I Will Choose Thankfulness

“Today I will choose to be happy. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit. In the past, I have found discouragement in particular situations, until I compared the condition of my life to others less fortunate. Just as a fresh breeze cleans smoke from the air, so does a grateful spirit remove the cloud of despair. It is impossible for the seeds of depression to take root in a thankful heart. My God has bestowed upon me many gifts, and for these I will remember to be grateful. Too many times I have offered up the prayers of a beggar, always asking for more and forgetting my thanks. I do not wish to be seen as a greedy child, unappreciative, and disrespectful. I am grateful for sight and sound and breath. If ever in my life there is a pouring out of blessings beyond that, then I will be grateful for the miracle of abundance.”    

– The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews

I think I can safely say that at different points in our lives, we have all chosen to focus on what we don’t have and not be thankful for what we do have! It’s human nature so there’s no need to feel guilty. It can be hard to not be thankful when things are not going well, but recently I discovered something! Being thankful is a choice!

The past couple of months at work haven’t been the best for me. It’s summertime, people are requesting a lot of vacation time, scheduling is hectic, people are not getting their hours due to the hospital having less patients, and on top of this, I’m in grad school full time as well as doing a lot of clinical hours for this nursing program . . .Pretty stressful as you can see! Recently, after a rough night at work, I went home and started venting to roommate about everything that had happened. After a few minutes of ranting, the following passage was placed on my heart:

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”    (I Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Paul tells the church to “give thanks in ALL circumstances”, and since I was in a bad mood, I started asking God if everyone else is griping about their lives, then why can’t I? It’s one thing to say you’re thankful but what about the heart behind that statement. How do you give thanks in ALL situations AND really mean it/live it out? Since then, I have talked with some pretty wise people who have been placed in my life, and came up with following:

1. Being thankful is a CHOICE!

2. Be thankful for what Jesus has done NOT about the circumstance.

Think of the person who this book of the Bible . . . Paul! Now this man suffered like no other person who has ever lived. He was beaten, whipped, left for dead, imprisoned multiple times, shipwrecked, starved, bitten by snakes, and finally executed just for spreading the Gospel. If anyone deserved to complain, it would have been this man, YET he told the Church to “give thanks in ALL circumstances”. How could he be thankful when he was literally facing death on a continual basis?  

Firstly, he CHOSE to be thankful; CHOSE to focus on the positive; he focused on what he had and not what he was lacking.

We’re human, we are faced with choices every day, and following Christ is no different. We may have the Holy Spirit to guide us but we can just as easily choose not to listen and do things our way. I can choose to help or not help that homeless person I see begging for money; I can choose to read my Bible and spend time with God in prayer or choose  to watch TV; I can choose to yell at wife/girlfriend when we get in an argument or I can be the bigger person and admit I’m sorry; I can choose to attend one church over another; I can choose to fellowship with others or be a loner. . . while this is a small list, as you can see, life is full of choices! Just because you choose to follow Christ doesn’t mean you HAVE to listen to the Holy Spirit when He talks to you BUT I would say certain choices will impact your life in different ways.

Choosing to be thankful means that even though my world seems to be crumbling around me, I will not focus on that but on what I have been blessed with! Even if it is as simple as eyes to see, ears to hear, and breath in my lungs (I’m pretty sure at times, this was all Paul had to be thankful for!).

Secondly, be thankful for what Jesus has done NOT about the circumstance. Circumstances vary from person to person. Some may appear to have it easier than most, while it seems no matter what someone else does, they seem to just be drowning. This second point is perhaps the most universal of the Gospel in that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection did the same thing for ALL people. My friend, Matt, put it this way: “Jesus creates our joy and He is our joy. He compels our prayers, and He ignites our thankfulness. We can rest in knowing there is no condemnation in Christ no matter our circumstance. We are free even in the face of death. Focus on Jesus! When you don’t, your joy, your prayer, and your thankfulness will quickly die.”

My friend, Katie gave me some great advice on how to live this out: “Make the choice and then stick with it. Write it places, put it up at work, in your car, bathroom, etc. MEMORIZE IT!”  I believe at first it may be something we have to learn and be reminded to be thankful but over time this will become second nature and we will just live in that constant state of thankfulness!

*** I want to give a shout out to you who have shown me grace and love ***

Who Are You?

A friend of mine shared the following quote with me at our Bible study group one morning:

I’m not what I think I am

I’m not what you think I am

I’m what I think, you think that I am

We spend much of our lives trying to figure out who we are. This is often complicated by the various outside forces that influence our thoughts and habits (actors/actresses, friends, family, athletes, etc). When looking at the various factors that can influence us, it’s no real surprise that we struggle with our identity!

When I asked myself ‘who am I”, I came up with this: I am a son, a brother, a friend, a nurse, a student, a Christian, a First Responder, and a teacher. Don’t know a lot about my dad’s side of the family but I do know that my mom’s side originated in central Africa (Kenya) and along the coast, possibly the Congo. Teaching runs all throughout both sides of my family which explains my fondness for teaching clinicals for Auburn’s nursing program.

