When faced with trials and tribulations, do you thank God?
Many of us thank God in our prayers, but can we honestly say we seek to thank Him in everything?
When life happens, our responses often vary—joy, excitement, worry, fear, or anxiety can quickly take over. And if we’re being truthful, many times we react first and pray later.
We’re no exception. Over a decade ago, during a financial hardship, we learned firsthand what it really means to thank God in every circumstance.
Thanking God Revelation
One fall evening, as we began making dinner, our stove suddenly stopped working. After 30 minutes of troubleshooting, we called the gas company to check our payment status.
The representative confirmed they had received our payment—but it had arrived too late to stop the disconnection. To restore service, we’d have to visit their office and pay a reconnection fee.
The problem? We barely had enough for the original bill, let alone an additional fee. And with two kids to feed, we found ourselves in an immediate crisis:
How do we make dinner without a working stove?
As we stood staring into the refrigerator, desperate for a solution, a small handwritten note on the door caught our eye:
“Thanking God in everything will get you through anything!”
This phrase had become our motto—so much so that we turned it into printable wall art around our home. We wrote it to remind ourselves to focus on God, not our circumstances.
And that night, we chose to live it out.
Finding The Good In Thanking God
Instead of sinking into self-pity, we decided to have a family picnic on the living room floor. We swallowed our pride, called family for help, and managed to order pizza.
To our surprise, the kids thought it was the best adventure. They had no idea the gas had been turned off.
The next morning, we visited the gas company. After sharing our situation, God granted us favor—they reconnected our service without charging any extra fees.
Walking back to the car, our eyes filled with tears, and our hearts overflowed with gratitude.
Later that evening, as we sat down for a home-cooked meal, the kids said, “Last night’s picnic was better than this!”
(…Really? After mama made a home-cooked dinner?)
But their joy was humbling. Despite our struggle, God used that moment to remind us that His goodness shines even in hardship.
Thanking God Through Prayer And Praise
When we face trials, the best response is to praise God.
It’s not always easy to praise Him during tough times, but praise shifts our perspective. It helps us find something—no matter how small—to be grateful for.
Our son often says, “Turn lemons into lemonade!”
Philippians 4:12–13 (NLT) reminds us: “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”
In The End
We’ve hit rock bottom more times than we can count.
We’ve lost loved ones to cancer, navigated health challenges, and endured the loss of a home and vehicles.
Yet here we are—still standing.
Why?
Because thanking God in everything has carried us through anything.
True happiness doesn’t come from a perfect life. It’s cultivated by being grateful for God’s goodness regardless of circumstances.
And the best way to cultivate a grateful heart is to thank God in everything—for what He has done, is doing, and will do.
Closing Reflection
How do you thank God when life feels overwhelming? Share your experience—we’d love to hear your story.
~ André and Timberley Gray
What an on time post. It is a season to be thankful. I love your ministry/testimony and how you live God’s priorities. It’s such a guiding light for me to witness regularly. Thank you 🙏🏾
Aww thank you for your kind words that is all God. ~ Blessings
Thanks for this reminder. Our rent was late this month because i i had it on autopay. That cost us$106 that we didn’t have but God is providing out every need. He is a good, good God.
Amen Mandy! That auto-pay is tricky at times. I’m real old school and prefer paper, it keeps me on my toes. ~ Blessings
Hi, I guess God wants me to comment, I was scrolling down with my left hand and it clicked on comment! I had to save this article because I agree, we have to thank God for everything in our lives. When we are grateful, God uses his awesome mystical powers and turns things around in our favour! I’m yet to experience this. I just intuitively know this as I am God and so are you and so are your children. I am wishing God’s almighty blessings on you and your family. God bless my friends. 💛
My kids love a sign I have that says “There is always, always, always something to be thankful for, and it’s so true. What an amazing God we have that in this harsh world, there is still always something to be thankful for!
Amen Danell. Thank you for stopping by to read. ~ Blessings
Great reminder!!! You are so right that praising God in the midst of our trials really does put us in the perfect position to watch Him work and it always inspires gratitude!
Yes! Watching God work really does inspire gratitude. ~ Blessings
This is so true! It has been in some of my hardest times that I have found that I can not only be thankful, but see more of how God is using everything.
Thank you Ayanna for stopping by to read. ~ Blessings
There were times when my family did not have regular income but we did not miss meals and essential services. People still came to us for help.We are happy and thankful because God used us to demonstrate His presence in our lives.May His Name be praised
Amen. Thank you for sharing.
god is always true and faithfull
This is absolutely the best thing I have learned to do all this while, because I know my father the all mighty God is always with me all the time, so I think it’s the only thing I can do at all times good or bad to be thankful to God, reminder my self that people faced worse situations but never thought about them, and only turned to God and praised him more (job) knowing that when am weak I am strong and no condition is permanent, joy comes in the morning
Thank you for sharing your story. This has really encouraged me in this current season that I am in, where many things are happening and are overwhelming. This is a great reminder to look beyond my circumstances.
