Hope-Filled Christian
Hope-Filled Christian
The Transformative Power of Gratitude: A New Perspective
Ever had one of those days when every little thing seems to aggravate you? You're not alone. Join me on a journey through my day, filled with minor irritations that led to a major life lesson. I'll share an enlightening tale about a frustrating lunchtime queue that sparked a revelation about gratitude and the divine providence that shelters us every day.
Listen as we unpack Psalm 68:19 and discover its profound message about God's daily protection and provision. Explore how the seemingly bad things in life can illuminate our understanding and appreciation of God's omnipotent presence and infinite grace. This episode will challenge your perspectives and guide you towards embracing the transformative power of gratitude. Together, we'll navigate the intricacies of faith, unraveling the mysteries of life, and God's hand in it, one story at a time.
Hi and welcome back to HFC. This is totally unrelated to the verse, but I feel like or today's verse at least I feel like I had a kind of awakening today of the need to be grateful. So basically it was really short. I went to lunch and I have like 30 minutes to get lunch, and that includes like going to go get it and getting back to work and actually eating it. And I remember I was waiting in line and I was so upset because it was a dual line and I was very visibly there before the other person and I'm like come on, come on, take my order so I can go in front of them, save myself some time. And of course it didn't work out that way. The other person got to not only order before me, but they also pulled in before me and then, like I was almost livid because the person that pulled up after that person ordered was starting to get their order taken. I'm like whoa. And then finally they started taking my order and I'm like, seriously, I was so upset and normally I would continue this anyway, I pull up to the thing and go through, and it was funny because I ended up getting my stuff and the person was there waiting for their stuff, the one that ended up going before me. They were still waiting for their food and I just like drove past them because he gave me mine. I left and I was like all upset Like oh, could have been back so much faster. I wasn't paying attention to the time at all because I just figured I was late.
Speaker 1:I get back a park and then I look at the time because I was confused because I saw like the students still like doing stuff that they do before they go to eat and I was like what the heck? Like I must be back super early and I look at the clock and I was usually takes me about 20 minutes to go do all that stuff and I get like 10, 5 to 10 minutes to eat. But I was lucky enough to get back on time and I was able to. I think it only took me about 10 minutes. I had 20 minutes to eat and stuff and it was so much more relaxing than usual. But it was actually really nice. And so I was like in the moment like I'm sorry, god, I should have just been grateful and realized that you were doing something all in so simple and so stupid. I apologize if you guys have bigger things going on, but I just it was funny and in that moment I was like you know what I should have been grateful along, and then I just had a moment where I was just like God, just thank you for the fact that I made it back to work safely.
Speaker 1:And lately I feel like my mind's been on a lot of stuff, like I keep getting all these new stories about people with cancer and people who lost their lives so early to cancer or people who just died like needlessly, people who were murdered or died in accidents, and I'm like we're just seeing a car accident and thinking like in my head it always pops up in my mind as I'm passing something like that or reading it. It's like you never think about, like it's so easy. Or even sometimes, I guess, when we see things that are easy to be grateful about, I don't know, it can be very difficult to be thankful, even when they're obviously like things to be thankful about, like, oh, you just got to raise at work or something like that. But how often do we kind of thank God for, I guess, the lack of bad we get so concerned with, oh, nothing's good happening in my life, not realizing that there are worse things happening out there and there's something to be thankful about for that. And even when we are going through something difficult, we still have to be thankful for the fact that he's there with us, that we're not abandoned or forsaken, and he's just there.
Speaker 1:And honestly, even as I'm saying this, I'm realizing Maybe I don't want to do the verse that I was originally going to do. So I guess the verse that is speaking to me now actually comes from Psalm 68. It's verse 19. And it says Praise be to the Lord, to God, our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. And then it goes on to say Our God is a God who saves from the sovereign Lord comes, escape from death. And I don't know, I just it's kind of like it's very similar to being a child and having your, your parent, protect you from so many things that you don't realize, from doing so many small things, and it's like, wow, like you don't really realize all the things that they do until you're like imagining yourself doing them yourself or doing them yourself, or maybe they are out or sick or busy, and it's just like, wow, I have to do so many things on my own.
Speaker 1:And in that same way, I started to realize, like the things that we take for granted, just that covering the God puts over us, the protection the God puts over us, the fact that, yes, our lives are bad, but it could be so much worse. And one thing that is coming to my mind right now is a lot of people tend to ask why do bad things happen? And I remember hearing from someone bad things happen because when Adam and Eve, you know, committed that first sin, they took the power that God had given to them and gave it over to Satan. And when and then Satan became the ruler of this world. God is still above him because he's the ruler of the heavens and the earth, but he became like the physical ruler, the like. I don't know what to explain it. It was explained really well to me, but essentially that we gave the power over to Satan when that first sin was created, because before we were flawless, we were touchless or we were untouchable. He could not touch us because we were perfect. And when that first sin was created, power was given over to Satan to do stuff, to tempt us to do all those things.
