Thankful Thought - the Good , The Bad, and The Ugly

Thankful to be able to Trust Gos thru all of it !!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. Hello and welcome to Shine. I'm your host, Nicole Florence, and today is a thankful thought. And I don't know if any of you remember, there was this old movie. Um I remember my dad used to watch it, kind of those late-night CBS, after the news um movies that would continuously come on. And it was called The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, right? Old Western, and that of course describes the you know characters in it. But I have learned to somewhat described my days or my stages um of life in the same way, right? There is the good, very good. Um, you know, we just went on an extremely wonderful family vacation, which we try to do every year in Florida, and it was good. It was fantastic, it was beautiful, and you know, a lot of good memories. And then you'll have those days that are bad, right? Um, we all have either those bad days um at work, um, in our relationships, where we kind of get blindsided with wow, I didn't I didn't expect that bad thing to happen, right? As if our lives are supposed to be somewhat perfect all the time. Um, but you know, those are bad days, not necessarily a bad life, and we get through them. But then there is the ugly. What do I mean? Well, if you're anything like me, there are many times that if I'm having a bad day, I'll say, okay, it's bad. But at least this other thing didn't happen, or at least I'm not in a different situation, or at least my loved one, you know, I go through all the things, at least they're not in the hospital, at least they're not in jail, at least they're um, you know, not homeless, and um all the you know bad case scenarios, and then what happens? The very thing that we felt was the worst thing that could happen, it happens. Those are the things that I call the ugly, and there can be weeks um or or even short periods of time, several days, where you can experience the good, the bad, and the ugly all at once. And what I'm thankful for is that even in all of those different uh postures or scenarios of life, I am able to trust him. And on those good days, yes, I am so grateful and I'm I'm blessed, and on those bad days, I have learned the same deal. I'm incredibly grateful, I'm blessed, and I'm trusting that this bad day there's gonna be an end to it, and he's gonna get me through it. And in those extremely ugly days, you know, I used to get kind of upset, like, God didn't I just say, like, at least that didn't happen, kind of giving you the hint hint of please don't let it happen. Um, and I used to get angry, frustrated, upset at God. But what I have learned to be thankful for is that I can trust Him in all of it. And in all of it, I know whether it's good, bad, or ugly, it's not gonna be sustainable, it's not gonna last forever. Even the good stuff, even the bad stuff, and even the ugly. And I think for many of us, we have to learn to be in that place where we are trusting him, especially in our time of need and weakness, but trusting him through all of it, trusting him always. And I am so incredibly thankful to be able to do that because I know that I cannot trust myself all the time. I cannot trust mankind to do the things that they should be doing. The only predictable, sustainable stronghold is my faith and trust in him. And in knowing that, it really allows me to get through the good, the bad, and the ugly, no matter what. And I've had several um people um close to me who, you know, they they know all the intimacies of my good, bad, and the ugly, and will say to me, How are you smiling? How are you calm with all that is going on? And without hesitation, I will let people know it's because of God, it's because of my faith, and it's because of my trust in Him that I can stay calm in that boat on the stormy seas. So, for all of you who are listening, and let's face it, life always keeps lifeing. There's always going to be good, bad, and ugly. I pray that you find yourself always trusting him and being centered upon his faithful love and his mercy and his grace. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.