We may have suffered some very real hurts and need to grieve significant losses. What we need to realize is
that in coping with problems our faith is allowed to mature and grow. As what does not kill us only makes us
stronger.
Often, problems signal a need for change in our lives that leads us in a new direction. Directions that often force
us into trials and tribulations that eventually allow us to understand why things happen the way that they happen.
Being grateful for the good, bad, and even for the indifferent must play a significant role as a daily practice. We
must learn to thank God for the good, and even the bad situations in our lives. This is where all of us can begin:
grateful for life, for the freedom from the lies and the harmful addictions they have demanded of us.
Begin searching for every learning experience along the way. Search for the good in all, for a returned smile, for
an expression of care from someone, and understand that which seems bad or distasteful to us today will
become relevant for our growth tomorrow.
Now if we take the time to slow down today, we will be able to do something rewarding for ourselves tomorrow
like, helping another. This act of concern for someone else helps us to put our own life into proper perspective.
God does not see the good deed, but rather He sees the heart of the doer as it is He who does the good
deed and through us. Therefore, you must not ever boast in yourself, but rather, keep the good deed just
between you and your Creator. Do not stand on your rooftop stealing God’s thunder, as it is not yours to take.
Now let’s get back to being grateful. When the car will not start, realize that God has a plan, or maybe He just
needed to slow you down because there is a pile up on the freeway, and He still has more for you to learn.
When the guy at the gas station gives you a bad time, maybe God wishes you to learn understanding for others.
Or maybe God needs that guy to learn a lesson about something you are not aware of. Therefore, do not take it
personal! Stop and get the bigger picture, maybe it’s not about you at all!
Many of us are all-or-nothing people. We are either on top of the world or the world is on top of us. However, if
we wait only to be grateful for the good or big things, we sale ourselves short because the chances are that we
will never be grateful at all. A practice of gratitude helps us see that we are simply in the world as human beings.
Many have the notion that money will fill the empty void. On his death bed one of the richest men who ever lived
claimed; “I would gladly give my last penny for one good relationship.” Now that is sad! This man had been
married four or five times and died alone!
And on and on, we hear of these tragic stories of one self-inflicted misery created at a time. Why? Because God
did not say to be grateful for the good things that happen, but to be grateful for all things that happen. He is
working out His perfect plan in all of our lives. Yes, His plan is rather painful at times, but remember life is but a
vapor in time. If you feel debunked and all alone, stop yourself from believing your own self-taught lies.
Get out of that head now!
Those thoughts are simply the work of the one who has wished your spiritual death from the beginning of time.
Therefore, do not allow yourself to believe his lies! Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall see God’s
glory manifested in your own life, as you are God’s glory made manifest.
Now do not be like the Hebrews who walked for forty years in the wilderness. Why did they complain the entire
time? Maybe they bitched because God had made sweet bread fall from the sky like rain? Or maybe they
complained because fresh water came from a rock? Or maybe they complained because their shoes, nor their
clothing wore out for forty years, and they wanted newer models! Or was it because God stayed with them every
moment to guide them through the difficulty of their rebellious and ungrateful journey of self inflicted pain?
How is your walk? Are you going to walk for forty more years because of your lack of gratitude? I do not care if
you are penniless, I do not care if you have lost your best friend, your job, your house or your spouse!
Whatever your loss is, it could be much worse, you must now realize that you have been gifted the greatest gift
that God could give. Himself!
When you feel blue, when the world has shot you full of holes, write down your feelings to read later in life. After
some time has passed, you will begin to see a pattern in your life and soon you will be able to use this pattern to
your advantage. Just do it and you’ll see the results later on. You will have written a chronology that will later
cause you to feel a bit foolish for believing those self-taught lies.
If each new day you make a list of everything that you have to be grateful for, not only will this habit of
therapeutic journaling speak to your heart as it reminds you of God’s great love for you, but you will also
learn to stop bitching about anything that seems bad in your life! There is a power at work here that no one can
fully explain. Write! Share your feelings! Talk about how you feel with others! Comfort one another, as He
comforted you!
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