Being Thankful

I know Thanksgiving was a week ago, but this is something that inspired me today so i wanted to share. Today i had a MOPS meeting (that's Mother's Of Pre-Schoolers). Our guest speaker was the church's previous pastors wife. She spoke to us about how when she and her husband were first married all they wanted was children but later found out that she was unable to have children. They later were called into the ministry in Africa and assigned to the student ministry. They decided the children they helped lead to God through their ministry would be their "children" and had they had their own, the opportunity for going to Africa may not have been there. One of the things she said that was really profound was this, "If you can't thank God for everything in your life, even the bad stuff, then you don't understand the power of God's love for you." She says it wasn't until she grasped this and that she was thankful for all that God had or had not given her that her prayers of having children came true. After 12 or 13 years of marriage and ministry in Africa and not being able to have children, she finally became pregnant and is now the mother of 3 and the grandmother of two with more on the way. I was blessed once again by MOPS and am thankful for the message that was given to me today from God through MOPS. I hope that someday I can be as grateful for all the "stuff" in my life, good and bad, and trust that God allows us to go through times of sunshine and plenty as well as times of trouble and storms so that we can grow closer to Him. My prayer is that you are all as thankful as this lady is and can be as close to God as possible.