"Not-so Blessings"

Recently I was taking another turn teaching the children on Wednesday night.

After opening with some conversation with the kids about what was going on in their lives I asked for any prayer requests. One girl asked that we pray for her because school would soon start and she was going to a new school this year. Another that we pray for her family's health needs. A boy requested prayer for a friend, etc.

Then one girl asked that we pray for her family because they recently suffered the loss of an extended family member and also of a close friend of the family. She mentioned how she had already been to one funeral with her grandmother and was going to go to another the next day.

When I asked for a volunteer to pray the same girl that had the requests for her bereaved family raised her hand. As she began she said, "God, thank you for all these blessings...," then she hesitated before continuing..."and all these not-so blessings."

Is it a sin for a pastor to laugh during prayer?

She had her theology correct though.

God doesn't just want us to be thankful for the blessings but also for the "not-so blessings."

"In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18

I've been using that little girl's words and the associated Scriptural principle quite a bit lately. I trust that God knows what He's doing even when the "not-so blessings" occur.