Do you ever wonder how to be thankful when you’re going through some challenges? These days of COVID-19 have made this year a big challenge. So many people are dealing with hard times and there is uncertainty on what this virus will do next. This blog will share ideas about being thankful.
Count Your Blessings
The picture was a drawing made by my son, but it has so much more significance than just colorful artwork done by a child. This particular Thanksgiving, my son Evan had been through 11 months of cancer treatment. After being home bound, he had just returned back to school and this was one of the first art projects he brought home. Now I remember that day, being so thankful for a child that was able to go to school. I was thankful that he finally had enough of an immune system to be around other kids. I was thankful that he was healthy enough to get through an entire day of school. In the previous year these were things I took for granted, and now I felt so thankful for them. As I look at this picture today I realize I could use a recalibration of my perspective on gratitude. Thanksgiving is a perfect day to hit the reset button!
Choose Gratitude Over Complacency
I think of the Israelites. Hungry in the desert. They had no idea what the future would hold but they were trusting God for provision. He sent down manna. Literal provision from the sky everyday. They lived with such awe and gratitude of such a simple thing provided by God. As the days piled up, they started to become complacent and even complained about the manna. The thing they were so thankful for had now become insignificant. They wanted more. They wanted meat. If you finish the story you see that God did eventually give them what they wanted, only to prove to them it would not make them happy, on the contrary, it caused misery.
So I ask you, as I search my own heart today; where have you begun to take advantage of God’s blessings in your life? If we focus on “getting more” we will never feel fulfilled, but if we focus on God and thank Him for all He’s done, we will have indescribable joy. I can’t even explain it to you, but during Evan’s cancer treatment I experienced the most joy I’ve ever felt. Not because my circumstances were good. That’s for sure; but because I spent more time being aware of my need and dependency on God.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God.” – Philippians 4:6
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