Story by Shelby Vezain
Rushing out the door, tripping over the dog, spilling your coffee and just like that, your day is off to a bad start. Walking into the office grumbling and complaining about your spilled coffee and then you find out Susie in the next-door desk has a husband going through chemo treatments. Just like that your perspective of your situation changed. Maybe having coffee all over your brand-new blouse is not that bad.
After sitting down at your desk looking down at your spilled coffee, what comes to mind? Thankfulness. Thankful that your husband is off working to provide for your family and not in the hospital going through medication treatments. It is in these situations where our spirit and mind shift and we have God to thank for that. God wants us to be thankful and what comes from being thankful? Joy. When we complain and grumble about different things, we have now replaced thankfulness and joy with bitterness and unhappiness.
Twenty days into therapy and JR and I had one of those spilled coffee type of mornings. We found ourselves in a moment of feeling sorry for ourselves. I had thoughts of “this is not fair” and “I wish we were not going through this”. We were on the 4th floor and therapy was on the 1st. When we got to the elevator, there was a sign on the door that said take a detour through floor 3. Okay, no big deal. That little detour changed my life forever. The 3rd floor was the brain injury floor. We walked through that floor and by the time we got to the end, I had tears rolling down my face. I cannot believe just twenty minutes ago I was complaining about my husband not having use of his legs. While just one floor down there are some of the most amazing people that were trying to remember who their wife and kids were. Perspective changed. God did that in three short minutes. Guess what my attitude was by the time I got the 1st floor? Yup. You guessed it, THANKFUL! This was one of those times in my life, I needed to be reminded to remain humble and thankful right where we were.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 We go through valleys in this life that might not always be “fair” but that does not mean we cannot be thankful. Before JR’s wreck, I would go to rodeos, and I remember myself complaining about the calves or my horse did not work great. This last summer I went to a few rodeos and every time I pulled in, I was just so thankful to be there. So thankful I could step right on my horse. I am thankful for those little measures because I see my husband daily use a wench to get on his horse and ask for help. I can honestly say I have never heard him complain. That has changed my perspective.
Sometimes we get caught up in the scores and the horses and all of this that we forget to just be thankful that we are still getting to climb on the back of that bucking horse or back in that box. Yes, things might not always go our way, but God says to be thankful in ALL circumstances. God is a God of purpose and when we remain thankful, His love prevails. God wants us to be thankful because He loves seeing us joyful! “Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalm 106:1
When you are complaining about your job, someone is out there praying that they had your job. When you are complaining about your power bill, someone is out there praying they had a house. When you are complaining about having to walk because your car broke down, someone is out there wishing they had use of their legs. It is all perspective and that is what I am the most thankful about this journey, teaching me to have gratitude in any and every situation! Nine times out of ten there is someone out there going through something much worse than you.
“If you look back, you’ll see that every situation that God has brought you into, has either changed you, helped you grow, made you stronger, taught you a lesson, or made you a better person. Everything God does, has a purpose.” R.S.
