The Pilgrims’ Secret Weapon can be Yours Today!

by Debbie Rutan

Debbie, have you had some hard times?

I’d say all of the “Top Ten” most stressful life experiences have knocked on my door!

For ten solid years it felt as if life couldn’t get any worse. Our 2-year-old son was hit by a car and sustained a serious head injury. We moved with four small children to another state. My husband went back to college. On the first day of school, he hit a child with his car, causing a head injury to the child. It was too much and my husband had to drop out of school because of an emotional breakdown and panic attacks. We had financial hardship and bankruptcy. Another son was diagnosed with a bone tumor. Our daughter had an emergency appendectomy. My father died. And we moved again and started new jobs. At the worst of it, I actually contemplated ending it all.…

What changed?

I experienced divine intervention when God stopped me from running my car into a tree.

Really? What was going on?

I was so depressed and scared, overwhelmed. One day while driving alone on a country road in Indiana, I thought, “Just drive into that tree and end this.” But as my tires left the pavement and hit the gravel, all at once I felt a strong tug on the steering wheel — pulling me back onto the road.  It wasn’t me … I believe it was God! I was very shaken afterward yet also filled with a sense of awe and peace.

 Since then there have been many other challenges to face. However, during those ten years of intense stress, I came to the end of myself and stopped asking God, Why? Instead, I began to practice the power of thanking God for anything and everything I could honestly feel thankful for. It changed my outlook, adjusted my feelings, and truly saved my life.

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Sometimes life is hard. Things happen: loss of a job, home, friend or loved one; inability to pay the bills; a betrayal; a sickness or addiction. Serious things overtake us that can discourage and overwhelm us. The Pilgrims also had it rough. They went through great hardship sailing across the vast ocean to find a new life in a wild and uncertain land, only to face more challenges trying to survive there. How did they persevere and flourish?

The Pilgrims had a secret weapon. It was the power of “thank you.” Every day they would begin by thanking God for life, freedom, safety, and opportunity in the new world. Yes, there were plenty of things going wrong, but by digging deep into their hearts, the Pilgrims found even more to truly be thankful for. Their attitude of gratitude gave them inner strength, and God blessed them by sending the Native Americans to provide food and help in planting crops and building a new life.

I also use the secret weapon of thankfulness throughout the day, thanking God for everything large or small: my hearing, sight, physical abilities, faith, family, friends, food, blue sky — the list goes on and on. It’s quite amazing to experience the transformation as my mind and emotions find hope and peace instead of focusing on my problems!

In the New Testament of the Bible (Philippians 4:8) we are encouraged to think about things that are “true, honest, pure, lovely, of good report, with virtue, and praise-worthy.” Try it for yourself. Start your own “thank you” list today. It will become your secret weapon against discouragement and despair. It simply works, and God will bless your life as a result.