I spent my younger adult years trying to find answers to all the questions about life, particularly my own, that still taunted my spirit. I had had enough exposure to biblical truth that I knew God had the answers I wanted and needed, but my basic understanding of God seemed to shut out those answers because I neither heard them or saw them. My God was distant and punitive, and a forgiving God of grace who wanted to embrace me in my fears and misunderstandings was unheard of. But then, God began to unfold what my heart longed for, and in time, He helped me put together a study that could unfold those same truths for others, “Running With Freedom.” In the process of writing, God gave me still more understanding, and the study would present truths like acceptance, love, sufficiency, trust, surrender, wisdom, spiritual disciplines, and perseverance, each with their biblical foundation and a life application that was highly personal. I remember God so clearly telling me during the writing process, “Bev, you need to write about gratitude as well. It’s so important in this whole process.”
I really didn’t understand what God was saying about the importance or place of gratitude, but I opened my heart to listen, and followed as He taught me about something that hadn’t seemed so important. By the time I had written and asked questions about Job and the New Testament lepers, the ups and downs of life, and trusting God in all of it, I concluded the lesson with a closing word....... A spirit of gratitude infuses my spiritual walk with energy. It enables me to keep my eyes on God, to be aware of His presence, and His care. It feeds my motivation to obey, to worship, and to give. And gratitude can be mine, if like the leper, I pause long enough to acknowledge the Giver and to recognize His gifts.
If there was one thing I learned most about gratitude at that time, and I have continued to learn, is that a spirit or attitude of gratitude changes my perspective on what is going on in my own world and in the world around me. I also wrote in the lesson that really God and I both wrote, "Almost every life will have its share of hardships, and most of us will also be privileged to enjoy some of the good things life has to offer. Gratitude though really has more to do with acceptance and trust and with attitude and focus than it does with the particulars of our circumstances."
Not too many years later, I attended my first Umbrella Ministries conference, and Daisy, UM’s founder, spoke to a conference room full of grieving moms, and encouraged all of us to have an attitude of gratitude. I had to ponder what she was saying, but then I began to understand. It’s like looking at myself and my circumstances in the reflection of a mirror – and it will give me a vivid picture that pulses with the depth and pain of loss. I could choose instead to allow my grief and my pain to frame a window through which I can focus on my God who wants to wrap me in His love and His grace while He carries me through the journey of grieving the loss of my child, even while my love for my child never stops. And as I look through the window, I see my God and I recognize His gifts, and my heart can say Thank You.
And I can choose the mirror or the window in whatever is happening in my life. I could even write down the gifts God has given/ is giving, in a Gratitude Journal, and simply tell God Thank You. Try it when you struggle in a relationship with him or her, or you’re struggling with the muck of life..........
– Bev
(Related Bible reading: Luke 17: 11 - 19)