Hi Porsha! Thank you for stopping by to read so glad it encouraged your heart. Stay encouraged sister God is workings out even when we can’t see, and He is in all the details we just have to look for Him. Blessings.
I’m sorry but this is long & kinda rambling, but there is a point! I have almost literally lost everything, more than once. All my possessions including my clothes, my Bibles, photographs/family portraits, & family “heirlooms” (sentimental value only), my family, my domiciles, cars, health, & mind. The only thing I have left is a small piece of land with the house I grew up in (which has been broken into, ravished, & left to rot & ruin), some woods, & my own house. I returned home Feb of 2021 after attempting to be close to my daughter & Grandchildren in AZ for a decade. My home is in GA. While in AZ, I lost belongings bit by bit, by trying to save them in storage units. Then when I moved back to GA, I lost everything else except the clothes on my back, my dog, my other dog’s ashes, 2 cd’s, 2 gifted Kindle Fire tablets, my phone, & one Bible. The moving company was a scam. Since being back home, I have been within a week of losing even my land & home! HOWEVER, one thing I never lost was the Love of God! In AZ, I was technically homeless for 5 years, but never, not one night, without a roof over my head! I had no income, zero, for most of those 5 years, thus the losing of my things in storage. My daughter turned her back on me instead of helping me. I haven’t seen my Grandchildren since 2014, except for a couple of hours in 2017, nor spoken to them except once this past May. I had to call on someone else’s phone for her to answer. My dog babies have passed, closest to my heart in 2019, aged 14 after 3 yrs as a diabetic, the other, which I inherited from my Mama, 3 months ago at age 18! Now I am all alone, humanly speaking, & barely able to take care of myself. Once again, I say HOWEVER: by the Grace of God, I am in my own home again, in my own room…a family was living here while I was gone to keep it from being vandalized like my homeplacee was, & I let them stay to help me (hasn’t happened yet). Their Head of Household had naturally claimed my Master bedroom. He gave it up for me. Anyway, God kept a roof over my head all those years, blessed me with several health related miracles, gave my canine babies long lives, brought me home, & most recently used the property tax situation for which I almost lost the place to rid us of bad housemates (“users” in more than one sense of the word, here by false pretenses who never paid one penny of rent, & took OUR things when they left! Oh, & has contacted one of my housemates b/c they are needing help.again!! Ha!) who refused to leave, until they thought we’d ALL be out on our behinds! Immediately after they left, I was blessed to be able to pay the taxes! Proof that God can, & does, use bad situations for good! The tax issue is another long story I won’t go into! I say that I must be doing something right (trusting in God even if I DO get scared before my faith kicks in), because the devil doesn’t harass those he’s already won! There’s truly not a lot lower I can go in this life, but even if I do, he will not win me! I have had times where he was bullying me so badly that I said aloud (& I don’t believe this New Age “speak it into existence” false teaching, nor do I recommend making contact with Satan!), “leave me alone! I belong to Jesus! I’m NOT letting go of Him & He ain’t gonna let go of me! So get lost!”!! As Paul said that he was content with little, I had to learn that lesson the hard way. Even if I NEVER have anything “nice” again, I have my home & my God. What more could I want? Except my family. I guess that’s my testimony, because I was saved as a child & don’t have any “God saved me from meth (or gangs, or human trafficking, or child abuse, or alcohol, etc)” testimonies. He may have saved me from some of those things by having me adopted at birth, literally just hours after delivery! The parents He chose for me, by having my bio-mom choose, were the most perfect parents He ever created! He has always held me in His hands, ESPECIALLY during the bad times!
WOW Sister you have been through it, but God! Thank you for sharing your story with such transparency and I’m sure it will encourage others! Stay encouraged and never stop fighting the good fight of faith! Blessings – Timberley
Wow 🤩
What a testimony to the goodness of God.
In fact, I discovered that thanksgiving is a form of spiritual warfare.
When the evil one tries to afflict us in an attempt to cause us to think hard thoughts about God, we stand up against him by giving thanks to God.
He is bound to withdraw from us because he finds us as an unsuitable tool to disgrace God.
God is good all the time and it is impossible for Him to do bad.
Thank You so much for living out your faith journey with us . It is encouraging and always timely . I was feeling the weight of my circumstances and overwhelmed with all the atrocities in the news, but you reminded to rest and give my worries to God .