Like others, I struggled with who I was at different points in my life. In high school, trying to fit in and be accepted by my peers even if it meant doing things that I’m not necessarily proud of. In college, trying to balance school and a social life which I didn’t do a great job with but I did walk away with some great friends and memories. Even now, trying to pursue a Master’s as a Nurse Practitioner and hopefully finally be done with school!  I’ve even thought about going back to my old high school and teaching a Bible class. Not memorization of facts and verses in the Bible, but really showing these students what their identity in Christ is as well as what it means when you are secure in that identity! I’d be interested to see how their lives would change once they no longer had to struggle against so much of what the world throws at them, and just resting in their identities as Christ sees them! . . . Needless to say, who knows where my life will lead.

Before we can even start to understand our identity in Christ, I believe it’s more important to understand who He is. Now I’m sure 99% of those who read this know about Jesus (virgin birth; did miracles; son of God who died for the sins of the world). While these statements are correct, these are but a small glimpse as to who Jesus really is. Here’s a list of names/phrases used that refer to Jesus:

• Son of God – Matthews 3:17
• High Priest – Hebrews 5:10
• Immanuel – Matthew 1:2
• The Word – John 1:1
• King of the Jews – 2:1-2
• The Way, The Truth, The Life – John 14:6
• Shepherd – Matthew 2:6
• Living Water – John 7:37-39
• Bread of Life – John 6:35
• Light – John 8:12
• A man (son, brother, etc) – Luke 2
• Rabbi (Teacher) – Matthew 28:3
• Healer – Matthew 15:8
• Love – 1 John 4:16
• Lion of Judah – Revelation 5:5-6
• Lamb of God – John 1:29
• SIN – 2 Corinthians 5:21

 After reading through these, you can see why Jesus is so much more than the cliché so many of us can spout out at a moment’s notice.

Once we understand who Christ is, we can start to see how He views us. . .

• You are made in His image –Genesis 1:26-27
• You are cleansed – Leviticus 16:30-31
• You are NEVER alone – Joshua 1:9
• You are a holy, chosen, treasured possession. Loved and redeemed – Deuteronomy 7:6-9
• You are beautiful – Ecclesiastes 3:11
• You are fearless – Jeremiah 17:8
• You are relentlessly pursued – Hosea 2:19-20
• You are beloved sons & daughters – I John 3:1-2
• You are Salt & Light – Matthew 5:13-16
• You are priests – I Peter 2:9
• You are a marvelous workmanship – Ephesians 2:10
• You are FORGIVEN – Ephesians 4:32

 There are tons of passages that I could list showing how much God loves us and how He sees us but I think these are nice starters and a great reminder! Just think, the Creator of the universe so loves and desires fellowship with us that He sent His Son to die for us all in order for us to experience the same type of fellowship He had with so many people we read about in the Bible!

I believe that when Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and asked for the cup to pass to from Him, God gave Him visions of the people He would be dying . . . me, you, and a multitude of others. After seeing our faces Jesus relented and said, “Yet not my will but yours be done.”  He endured ALL those beatings, whippings, humiliation, and Crucifixion because He cared more about you and me than His own life!

Rests in your identity and how God sees you!  The World says you need to have more money, more things, more power, etc in order to be loved or achieve greatness, but God, our Father, says “No my son/daughter, all I want is your heart. I may not bless you with immense wealth, power, fame, and prestige and you will go through some tough times BUT I promise I’ll be right there by your side and I will continue loving you!”

God Will Provide

      Abraham is the one biblical individual with whom I identify with the most. At times, his faith (like mine) was strong and rock solid, while at other times, it was very questionable. But when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son (the long promised one through which he would continue his lineage), Isaac, he willingly led his son to the slaughter. As they approached the site where the sacrifice would occur, Isaac asked his father, “where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” To this, Abraham simply answered, “God will provide”. Now while I don’t have children of my own, I can only imagine what was going through his head as they climbed the mountain, as he and Isaac built the altar, as he tied Isaac up then placed him on that altar, and more chilling, as he held the knife mere inches away from his son. What amazing faith it took to keep believing God for the best when there was no indication that his son would be spared. But as the story goes, due to his faith, an angel stopped Abraham and God provided a ram to take the place of Isaac (Genesis 22).

     For many of us, it’s very easy to be sidetracked with various things going on in our lives. Jobs, children, sports, relationships, and a plethora of other things easily occupy our thoughts. A lot of times, God tends to take a backseat to life’s other demands. Please don’t feel guilty if this describes you because I have been guilty of the same. The beautiful thing about God is that through the ups and downs in our lives, He is always there! When things are crazy in our lives and we’re not sure how we’re going to make it, remember that He is always there and that HE WILL PROVIDE! He is our Rock and our Strength! Our strength WILL fail at points and this will cause us to doubt, lose focus, and become preoccupied with other things, but rest in His strength because through Him nothing is impossible! We have nothing to fear or worry about when we face tough times because we have His peace. This peace is something no other force, circumstance, or person can take away from us because His son overcame the world!

Remember GOD WILL PROVIDE!

 John 16:33 – “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”