“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name." Psalm 100:4
Do you ever have days where you have to reach deep within to be thankful?
Over the last two years, I have taught a Bible study in a nursing home. One of the main messages that I presented to them was to always find something in the morning and in the evening for which they could praise God. I didn’t realize that I was also preparing myself to find and recognize the moments that were good in a day.
May 16, 2024, was my youngest son’s graduation day! The graduation and the celebration party were all occurring in the evening hours. The rug was pulled out from underneath my feet. I had been having some female medical issues for a while and had a hysterectomy planned for July 1, 2024! Well, we all know God's plans are larger than our own! I was in extreme pain in my lower abdomen and back. The best way to describe the pain was that I felt like something within me was going to explode. I went to the doctor around 11 am and it was decided and agreed upon that I would have emergency surgery that afternoon.
My plans flew out the window and I had to go into emergency mode! Here was my group text to my core group of family and friends, “Okay y’all!! I’m being admitted for emergency surgery. As I type this, I’m crying but y’all better take lots of pics for me tonight! I think I have a good game plan for y'all to execute. Caleb is to go to graduation and all of you are to be there for him! The graduation party is also to go forward as planned! Everyone will be with Caleb and I’ll have two friends in the surgical waiting area for me to send updates!”
I didn’t have any other words but to cry out to Jesus to lead the way! What was supposed to be a quick surgery turned into a 3 1/2-hour trauma surgery. Long story short, my insides were a mess! I was told when I woke up that it was either cancer or Stage 4 Endometriosis. The substance within had attached itself to my bowels and the operating team had to figure out what was an ovary and what was a bowel.
When the doctor said we had to wait for pathology to come back to know what the diagnosis was, I immediately said, “Jesus is still good regardless of what the results are!” It took five days for us to get the full diagnosis of Stage 4 Endometriosis—no cancer.
While praising God through this moment, my recovery was rough! An infection, an allergic reaction to a medication, a pulled muscle in one of the incision areas, another infection, another reaction to medication, and not being able to hardly move due to a vertical incision, I had to make a decision. Wallow in self-pity or find things to be thankful for. I had to practice what I preached in that Bible study to my friends in the nursing home.
I decided to make a thankful journal because I had to find reasons to be thankful in the last few months, especially on the hard days. Never did I think that it would take two full months to heal.
So, if you are going through a tough time find reasons to be grateful! Write five things every day that you can praise Jesus for!
Here was one of my entries:
1. Thank you for the windows in my house that allow me to see the outside!!
2. Thank you for strawberry shakes!
3. Thank you for grace! Help me to give it and receive it!
4. Good friends and family who help!
5. Thank you for a good husband!
What are your five things today? There is always something to be grateful for. Find that thing and focus on it, rejoice in it, and praise God for it! My attitude of gratitude went a long way in helping me heal and it also helped grow my faith in Jesus.
"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17
Stacey Judice is first and foremost a lover of everything Jesus! She is a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and a new grandmother. She loves telling great stories in her publication, Community Chronicles! And her hobby of thrifting has become a small business in selling vintage items in two Acadiana shops.
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