Life has an uncanny way of reminding us of who we are and what we are capable of and I am so THANKFUL for that redeeming factor! At that pivotal moment when all seems lost, despair begins to set in, and we start losing hope, there is a primordial instinct that takes over and it becomes a difference between fight or flight!
THANKFUL that I have not been born with a spirit of fear and neither have you! Things will happen that will make us question our very fiber and ultimate purpose, but there are so many more factors that remind us of who we are and why we were created. Just when we thought we had completely lost ourselves, some redeeming occurrence jolts us back to reality and shows us that we were never truly lost, merely on hiatus.
Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, “Adversity introduces a man to himself.” A profound statement in and of itself, but when you really begin to dissect adversity you begin to realize that there is no better teacher. All the books in the world, the tutelage of elders and wise counsel, nor witnessing someone else’s story can substitute for actual life experiences. And any experience that you can look back upon, knowing you overcame it, is something to be THANKFUL for. Malcolm X once said, “There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time.”
I am eternally THANKFUL that even when I wanted to give up on myself, others would not allow me. They saw my worth, my potential, my greatness, even when it was muddied and covered and when I could no longer see it myself or forgot what it looked like. I am THANKFUL that whatever did not kill me has built me, fortified me, and enriched me. Maya Angelou summed it up by saying, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” And Edgar Allan Poe punctuated it when he said, “Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.”
I am THANKFUL for longsuffering! Contrary to what you may think the word means, it is a virtue of the fruit of the spirit and embodies patience and endurance and epitomizes love – patient and kind. Adversity may have knocked us to our knees, caused us to have second thoughts, but tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, and longsuffering redeemed us and revitalized us to our rightful place. For that, I am truly THANKFUL and I can honestly say, I have been blessed!
“Good timber does not grow with ease. The stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.” ~ Thomas S. Monson
Psalms 107:1-2 (AMP) – O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His compassion and lovingkindness endure forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary…