Be Grateful

2020 has ended and we are in a new year, 2021.  I am thankful to God for helping me through the past year.  A lot of things happened in 2020, the coronavirus, protests and the election of a new president to name a few.  Yes, 2020 was an unprecedent year.  Despite everything that happened God was still in control.  He was our defender, protector, refuge and strength.  When trouble comes, we need to call on his holy name. As I reflect over all the things, I encountered last year, I am incredibly grateful that Jesus is my savior.  I know he loves and cares about me.

The beginning of a new year is always a time of reflection.  It is a good time to reflect on the everything that happened in the previous year.  It is a time to reflect on things we have learned and how we have changed because of our experiences.  When we look at all the situations we have dealt with and all the things that has happened, normally we find out the good outweighs the bad.  Many times, we focus on the negative and on all the things that went wrong.  I find myself doing this often and I must be intentional about being positive.  When we focus on the positive and the things that went right, we get a different perspective.  When I focus on the positive, I do not get upset or become angry about the adverse things I encounter.  I do not beat myself up because I feel I should have known better or done something better.  The way I keep a positive attitude is to keep my focus on God.  This mean every day I am intentional about spending time reading my bible, listening to praise music and praying.  Sometimes we can be our own worst critics.  God has been working with me to stop beating myself up when I make mistakes.  We are not going to do everything right, but we should learn something about God and ourselves from every situation we face.  Whatever you are going through keep your eyes on God.  He is the only one that can give us peace during our storms.  Be grateful that we have he loves us.

What is gratefulness?  The definition of gratefulness is to be warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful.  Gratefulness is about being appreciative and thankful for everything God has blessed us with.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 it says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Sometimes we focus on the things we lack, what we wish we had and on what others have that we do not.  If we are thankful for what we have, then God will bless us with some of the desires of our heart. 

We need to be grateful to God for bringing us through 2021.  In December 2019 I kept a gratefulness journal, where each day I would write what I am grateful for.  Starting on March 1, 2020 I am going to do the same thing and this time I want to do it for the rest of the year.  Writing down every day what we are grateful for will make us more aware of all the many ways God has blessed us.  Let us be intentional about thanking him for all he does for us.  Many times, we take God for granted, but we need to show him how much we love him.  A benefit of writing down each day what you are grateful for is it causes us to have a more positive outlook on life.  When trouble comes just pull out your gratefulness journal, look at the things you wrote down, it will remind you that whatever you are currently facing too shall pass.  If God brought you through that, then beyond a shadow of doubt, he can bring you through whatever you are facing today.

When we are thankful for all God has blessed us with it gives us a different perspective about the things, we have been through.  I thank God for all he brought us through last year in 2020.  I thank him for opening our eyes to what is important, a relationship with him.  I thank him for protecting us from the corona virus.  I thank him for being a someone we can talk to anytime of the day and he is never too busy to listen. 

When I think about all the people who I will not see again, all the things I thought was important that do not seem so important anymore.  How I have grown more closer to God than ever before.  I than him for removing all the things that distracted us from serving him.  I thank him for how he drew his children closer to him than they have ever been.  I thank him for loving us so much that he let his only begotten son die on the cross for our sins and redemption.  Let us be grateful for all God has brought us through. 

LSW