THE GRACE OF GRATITUDE

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“Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders You have done. The things You planned for us no one can recount to You; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.” (Psalm 40:5)

“O’ God, I am so depressed; I am so unhappy and have nothing to be thankful for!”….Have you ever felt that way, or have you heard someone else say those words?

HOW SELFISH AND UNGRATEFUL THESE WORDS ARE!!!

HOW OFTEN DO WE FORGET TO SHOW GRATITUDE TO GOD FOR ALL HIS WONDERFUL BLESSINGS?
When I see my brother carrying his oxygen tank with him wherever he goes to be able to breathe, I have to stop and thank God for the breathe He gives to me every day….When I see the man or woman at the store struggling to get in and out of the car because they only have one leg, I have to stop and thank the Lord that I am still able to walk….When I see the young child being strolled around because they have a debilitating disease, I have to stop and praise God for the health of my children and grandchildren….When I go to the Philippines and see the families beating their clothes on rocks in the filthy sewage tainted river water to get them clean, I have to stop and thank God for clean running water, washing machines, dryers, electricity, and a house to have all these things in.

We too often just take our comfortable, lovely homes for granted….How grateful we should be for houses and cars….How much more grateful we should be for Christian homes! People say that the city of Hong Kong is so crowded that some must live on roof tops to survive.
How grateful we should be for God-centered, Bible teaching and preaching, churches! There are places around the world where people do not have the opportunity to go to church and learn about Jesus Christ and worship their One True God openly and publicly….They can’t even read their Bibles in public, and some can’t even own a Bible!

When my children were younger, they had been complaining about the food that their mother had been fixing for them over a period of about a week….We had tried to explain to them how blessed we were to have the food that we had, therefore they needed to be grateful and quit complaining….Well, they didn’t listen, until one night we decided to place a piece of bread and a glass of water in front of them to eat; at first they thought we were joking and then they realized that was all they could have before going to bed that night….They still complained from time to time, but after that night their attitudes changed drastically and they became a lot more thankful for what they had.

“O’ God, please give me the grace of gratitude for all blessings”

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