Posted on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Cathy

Earthquakes, hurricanes, unemployment, housing problems, crimes, and many more are the common problems that we read in newspapers and encounter in everyday of our existence. Even our day has a probability of a bad day than a good day and every day we can found in the newspaper many bad news than good news. It already seems that our life is always full of problems, our country full of controversies and our world an inconvenient place to live at. Calamities and sorrow make our day. We even question where is the so called God who said that He will never forsake us nor leave us. Where is the one who promises to give us a yoke that is easy and will lighten our burden and finally gives us rest? Where is His presence amidst the suffering that we ordinary, mortal people are experiencing? Should we thank him for the life of sadness and sorrow that He gave us? Why should we still be thankful?

Back when I was a child my parents separated without even telling me the reason why. When I grew up I experienced that God seemed so unfair to me. My father got fractured and didn't have any strength to go back to his job. My mom was left alone providing for our family's need. Now our country is experiencing economic recession. In addition natural calamities such as hurricanes and earthquakes come and go leaving many casualties who are dying and suffering great pain and poverty.

But still I trust God until now. I trust him with all of my heart. Amidst the economic recession, the crimes, my personal problems and worries of the unseen future, I trust Him and cling for his help even though it seems so impossible. I know that with God all things are possible. From the ends of the earth to the depths of my heart I recognize that God is sovereign and there's always a reason to be thankful. To thank God without even a single doubt of ingratitude, to be joyful in his blessings and grace in spite of what we see lacking in our nation and even in our own lives. His grace is sufficient to us.

Natural calamities, crimes, poverty etc. have reasons-reasons that we humans can't comprehend now, but maybe in the future, in His time, we will fully understand it. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are superior from our ways.

Being grateful and thankful will not make us passive towards what's happening over our surroundings and apathetic to what our fellow countrymen are experiencing. We humans share the experience of all humanity, the pain and sufferings, the agony, the poverty, misery, worries and above all, death. But we also pursuit same things no matter what ways we are taking; all of us pursuit happiness, peace and love. Therefore we hope.

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies. Hope is eternal. Being thankful to God is neither bad nor morbid, for God is sovereign over our sufferings. Suffering is an essential part of the tapestry of the universe so that the weaving of grace can be seen for what it really is. This is the reason of suffering and the more reason for us to be thankful.