I’ve written on another Thanksgiving about giving thanks for what I call “disguised gifts” in Abundant Gifts. I wrote that when we give thanks for things that don’t seem on the surface like good things, our faith opens the way for God to turn it into a blessing.

Some things we experience are downright painful, and part of living in this broken world. Death,  for instance, is an enemy that Jesus himself cried over (then conquered and transformed).

There are other kinds of pain I think God allows into our lives because his ultimate goal is for  healing.

If Dr. Alex Loyd is correct in his book, The Healing Code, then many of the things that are painful to us are painful because they are connected to unhealed memories. The same incident that bothers you may not be painful to other people in the same situation.

Take getting stuck in traffic, for instance. One person may take the delay as an opportunity to relax and listen to music, or to pray. Another might go into road rage. It may trigger subconscious memories of being blocked or thwarted in a goal, or a time when something disastrous happened because of being late for an important meeting. The road rage is really aimed at an accumulation of times when being late caused pain of some sort.

Anais Nin said, “We see things, not as they are, but as we are.” Our perception of a situation is based largely on the experiences we’ve already had, especially the things that are unhealed i n us that the incident triggers.

This is where the gift comes in. The current situation, which God allows, bothers us mostly because it’s attached to unhealed memories and issues. If we allow God to reveal what those issues are, and to heal them, then the “triggering problem” was actually a blessing, a gift, though it certainly may not have felt like it.

This concept has been life-changing for me. Always before, truth be told, when something bothered me I dealt with it as best I could, then moved on. I did not realize God allowed it into my life for healing. I did not seek healing.

Now, I always ask first, “What is it that bothers me about this?” I identify the feeling. Then I ask, “When have I felt that way before? What lies have I been believing?” As the memories come up, I bring them into the Light of God’s truth and love.  I pray for healing and counter the lies with truth.

And healing does come. It really does.

Recently, for instance, something happened that caused a huge emotional trauma for me. I’m still sorting out what actually happened (which I may never know fully), but the incident triggered many memories of past perceived rejections. You know what, though? In less than a week of using this process, along with The Healing Codes, those memories are healed. The issue is manageable. Even the physical symptoms that I experienced in one day of illness dissipated.

So I am thankful for the traumatic situation. God allowed it so that all these other unhealed memories could be healed.

What difficult things are you dealing with this Thanksgiving? Can you, in faith, thank God for allowing them into your life and seek his healing? I know people are dealing with very tough stuff. I’m praying for people who have lost loved ones, are facing the prospect of losing a loved one. People dealing with terrible illness, financial crises, emotional traumas.

Yet I truly believe that God is merciful and powerful, and can turn anything into blessing as we trust him. I heard Tony Evans today talk about Hebrews 12, and how when God shakes things up, it’s to disconnect us from what is seen, the earthly, so we can see what it unseen, the spiritual things that God is wanting to show us. The healing he wants to bring us always starts with the spiritual, with the heart issues. Dr. Tony Evans and Dr. Alex Loyd have both convinced me: “everything that exists in the physical realm has its roots in the spiritual.”

That’s what God wants to heal, first and foremost. We have to listen to the message in our pain, for it will lead us to wholeness if we bring it into the light. As we let the Light in, it will destroy what is not good (as a laser would) and gently bring to life what will produce fruit, as sunlight on a seedling.

This Thanksgiving, I hope and pray it will be the beginning of true healing, especially as you thank God for the things that don’t look like blessings. Just make sure you go deeper, and let God do his full, intended healing on the underlying memories with their pain and wrong beliefs. (And i you want a little help from me on the process, you can find it here.)

This was, of course, a crisis because we were dealing with a 15-year-old daughter who absolutely needed her boots RIGHT THEN because at the football game, they were supposed to dress as “cowboys or Indians.” And of course her ride was about to pick her up any minute.

I told her where the boots should be in the basement. She couldn’t find them, of course.

I looked where I thought they should be, on the shelf in the “boiler room” as we call it.

There was a small box there, which I passed over. Surely that couldn’t contain boots, since I knew mine were with hers. That much I remembered.

