“Give thanks to the Lord for he good; his love endures forever…”
Psalm 107:1 (NIV)
Dear New Bethel Family,
Happy New Month to you all and if you were not in church yesterday, please know that we miss you, and hope to see you back soon.
A new month often makes us think about what is ahead: New responsibilities, new hopes, and new things we want God to do. But perhaps this November should also teach us to look back and notice what God has already done.
This is where gratitude begins.
God has not invited us to pretend that everything is perfect, to ignore disappointment, grief, or the unanswered prayers we struggle with. Gratitude to God is the intentional choice to refuse to let difficulty become the only story we can see.
The truth is God’s faithfulness often comes to us quietly in the everyday practice of pausing to ponder and counting our blessings.
It is a practice that infuses new strength into you when you thought you had none left. It helps you to see the person who called at the right time, the door that opened slightly when you least expect. It shows you the danger you never knew you escaped. And it allows you to experience the joy in the ordinary meal, the laughter around the table, the breath in your lungs, and the grace to begin again.
Learning to observe God’s goodness allows you to see the supernatural in the familiar and the extraordinary in the common.
So, Psalm 107 does not tell us to give thanks because life is easy. It tells us to give thanks because
“God is good, and his mercies endure forever.”
It means true gratitude is rooted in who God is, not only in what happened yesterday.
THIS WEEK
So as November begins:
1. Take a moment to notice.
2. Look around your life again.
There is probably more of God’s grace at work than you first realized.
A THOUGHT TO CARRY THIS WEEK
Some of God’s greatest mercies have been with us so long that we no longer recognize them as blessings. Gratitude begins when we stop taking for granted what we once prayed to receive.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, open my eyes to see Your goodness afresh. Teach me to recognize Your grace in the ordinary moments of life this week and help me to remain thankful even when every answer has not yet come. I want to live a life of gratitude and I ask that You teach me how so that my faith can deepen and my heart can learn to be aware of Your Holy Presence in Jesus’ name, AMEN!
| I call you blessed. |
| In His Presence, Rev. Dr. Jemiriye Fakunle Directing Pastor, New Bethel United Methodist Church To Know Him. To Make Him Known. |