Matthew Henry and Thanksgiving

In preparation for Thanksgiving, our family has been reading from the booklet: Growing Together in gratitude: Stories of Faith for Families - by Barbara Rainey

I want to take an excerpt from one of the readings, because it was so encouraging to me. It is in the context of a reading about "Finding the Good in the Bad":

"Matthew Henry was a Puritan preacher in the late 1600's. Like our friend Amy,he once wrote in his diary about something bad that happened to him. One day, while walking home in London, he was robbed by a couple of men who jumped him from the shadows of an alley. Being robbed is hardly an everyday nuisance - it's much more unsettling, more of a personal violation that can leave one feeling vulnerable and frightened. Reverend Henry probably felt those things, but what he wrote that night is very instructive: 'Let me be thankful, first, because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed and not I who robbed.'

What a great perspective on a difficult situation! Matthew Henry chose to look for the good that was hidden in the bad. And by doing this he showed us how important it is to focus on the positive that God wants us to see in every situation in life. It's always there; we just have to choose to look for it."