Tag: 1 Thessalonians 5:18

“George Matheson, the well-known blind preacher of Scotland once said, ‘My dear God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses but not once for my thorns. I have always looked forward to the place where I will be rewarded for my cross, but I have never thought of my cross as a present glory itself.

“‘Teach me, O lord, to glory in my cross. Teach me the value of my thorns. Show me how I have climbed to You through the path of pain. Show me it is through my tears I have seen my rainbow.'”*

I sat curled up on the sofa’s end, coffee cup in hand on that chilly April morning. Quiet time with Jesus is my favorite time of day. I held Streams in the Desert next to my Bible, its pages dog-eared and underlined with scribbled notes in margins after years of repeated use.

And yet the words of this sweet devotional spoke fresh to me again that morning.

I realized I had not thanked the Lord for my thorns.