t like what He had chosen for us at this juncture.
Can you relate? Have you ever been there? Have you ever struggled with what life has brought you? Have you ever hurt so badly you raged at God about it? Or maybe you turned away and rejected Him? Or stopped short of rejecting Him, but turned away and gave Him the silent treatment?
If you are wondering where to go from here or what to do with all that pain, anger, hurt, confusion, grief, sadness, and more Hope Anew has a 5-week Hope & Healing Workshop where walk with you through that process. Contact us and sign up on the waiting list for the next live online workshop.
So how do I get to thankfulness from here??? You’ll find out in part two next Saturday.
Written by Sarah McGuire
Sarah McGuire is the Mom of two boys and co-founder of Hope Anew, a nonprofit that guides parents to Christ-centered hope and healing. You can follow Hope Anew on Facebook here. You can also check out Hope Anew’s Online Community here!
Due to COVID-19, Hope Anew is waiving all membership fees for the community!
Giving Thanks When You Don't Feel Thankful
When you are struggling to find things to be thankful for in everyday life, here are five truths about God that you can praise Him for this Thanksgiving season. Written by Jonathan McGuire
It’s two weeks from Thanksgiving. For many households around the United States, Thanksgiving means turkey dinner, pumpkin pie, family reunions and football. It will often include a round of everyone sharing something that they are thankful for.
What does Thanksgiving mean for you and your family?
When we were new to this journey, Thanksgiving meant trying to figure out how to feed our son his specialty diet at the larger family get togethers, sensory overload, and missing old traditions while trying to learn enough to make new traditions.
Perhaps this is where you find yourself. When you are in this spot, it can be difficult to find things to be thankful for and you may feel disingenuous trying to muster the energy to celebrate, when all you feel is overwhelmed.
When you are struggling to find things to be thankful for in everyday life, here are five truths about God that you can praise Him for this Thanksgiving season.
God is with you. – Psalm 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and staff, they comfort me.”
He is in control.- Psalms 73:26 “My flesh and heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart.”
He understands your pain. – Psalms 34:18 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
You are loved – John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
He has a plan - 1 Corinthians 12:18 “But as it is, God arranged all the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”
This Thanksgiving, when you feel like you are overwhelmed and can’t take one more step forward. Pause, take a breath, and reflect on one of these truths. When you do this regularly, you will find your anxiety levels will decrease, your sense of peace will increase, and you will truly have something for which to be thankful.
Written by Jonathan McGuire
