I will give thanks to you, Lord,
with all my heart.
—Psalm 9:1
Izaak Walton was thankful for what he had—but most of all, for what he didn’t have: “Every misery that I miss is a new mercy,” he said.
When Walton heard of people afflicted with terrible diseases or victims of horrible accidents, he always recited that line: “Every misery that I miss is a new mercy.”
Cancer. Heart disease. Blindness. COPD. Kidney failure. Diabetes. Alzheimer’s. And accidents that result in disabilities, defects, or death.
Take a stroll down the over-the-counter medicine aisle at your local drugstore. You will find treatments for headache and heartburn—medications for allergies, arthritis, and asthma.
Thank God for his preventing grace if you don’t need these remedies and have no disabling disease.
God has two dwellings:
one in heaven and one in a thankful heart.