The Tag Team Supreme By Laura M. Quinn
Why Prayer and Thankfulness are a Vital Pair in the Ring of Life
I’ve noticed in the Bible there is a partnership between prayer and thankfulness.?It seems that obviously the Creator of the world and Savior of my life should want my gratitude.?But through varying circumstances in my life, I believe the practice of prayer, along with thankfulness is like medicine for our mind and soul which I will go on to explain. But first, let’s look at this tag team mentioned in Scripture.?
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
Colossians 4:2 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving”
Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing but pray about everything.?And thank God for what He has already done.”
I’ve always known that praying to God and giving Him my concerns made me feel a sense of peace.?Growing up in a Christian home, thankfulness was practiced from the time I could say “thank you for this food!”?It became so easy to say it though and the feeling of thankfulness was not truly understood by me.?But God would make sure I outgrew this thankfully.
It wasn’t until I was much older, countries away from my family, that I began to learn how thankfulness goes much deeper than giving God honor.?It was the medicine I needed to keep myself from falling into a deep depression when I couldn’t even lift my head some days due to the effects of Graves’ Disease and Mono.
So how did I get there to begin with? For 8 years my family lived and worked in Kosovo.?A developing young nation filled with barely survivable income, generous hearts who would share what they had, and people who were always ready for coffee and conversation.?I count myself blessed to have lived and loved there.?My youngest daughter and son were born there. After the birth of my youngest son, (I have five children), my body developed Graves’ disease.?I didn’t notice the symptoms. I thought the exhaustion and body sweats were due to having had a C-section; a newborn to care for; and breastfeeding.?It took 10 weeks for my incision to fully close and heal, but I thought it was because I was 35.?When Liam was four months old, we came back stateside to visit my family and introduce our newest two children to a family we hadn’t seen for three years.?During that time, my body developed an auto-immune response, and I lost 30 pounds in eight weeks and lost so much muscle mass I couldn’t stand up without holding something. I was in denial and thought it was just me being run down from traveling and breastfeeding.?My hands began having tremors and nodules began appearing on my hand, neck, and back of my head.?Gino started to worry but I would brush it off.?Part of me was scared I was maybe having early signs of Parkinson’s disease like my grandfather had.?But I would just pray and keep that fear inside. Then after my mother-in-law had shortly been diagnosed with breast cancer, a lump showed up in my breast and stayed for a few days before I showed Gino. He immediately said, this is enough, call your doctor now. I agreed he was right and called her.?I came in and she read my chart and said, “Hmm you’ve lost 15 pounds since I last saw you 3 weeks ago.” I need to check your thyroid.?Sure, enough I had Graves’ disease, a hyperactive thyroid, and an autoimmune disease that started because of the severity of my thyroid.?We had to extend our stay, but thyroid medication and Beta Blockers set me on the path to recovery.?3 months later, we said our I love yous and goodbyes and boarded our family of 7 to return to Kosovo.?No one tells you when you’ve had thyroid issues; especially Graves’ disease that your immune system gets wiped out and makes you susceptible to other diseases – one of these is mono, known in Europe as the Epstein Barr Virus.??No one also tells you that it’s much harder to recover from mono when you are older.?We returned in spring and by early fall, I had started to not feel good again. I had symptoms of brain fog, severe anxiety over my kids, extreme fatigue, and weakness.?I remember Gino asking me at a birthday party if I was ok and I said no. I can’t explain it, but I think something’s wrong.?That week I had my second bout of what I thought was strep throat.?What felt like knife stabbing pains filled my throat and I could barely swallow water.?The weird thing is, I had just finished a round of antibiotics for strep, so it didn’t make sense.?I found myself asking God, “What is going on?”
Mono is super hard to diagnose but God was so merciful.?Gino looked up back-to-back strep symptoms and mono was the first diagnosis that showed up.?I went to a clinic and asked to get tested.?In Kosovo, if you can pay it, you can take a test for it.?We also had 2 friends, who were my age or older, recovering from mono and it seemed almost identical to my symptoms. The test can come out inconclusive often, but I prayed God would make it clear.?Well, my numbers were so high there was no doubt I was going through mono. We found out in the nick of time because my symptoms became worse.?My arms felt like they weighed 100 pounds each, and I became feverish and dizzy.?Bedridden is what I was.?I remember thanking God we found out what was going on, but I also felt so worthless and so weak in body, mind, and soul. Why did you move me here God if I couldn’t serve these people, serve my own children, serve my husband, or even care for myself?
I laid in bed wondering and opened my Bible to continue my study in the book of Luke, there God brought me to the story of Mary and Martha.?And there is where God showed me my worth.?I had been a Martha all my life, busy doing things for others and for God but what Mary chose was the nobler thing – resting at Jesus’ feet – loving and communing with Him, taking time to be with Jesus.?I couldn’t lift my own head; I couldn’t hold my little son or teach my kids.?I couldn’t do anything.?Yet God showed me, He found worth in me because I am His.?He loves me whether I’m doing anything or whether I’m sick and doing nothing.?He just wants me – my time, my dialogue, my love.
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I cried and felt so loved.?I then heard quite clearly in my mind, “Laura, if you’re gonna get through this without huge depression – thank me.”
“Thank you?”
“Yes, every day, even if it’s just one thing, thank me.”
So that’s what I did.?Every day, I thanked Him for something.?Thank you to my husband, who is doing everything right now. Thank you for the birds singing outside. Thank you that I can hear my kids laughing in the other room.?Thank you for my church family feeding us for 30 days straight. Thank you that our teammates and friends took our kids out for fun. Day in, and day out, I chose thankfulness and focused on getting better.?By New Years the worst was behind, and every day that I could do a little extra, I praised God.?The medicine my mind and body needed most was a thankful heart.?I needed to force my mind, or more accurately train my mind to be hope filled; hopeful of recovery, and determined to choose thankfulness over what I had; not what I didn’t have or was missing out on.?
That is why I have come to believe that the verses I shared show us the best combination for battling hard times.?Prayer to calm our hearts, knowing we’ve brought our problems to the God of this world and universe.?And thankfulness, to take our minds off our current situation and fill our hearts with thankfulness because we are reminding ourselves of what God has already done or accomplished in our life, in this world. So, we can have hope and even joy knowing He will continue to see us through every situation.?The outcome is not the point – it’s the steady reminder that we have a powerful and loving God beside us, through it all. Thankfulness reinforces prayer.?It’s the best tag team combo in life; I believe. At least it is, for me. Maybe it can be for you.
About "The Armor Giver: Alwind’s Tale" By Laura Quinn
All their life Mama sang Alwind’s Tale and Papa taught the five, the Ancient words. Now this Family of seven must journey to get to Alwind before the Wizard and his many come to take them.? With his help they will get to the Armor Giver. During their trip, tragedy causes the oldest three children: Sean, Kayleigh and Hugh to have to escape to the Armor Giver. The darkness is growing, an unexpected friend is made, perhaps, and each child is tested in strength and weakness all the while being chased. Read and see if they pass the tests or if they forget to remember Alwind’s Tale, for in this tale is the map to get to the Armor Giver.
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Kharis Website: https://kharispublishing.com/kp/product/the-armor-giver/