Proclaiming God's Goodness

I will thank you forever because of what you have done. In the presence of the faithful I will proclaim your name, for it is good. Psalm 52:9.


Twenty-eight years ago at this time, I was a raging alcoholic and drug abuser. I found nothing to be thankful for except the next drink or high. I avoided family gatherings because to have to go without a drink that long was too hard. My life had spiraled out of control and I was dead inside. My life revolved around alcohol and drugs and by that point, partying no longer mattered. I drank and got high alone at home daily if there was nowhere to go. I was hopelessly addicted.

Twenty-eight years ago and before, I had a gone through a string of broken relationships and a long term abusive one. I had attempted suicide twice and spent three weeks in a mental ward in a hospital. I was a cutter and have a bad scar on one of my arms that required stitches. I was filled with self-loathing and had little love for others. I was both a user and used.

But twenty-seven years ago God in his amazing miraculous way suddenly intervened in my life. I was the woman caught in adultery, the tax collector, the demon possessed man rolled into one and one day Jesus walked into my life and asked if I want to be made whole. No, I didn’t see him, and I didn’t hear his voice, but feeling suicidal again, the words, “I don’t want to drink anymore, today I will not drink” greeted me first thing the morning of March 26, 1984. I didn’t know where the thought came from, but I didn’t drink that day. I know now the thought was from the Holy Spirit.

By the next day I had the shakes badly and knew I needed help and found an AA group. It was there that I rediscovered God. Among a group of recovering alcoholics, some pretty worldly, I found they all claimed a Higher Power was keeping them sober. The only God I knew of was the Christian God I had been raised with, so in both terror and abject humility I breathed a prayer that if Jesus would have me I wanted to come back. In that instant, my life was utterly changed and changed forever.

What God did for me was nothing short of miraculous. With his grace I have remained sober and drug free for twenty-seven years and have had a lasting relationship of twenty-four years with my husband, a beautiful son and a successful career. Looking back to where I was before Jesus reached into my heart and began the slow process of transformation, I can only be overwhelmed with gratitude and amazement.

I doubt that I would be alive today if God had not claimed me when he did. I do not understand why he chose me, why he would want such a broken and debased person, but I will rejoice over it and not take lightly his marvelous grace toward me. This Thanksgiving, I am reminded once again that I have much to be grateful for, many blessings to acknowledge and I am doing so as I write this. I pray that all who read this will find at least one thing for which they can thank and praise God.

My church closes every Sunday service by saying, “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.” This Thanksgiving Day, let that be your response to the Lord. He is indeed good to us all the time.