In everything give thanks. Have you noticed what happens to you or how you feel when you give thanks. Giving thanks takes you to a different dimension. It cheers you up and its like the more you give thanks the more it cheers you up. Also, the more you give thanks the more you find things to give thanks for. Suddenly your eyes are open to the wider picture of life.
It prevents you from staying in the lack. You find yourself in a place of seeing just how much you actually have, a place of abundance even though your sight tells you otherwise. No wonder everyone is going on about gratitude. Everyone may go on about it, but the source is no one but God and he has stamped it in the Excellent Book. Everything that’s good for us is from God and in the same Excellent Book it says Rejoice always meaning at all times Praise the Lord, again this is also stamped in the Excellent Book.
Everyone has their own way of marking an anniversary especially the anniversary of a loved one’s passing. I would like to give thanks on this day because not only is it a day I never thought I would be marking till Jesus comes, but its one I never thought I would be able to do what I am about to do. Anything phenomenally and positively surprising is from God. God knew that the 17th of September 2021 would be a shocking day because it is when my cousin would in Jesus words, fall asleep.
What I give thanks for is that God looked around his vast universe and decided she was needed in this world. I give thanks for her entire life. I give thanks for the many years we hang out and interacted in different spaces and even different countries. I give thanks for the things I learnt from her. From braiding hair, being kind and a friend to all. I give thanks that she lived long enough to add to the family tree through her beautiful girls. What a privilege to carry such memories and to know the family tree will continue though she is asleep. I give thanks for these and so much more.
Then I give thanks to the Giver of life, who always makes everything good, possible. I give thanks to the Giver of Peace, because for the 3rd time, my testimony is that I have had a peaceful day only and purely by his Grace. Some may say this all sounds like toxic positivity. My testimony is that the Prince of Peace knows how to give the peace that surpasses understanding and is not of this world. Not because of anything I have done.
His Power far exceeds the power of grief, because he is a Mighty God. Nothing in this world can defeat him. My defeat is never his defeat. Your defeat is never his defeat. His Wonderful Counsel also knows how to counsel you on matters that baffle you, matters that you struggle with and matters that you can’t understand even if you try so hard to understand.
When I talk about Jesus’ power exceeding the power of grief, I only have to share with you Lazarus story. Jesus before his crucifixion, raised Lazarus from the dead when his body had already started to decay. The Power of Jesus, Mighty God, is that powerful that even a decaying body is nothing that’s too hard for him. So, nothing is too hard for him.
I give thanks for the Resurrection because that miracle was not only for Lazarus, Jairus daughter, or the widow of Nain’s son and all the others we don’t know about. The hope that keeps me from being swallowed by the griefs of this world is that all these painful negatives of the world, will end. Yes, our lives and our loved ones life may end, but the Excellent Book says the final enemy, death, will also come to an end, because it will be destroyed! Then there will be no more tears, no more sorrow or pain.
Last night I was very aware of what today would mark, and I started remembering that day’s events all the way to the burial. One particular memory, just before the burial, got me in tears. So, I am not saying, I haven’t had my moments of tears. I am saying through everything I give thanks for how God has provided and sustained me in something none of us ever saw coming and was crushing to the heart.
I give thanks that God knows even where we don’t know or understand. I give thanks that while we battle to know and understand, he is busy pumping us with strength and loading us with comfort even if it doesn’t feel like it. Looks are very deceiving, and feelings are doubly deceitful. I give thanks that the Lord is Always with us, near the broken hearted and crushed in spirit.
I give thanks that in our most vulnerable state of being broken-hearted, it is impossible for God to leave us. In all you go through, as much as you may not see it, please trust and believe God is right by your side and Never leaving you. In all you have gone through, going through, may go through, may you feel the incredible peace, comfort, strength and love of God move in your life in ways you could never ask think or imagine.
Related Verses
James 1:17
Philippians 4:4
Psalm 34:1
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