We all have wounds from the past, we all have current challenges, and we all have future hardships to face. The only constant is God. Ann gives voice to our questions, "How do we live in this world with hands wide open to what God gives when what He gives may not feel like gifts? How do you fill with hope and empty of hurt? How do you open up your hands and take the dare to live fully?"
Ann also, then, offers the answers she has found from her own life. "You can slow down and you can trust and you can find the joy you're aching for by offering Him thanks for each and every moment..Your victory is found in open hands of thanks.."What is always the strategy no matter what you face?" asks Ann Voskamp. "Give thanks to the Lord, his love endures forever."
I have a poignant memory of visiting my friend, Leanne, at the bedside of her father who had just died. His second wife and pastor were also there. The pastor prayed and then proclaimed, "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." My friend agreed with an "amen." But his wife somewhat angrily disagreed by mumbling, "how can you say that?" The outlook for those who fully put their lives and faith in the Lord is better, not bitter..
An example of such faith is when my friends, Jay and Mary, lost their five year old daughter to cancer. Instead of just seeking to sooth their own grief at her funeral, they chose to lead us all in praise and worship. A room full of both believers and those lacking a relationship with Jesus were ministered to by Jay and Mary's choice to praise Him "in the midst of the storm," and redeem their loss by pointing others to their Heavenly Father.
Walt and Barb lost their son, Randy, very suddenly last year, but their attendance in weekly worship services never waivers. Neither does Gary's as he deals with the recent unexpected loss of his wife. Another friend who is facing the loss of her son if doctor reports prove true and God chooses not to provide a miracle writes, "God is guiding this and all of us and...He loves us so." Each of these folks bears witness to the grace of God in the midst of their grief. Grace is also the title to the well known painting above, a classic picture of giving thanks.
The many losses that the enemy would use to tear us away from God only serve to draw us closer to Him if we choose to thank Him for the blessing of sweet memories, rest in His arms, and trust the words of 2 Corinthians 4:17, "our troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." And until we, ourselves, step into eternity, Ann Voskamp give us this admonition:
"In the silent times, seek God
In painful times, praise God
In the terrible times, trust God,
And at all times, thank God."