Be Thankful in All Circumstances

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? - Matthew 6:26

I am continually amazed by my husband.

He's been going through a very hard work situation for the past few months, and he has been dealing with it much, much better than I would be.

To make a long story short, Cody was accepted to PA school recently, so he will be leaving his current job and we are moving across the state for him to go to school.

Even though many people (including myself) told him it would be better not to say anything to his employers until he gives an official two week notice, after being pressured by his bosses who knew that he had interviewed for school, he went ahead and told them the good news months in advance so that they would be able to prepare to hire someone else, and give him a chance to help train a new consultant before he left.

Ever since he did them the favor of letting them know of his plans, they have constantly done things to try and push him out the door.

They hired a third consultant and gave her his seat before she was even trained, moving him into the corner with less foot traffic and then constantly beat him down about his sales numbers declining (even though he has still commissioned every single month since he told them his plans). Not to mention that the way they have their sales department set up is completely backwards (no matter who has cultivated a client and spent all the time with them helping them figure out what they need, the credit for the sale goes to whoever rings them up. And, they put way to much emphasis on outbound calls even though the percentage of sales brought in through those is very low and they should focus more on web sales and the customers who are actually coming into the store).

They get on to Cody all the time for not making enough outbound sales calls even though they know that this is his weakest area, and he is much better at face to face sales. Cody is still commissioning on top of all these other things that they are having him do including talking on the radio show about their vitamin company, going to outside events to talk about nutrition and supplements, and even hosting webinars (all of which are things that the other consultants can not do because they don't have the knowledge that Cody has). They are constantly making him sign 'agreements' that he will make phone calls, and do all this other stuff, even though he is still turning them a profit!

They have even gone so far as to tell him they think that he has given up and is already done working there...after he put together a very well thought out proposal on his plans to come back after school and keep bringing benefit to their company.

Last Thursday, they tell him to go home early and not come back until Monday morning for a disciplinary meeting...at which they tell him they are very disappointed in him and that he is not allowed to come to work for the rest of the week until they have a meeting with their bosses about it.

It's just really sad that after all the things that he's done for them (including selling over $1 million last year alone) this is the thanks he gets.

Yet Cody has continued through all of this to have a good attitude and do his best to be thankful of his situation even though he's disappointed in how this has all turned out as well.

He's thankful for all the lessons that he's learned while working at this place and in that kind of sales environment and instead of dwelling on his hurt feelings towards them this morning, he is getting things done around the house and taking care of his car, and doing other things to help me out before we move.

Cody, as long as I've known him, has ALWAYS focused on the positive in things. He is always happy even if things are not going the way he would like for them to.  He's been good for me (I can be negative a lot and unhappy when things are not good).

This whole situation is just a really good opportunity for me to remember that God calls us to be thankful for all situations that we go through. And God is Good. He provides for us always, and he will always be there to comfort us and love us, no matter what.

God, please help me to have a thankful heart for what Cody is going through.