I ended up clearing out a lot of junk in the basement trying to find those boots. (God’s grace and sense of humor. I did need to clear out all that junk months ago. Guess God knew I needed a little nudge. Averting another teenage crisis was enough incentive to at least do a little.)

I found the boots.

They were in the small box that I’d overlooked. I went back and opened it up after all, because I KNEW I had put those boots on that shelf.

I just didn’t see it at first because . . .

Because I didn’t expect them to be there.

Just so I’d get the point, the very next morning–not 12 hours later–I was about to wash a sweater. I looked at the tag for directions on how to wash the garment. I squinted at it, and finally asked my husband to verify: “Gene, do you see any instructions in English here?”

He did not. We tried to figure out the “universal symbols” (which I never can decipher) and I washed the garment using my best guesses from the Spanish and French and those symbols.

When I took the garment out of the dryer, I noticed another tag that DID have instructions in English.

How had I missed it?

I wasn’t looking for it.

Just as with the boots, I didn’t see what I didn’t expect to see. I assumed there was only ONE  location for a tag with washing instructions. In this case, there was one on the collar and one on the lower seam. You’d think I’d have thought to look, but I didn’t–at first.

I think God was trying to show me something, because the same basic thing happened twice within such a short period of time.

We only see what we expect to see.

And: We don’t see what we don’t expect to see.

What might God be trying to show you–about himself, about yourself, about how you’re viewing a situation or person–that you aren’t seeing because it’s not what you expect to see?

What surprises and delights–what abundant gifts– might you begin to see if you open your eyes and pray, “God, help me to see what you want me to see, and to expect to see marvelous things”?

“That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.’” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NLT)

Falling from the sky

Changes barrenness to beauty

Covers potholes, cracks, scars

with peace.

Just like the grace

That fell from the sky

To be born in a stable.

When God acts, he makes a road where eon one dreamed a road could possibly be–through the sea! A storm can be all around, a fierce storm that lights up all the world and shakes the earth. Yet God is in control of the storm and he makes that impossible pathway for his people. Trust this God in your storm; believe his is making a pathway no one knew was there, and that he is providing leaders to take your through the road.

(Note: If you liked this short meditation on Psalm 77, you will enjoy Abundant Gifts from the Word, a daily devotional sent to you via email. Sign up at www.abundantgiftsfromtheword.com.)

Suddenly a fierce storm blew up around the boat.

The waves crashed around the boat, and the disciples were terrified. Someone thought to go find Jesus.

Unbelievable–there he was, asleep in this treacherous storm that was about to sink the boat. How could he sleep through a storm like this?

Ever feel that way? Like Jesus is asleep while the storm is about to sink your boat?

The disciples (and we) often interpret Jesus’ sleeping as his not caring (Mark 4:38). But that’s not the reason Jesus sleeps through our storms.

He can sleep because he is not worried!

He is not worried about the storm. He has perfect authority over even the wind and waves. He was always in the center of the Father’s heart, and he knew that the Father was not going to let him drown in any storm! No, he had a different kind of death appointed.

So he slept through the storm, at peace. He is at peace in your storms, too, because he is perfectly in control of them. You may be worried about your situation, but Jesus is not. Jesus does not worry!

It may feel to you like he doesn’t care. But he does care. He wants you to trust in his power in the midst of the storm, so that you can know the same peace he had.

It’s a peace that trusts that God can calm any storm any time he wants, and if he allows it, there’s a reason–and he’s not going to let you drown. (”When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown” Isaiah 43:2 promises.)

If you trust this promise, you can have peace. The same peace that carried Jesus through the unbelievable suffering of the cross. Before he faced that cross, he told his disciples he was giving them his peace (John 16:33). He knew the Father had his reason for allowing him to go through the cross, he knew what it was, and he accepted it. He had peace!

Jesus is asleep in your storm because he’s at peace. Want to pull up a pillow and join him as he naps?

If this seems impossible, even ridiculous, I would ask you to ponder, as Jesus did, what is the nature of faith. “Where is your faith?” he asked. If we can’t trust Jesus in the storm, do we really trust him at all?

May the life-giving light of the Savior, Jesus, shine in all your darkness, and bring you the gifts only the Savior can give: love, joy, peace, hope and abundant life forever!икони