Be thankful for problems: There are good reasons you should

Thanksgiving is the holiday dedicated to giving thanks, to having and sharing gratitude for our many blessings. But this year it seems challenging to do in a world with at least two wars, natural disasters and personal problems.

Financial challenges, health issues, family troubles visit all of us. When you add the larger problems in our country and world it can be hard to feel thankful. 

Avoiding problems is the goal – problems are a curse not a blessing. But what if they are blessings in disguise? 

Whatever the problem it has been faced by many people before you. Your reaction to problems, as much as the problem itself, will determine your attitude of gratitude.

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When we experience a problem, it seems as if it is keeping us from what we want. But it may be protecting us from something far worse. A problem may be a miracle in the making.

Because of a heavy snowstorm, a mom and her boys left their Sundance Mountain cabin but her Suburban skidded down the slick road. It got stuck between two snowbanks blocking the narrow road. 

Another mom with her kids was heading up the mountain road to their cabin when she was forced to stop. An hour later there was an avalanche that destroyed their cabin. If they been there, they would have died. 

We may never know what problems have protected us from.

Problems have an amazing way of revealing our true character. It can be hard for us to self-aware and a problem can help us to see reality. Without such insight we may have far greater problems or difficulties.

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After three weeks of throwing up, cramps and back pain, a 22-year-old Seattle woman went to the emergency room. The doctors were baffled until her boyfriend told them she gnawed on athletic tube socks to relax. An X-ray showed a large mass in her stomach. It turned out to be a "bezoar" that accumulates in the stomach or intestines when someone has pica, the habit of eating things that are not food. Problems can show us what we need to see.

Some lessons we only learn through the pain and suffering that can come with problems – unfortunate but true. When we experience loss, it can help us to appreciate the value of health, people and opportunities in our life.

A train conductor in Indiana spotted an object on the tracks a hundred yards away. He thought it was a dog but then realized it was a baby. The baby was 19-month-old Emily Marshall who had wandered away from home while her mother planted flowers. 

The conductor hit the brakes but realized the only hope was to go down the steps, stretch out his leg and kick the baby out of harm’s way. Emily ended up with a cut on her head and a swollen lip, but she survived. Sometimes we must be hurt to be saved.

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Problems can redirect us to a new path we would not have seen or taken. Problems can motivate us to finally change direction when other experiences or methods have failed. When we can’t find an answer, problems show us what we could not see without the problems.

One of the most iconic sports television shots is when Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk waved his arms for a ball he hit to stay fair. It did for a home run in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series and the Red Sox won the game. 

But it would not have happened if the cameraman followed the ball like he should have. He was inside the Fenway Park scoreboard focused on a rat circling him. So, instead of following the ball, he left it on Fisk. Sometimes it takes the rats in life to motivate us in a new direction.

No sane person raises their hand and asks for problems. It’s wise to try and avoid problems whenever you can. But sometimes God uses problems for our best. 

And for that we can always be thankful.

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