As you read this, you are likely very close to Thanksgiving Day, and perhaps have already had some pre-Thanksgiving celebrations, as I have, which caused you to pause and consider your blessings.

While this is a good practice any day of the year, Thanksgiving certainly brings it to the forefront of our thoughts – if we can stop from all the prep and take a few quiet moments.

Three of the most common areas to be grateful for (according to Google) are family, friends, and health. All good things, most of the time! With very little family nearby, I can heartily agree with the “friends and health” part of that. God has blessed me with some incredible friends – many more, and better friends than I deserve!

And I have a pretty strong “constitution” so staying healthy is status quo for me. Still, it’s right to be grateful that God continues to keep me healthy and away from sick beds, hospitals and/or surgeries!

Many of these blessings are what I might label “stand-alone” blessings. There’s no real back story to how or why you’re blessed in these ways. They just are. Those three most common ones might be good examples of this. They find their way to most people’s gratitude lists.

But as I was thinking about what areas I feel are the greatest blessings in my life right now, I found that there was a slightly different path to get there.

I’m clear about the fact that the hardest season of my life is what I’m living through now – losing Dale and the myriad losses that accompany that. The long-term heartache is real. I’ve never denied that. But I’ve also striven to acknowledge the blessings as well.

So, here’s an alternative path to gratitude, and might I suggest, possibly a deeper one. Here’s my own back story to my current top-of-list blessings.

I am deeply and eternally grateful for my walk with God. It’s at the very heart of who I am and it sustains me through any trial this broken world might throw at me.

But did that deep faith just automatically pop up one day? Of course not! For me, losing Dale was the catalyst for growing my faith. It was the dark days and the crying out to God for strength and perseverance that ultimately led to my current faith walk.

It’s one of my greatest blessings, and it comes from my deepest hurt.

I’m also incredibly grateful for this grief ministry that God has called me to. Time and time again, I’ve seen and felt him work through me to be a light to someone who is hurting deeply. I’ve never felt such purpose in all my life. No job has ever come close to giving me the satisfaction that I cherish by following God’s lead in this calling.

It’s one of my greatest blessings, and it comes from my deepest hurt.

Do you see the pattern here? I could go on with more examples but the point is to ask ourselves if we’ve looked broadly enough at where our greatest trials have led us. If you’re still deeply entrenched in challenging times, you might not be there yet.

But in retrospect, I think we can acknowledge that many of our toughest times did, in fact, lead to some powerful lessons down the road. And likely blessings.

And saving the best for last – I’m eternally grateful for the gift of salvation. Faith in what Jesus did on the cross to pay the debt for my sin, and yours, is the ultimate, eternal blessing in my life. It means that any heartache I endure today will come to an end, and I will experience an incredible reunion with Jesus and all my believing loved ones. I’m ready for that day!

It’s my greatest blessing, and it comes from Jesus’ greatest sacrifice.

So this Thanksgiving, we should still be grateful for family, friends, faith, food and anything else that is a blessing with no “baggage.” But I imagine you can also add to that list some blessings that grew out of a deep hurt in your past.

Be grateful for these as well. You may find they are the longest lasting of all our blessings.

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;

I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

Psalm 9:1