The other day, my team and I walked through a small community in Mozambique stopping at different homes to talk to people about Jesus. We came to this house and saw a hand reach out of the door. A man using a stick and one of his hands to move came toward us. His legs were deformed and completely no functional. I didn’t even see that he had legs at first. The first thing that this man said to us as we walked up and asked how he was doing, was:
“I’m so thankful to be feeling better, so it’s a good day. God is good!”
I was blown away.
God had been teaching me about thankfulness lately and this totally hit me dead on. (God usually does this when He teaches me a lesson. If I am not fully understanding, He will throw a big example at me, right in front of my face, impossible to miss.)
I came to find out that this man’s name was Solomon. He lost his legs when he was 13 due to a disease. We talked for a while and I shared with him how much he had encouraged me. I shared with him a verse that reminded me of him.
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me
Psalm 50:23a
His face was glowing. He was so happy as I described to him how thrilled God was with his thankful heart and how much it glorified the Lord.
When it was time to say good bye to Solomon, he had me write down all the verses I shared with him and my name. He then pulled me close when I shook his hand and kissed me a total of 4 times on the cheek. It was precious.
After we left, my mind continued thinking about this ‘thankfulness’ lesson God’s been teaching me. You see, there have been a couple of verses that I’ve been going back to recently.
Giving thanks in always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:20
Always and for everything.
Whoa. Those are really big words.
What it bad things are happening in life?
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
So that’s what I do in tough situations? Rejoice, Pray and give thanks.
The will of God. Well, that is where I want to be, so I should give thanks for whatever that is, even if it looks different than I think it should or want it to.
Here in Mozambique the church the congregation will yell out “God is good! All the time!”
And I do believe that.
But it is a hard discipline to give thanks for all things at all times because He is all good.
I’ve come to the conclusion and hope that it will come more naturally for me to give thanks in all circumstances is to practice giving thanks more often in life.
I am reading a great book right now called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. She finds the secret to joy and a full life is thankfulness. She looks at things as gifts from her Father in Heaven to be thankfull for.
She said that there was a lot of power in naming things as gifts.
“To name a thing is to manifest the meaning and value God gave it.”
Recognizing gifts from God shows how much he loves us.
Every good gift and perfect gift is from above coming from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:17
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Matthew 7:9-11
God gives us good gifts because He loves us.
The author dares herself to list 1000 gifts she finds in everyday life from her Father in Heaven.
I started to do the same.
My list has things like this, so far:
2. pineapple on cheeseburgers
14. coffee in the morning
30. spiral staircases
66. falling asleep to a movie
122. the smell of rain
131. unexpected hugs
Seeing God in the little things reminds me of his love for me.
The more that we count the gifts from God and the more we give thanks for them and then, the more we see how much He loves us.
He loves us. And that is the biggest thing to be thankful for.
Basically, I’m saying these two lessons out loud daily:
God is good all the time. I am always loved.
