Grateful

 

Grateful 

Jonah 2: 7-10

7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple. 8 “Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.” 10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Oftentimes, we are forgetful for all the love and kindness that God continues to pour upon us. It is so easy to see the things that we dislike about life or in ourselves. We tend to allow our feelings and emotions to lead us in many of our life decisions instead of turning to God first and pray for wisdom about a matter. If we listened to our emotions, which in most cases causes us to react on impulse e.g., we might live in a small comfortable house with an affordable mortgage versus desiring a bigger house that looks more beautiful that comes with a higher mortgage payment. That would put many of us in a bind and a strain on the finances if there isn’t enough income coming in to accommodate the payments. Therefore, we must choose to use wisdom over our feelings in this matter. Another example is our co-worker may take two vacations a year around the world, and we cannot even get to Disney Land. These things play on our emotions and it’s safe to say that we are sliding on a slippery slope at times because our emotions are fickle.  The plain truth is that we cannot accept where we are in our own lives or be content with the things that we do have.

When we get caught up in this web of deception, we are no longer focusing on the things that we should be grateful for. Our praise and thanks to God becomes less and less because our minds are preoccupied with selfish thoughts and a distorted attitude about our lives. This kind of energy is draining, and it depletes us of the positive energy that we receive when we’re living in the moment of grace. 

So many of us have one time or another worked two jobs, picked up more hours with overtime to fund a vacation, buy a new wardrobe, a contemporary car, support a habit or just to have some extra savings in our bank accounts. No matter what our reason is for pursuing more than we need to live comfortably it’s the lust of the eyes and the pride of life according to the Word of God.

As we stop to ponder, we are no longer interested in what we have because it’s not enough. As soon as we get a new thing the feeling of happiness lasts only for a short moment. Next, we’re on to focusing our time and mind on gaining more things that only gives us instant gratification which is fleeting vain glory.  This is man’s way of defining what happiness is and what pleases him. Time spent living this way only leads to a vicious cycle enslaving us to material things and an empty selfish life.

Here’s a reminder when we are grateful to God, we give back to Him by doing something for someone else in need. Any form of kindness sometimes goes a long way. It doesn’t always require us to give money to be kind, sharing some good advice to someone else or just being encouraging is nice. But if were too busy working for the material stuff that we think will make us happy then the answer is no we don’t have time to be concerned with anybody else’s needs.

Meanwhile, our families are suffering because of this mentality and this rat race is a never-ending cycle. Before we know it, our children are acting out, we’re getting a divorce, nobody’s speaking to each other with true concern things are slowly falling apart in the home. We’re losing our true essence in living and being present in the present. It’s so bad when we look at the calendar and focus on a particular date that’s significant to us that we forget to live in the now and hold on to the ones we love, share the joy, embrace the smiles, revisit the good memories, bask in the sunshine, relax listening to our favorite song and cherishing our gift of life.

Today we have a chance to start fresh by waking up and giving God the praise and glory for keeping us in all our ways. We must pray and tell Him how amazing He is because He’s listening to our words that we speak and ponder about His goodness and mercies that are endless according to His Word. Psalm 136:1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Despite the times, when we went our way and wouldn’t listen to Him or follow godly advice that He sent to us in some form that we didn’t recognize. Sometimes He speaks to us through people, a situation, conversation, out running errands, in passing, however, we choose to see it God does send us a word and the answers to our prayers. He is always speaking; we must slow down and be quiet and wait and listen.

Our baskets are overflowing with grace, mercies, abundant blessings, praise reports, second, third and sometimes fourth chances. He gives us all of this even when we have not stopped to pray or give Him the praise and glory. Knowing that God is so good to us even in our mess and disobedience just ponder on how much more He will continue to provide divine provisions toward us when we show Him our gratitude when we obey Him, read His Word, pray, forgive others, and serve Him. We will receive His peace and it shall be multiplied to us when we give our total praise for His Son Jesus.

 

 

Grateful

 

I was lost in darkness

But You found me

Now I can see the truth

When the tears fell

I was blind by my flaws

Yet You never gave up on me

Lord I am forever thankful

You saw beyond my weary soul

You released the power of Your Word

How can I ever forget Your love?

I no longer have to live in sin

I can make wiser choices and live

 Through eternity as I praise You

I beseech everything that You desire

For I know You are the living Messiah

ã2004 “Naima’s Inspirational Melodies”