The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the name of the LORD. —Job 1:21
“Dad Johnson” was a dear friend of mine, now at home with the Lord. Though a successful businessman, life hadn’t always been easy. His mother died before he turned two. When he was in his mid-twenties, he lost his father. But he was the kind of person who said, “If I’m remembered for anything, I want it to be that I was a grateful man.”
Yet that grateful lifestyle was forged in the fires of affliction. And that fire was never more intense than when he and his wife lost their daughter Karen at age seventeen in a car accident.
When friends came to break the news that Karen’s car had been hit by a drunk driver and she had not survived, Dad J gathered his wife and four younger children together in the living room. He began by saying, “Before we ask God why He took Karen home in a head-on collision a few hours ago, let’s thank Him for the seventeen years we had her.” Astonishing. But true.
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Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy
©2009 Revived Hearts Foundation
Scripture taken from The CSB
Make it Personal
How can you develop a lifestyle of gratitude, in both the good and the hard?