Speaker 1:And so I feel like it's very important sometimes to humble yourself and realize, you know, you can only control so much. And I put control in quotation marks because, realistically, the Bible says that we're not in control and that we have to humble ourselves and realize that we are but a wisp and that all the controls in God's hands and we need to not brag or boast that we have plans for the future. But we all feel that way Like, oh, we have something in our control, oh, this is in our hands, I don't have to worry about that, I got that, that kind of thing. And I'm not saying we do or don't or we don't, but I'm just saying how often do we think about the things that really, really, we could never consider to be in our control, that God protects us from, like a car accident, where we can control our car, but the same thing can't be said for the other cars that are around us, or lightning or anything like that. There's unpredictable things, those things that happen in the world that we know exist but we never seem to think will come upon us. And for most of us it doesn't come upon us because God's blessing and covering covers us and we're protected from that. And I just think, how often do we ignore giving God things for that? And it's just really weird.
Speaker 1:I think that's where my head's at right now, because right now my life's not okay, it's good but it's not like you know. In my head it's like why do we only give thanks for big things? Like I remember a couple of weeks ago it's like oh wow, like the lottery was big and I was like you know what? I totally give thanks, I give everything, like I'd give tons of money to the church and stuff, and I'm not saying I don't tithe, I do tithe.
Speaker 1:Tithing for me and I've said this to people before it's not hard. I feel like everybody has one thing that's hard for them and tithing for me is not difficult because for me money is not. I've always been able to have the mindset of whatever like God's given me. You know it's it is. I need to tie it on that. The part that's always been hard for me is time. Oh my gosh. Giving God any kind of my time is, you know, difficult, because you can always make more money but you can never make more time. You only have a certain amount of time in a day and giving God any of that time is very difficult for me and I'm not, I just I'm not.
Speaker 1:I feel like I said that before and it's and people take it the wrong way. I'm not saying like I'm perfect, I'm like it's so easy for me to tie the money just rolling in. Who give off my like tithes and stuff. It's just like for me, I have difficulty giving God my time, so for me I'm like here, god, take this money, this is my way of giving thanks to you and in reality, like the tithes are necessary, it's a bit of a vividly stated thing that we should tie the part that we should give thanks is also necessary and I feel like I'm trying to do that in the same sense when in reality, there's so much things and so many things that I could be giving things for him. And I guess that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:That came to me when I was reading this verse that prays me to the Lord, to God, our Savior, who daily bears our burdens, whether or not we see them or don't see them, that he is the invisible. Visible, the lack of things, like the lack of curses and diseases and illnesses falling upon us, but invisible in the sense that if we're not paying attention to him and actively trying to see him and give thanks to him for those things, that we don't have issues with Lord. Thank you for that. I have a job that I you know, I have a roof over my head, that I have a computer to do a podcast with, that I have the luxury to say, you know, I do or don't want to do a podcast. I'm the luxury to say I'm tired, I'm just going to take a nap.
Speaker 1:Right now, where there are people struggling and working every day, every day, every hour of their day, to make ends meet, and even then, sometimes it's not enough, and I just feel like maybe we don't give enough attention to that. And this is this is very evident for me, like and it may or may not be for you, but that that we should be giving thanks more often, even when it's not readily visible, asking God to help us to give things. And I remember there's that verse that talks about we enter his courts with Thanksgiving. We enter the presence of God by giving things. And even when Jesus gives the, what is it?
Speaker 1:I suck at knowing the Lord's prayer, but even when he gives that example of a prayer, that prayer where he says this is how you should pray, and it starts off with how it'll be your name, and I'm like lifting God's name, saying you are so great, you are so amazing, and it gives thanks for what God has done. It recognizes the importance of giving thanks. It's the first priority. You're just recognizing how awesome God is, and I feel like there are so many times where we fail to see how awesome God is because we're not seeing quotation marks, anything amazing happened when, in reality, the lack of difficulty, the lack of diseases and illnesses, in itself is a beautiful thing, is a wonderful love. Sometimes we take it for granted because we don't see something, not realizing how much someone is actually doing for me, like when all those little things that you do for your loved ones, that you don't necessarily want recognition for, but you do because you love them, and when they do say thanks it feels good, like that kind of thing. There's so many things that God bears, so many burdens that he protects us from, and I feel like how often do we actually give him recognition for that? Thank you, god that I made it home safe today, that I'm not another statistic, another number, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Anyways, as always, let's go ahead and end in prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for your love, your mercy, your grace, your understanding, for seeing beyond our history and wiping our slates clean, for loving us beyond our mess of who we are, or for protecting us even beyond our comprehension that you protect us in ways that we could never see or know. And then I feel like, if we ever did know, we would just break under realizing how many times you've protected or watched over us, or even when we're in those dark moments where you are there with us, loving us, waiting to hear from us. Lord, I thank you for just loving us. Lord, I pray that you continue to guide us and to foster a better relationship with you and to help us to make more time and to speak to us about those ways that we can improve, and help us to improve those ways Latest from temptation. Forgive us our aversions in the name of Jesus, amen.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to this week's episode VHFC. I really hope you receive something from it and start to really look at how God is there for you, even when it's not readily visible. I pray that you have a God best week and, I don't know, that you find a way to improve your relationship with God this week. Thank you for listening. Have a good rest of the week. Bye.