Thanksgiving: The expression of gratitude; especially to God.
For this first post I wanted to reflect on how God has been so good. He has carried us this far, through the thick and the thin. He has carried us through the good and especially the bad – if you’re still in the bad, He will surely see you through it.
The Lord has not given me everything, but He has given me everything I have ever needed. It is so easy to overlook the good in my life, to focus on the bad; on the things that are not going my way or the things I do not yet possess. These thoughts take up so much room in the mind and overshadow all the things I have achieved and the things I am blessed with.
This past December while on a mission trip I started focusing on the less than favourable conditions. I was complaining about the water, the people I was on mission with, and I started doubting whether I was strong enough to follow through on some of the commitments I had made. It was as if in some moments the good we were doing was less significant than the conditions. It is so easy to only see the less than opportune circumstances and not the bigger picture.
Last year I learnt that gratitude is a state of mind, you have to constantly remind yourself of the blessings you are living in. It is a blessing to feel bloated after a meal because it means I had food. It is a blessing to feel sore after a long day in the sun, it means that I have a body that can still move, it is a blessing to be socially drained, it means I have friends to hang out with. It was also a blessing to have gone out and worked for the Lord, because it means that through myself and my friends someone heard about Jesus.
I also strongly believe that because the Lord knows my shortcomings, He surrounded me with people who encouraged my faith. People who woke me up in the morning to go pray, people who reminded me that we are not the first to go through trials and people who reminded me that God is good even when the world is not.
During a particularly difficult time I remember us reading some verses from Psalm 34 and just thinking how thankful I was to be surrounded by people who were able to recognise that without God there are no challenges we can overcome on our own.
When I sit and think about my life and the things that have happened over the past year, I can say that the Lord has surely been good. There are many things I wanted but did not get and there are many things I needed, and the Lord did not withhold them from me. If we focus on our blessings we will not stop and think on all the things we do not have.
There is a reason why God does what He does, and when He does it. He is always looking out for us, having our best interest at heart. Let us wait on the Lord and trust His plans, only He knows why He makes us wait. Let us be thankful for the waiting room but let us not be passive, let us prepare our minds and hearts to accept what He will give us. Our time to stand in the sun will come.
–
If you can make the time, I strongly encourage you reading Psalm 107 – Thanksgiving to the Lord for His great works of deliverance.
“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is Good! For His mercy endures forever.” Psalm 107:1
“Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” Psalm 107:8
“I can tell the world about this, I can tell the nation that I’m blessed, tell them what my Jesus has done, tell them that The Comforter has come. And He brought joy, great joy unto my soul.” Joy to my soul by Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers
A special thank you to two people who showed me that even if it is not easy to wake up at 4AM to pray, it helps. When you are in the trenches for Jesus, He is in there with you – Memo and Kau ❤
Until the next one, stay faithful!
