SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL ABOUT!

Now that November is about ending, you certainly have been here from January through to this moment, and I am sure you know at least one person whom you both entered this year but s/he is no more. You will agree that those who have passed away were not the worst sinners, and you were not in any way more righteous than them. God’s mercies have just kept you...Something to be thankful about!

You are neither in the grave nor in the hospital, and you have had no cause to be around the police station. Remember that many people suffered implications in many forms, but God’s mercies have helped you. The same road(s) that have swallowed others in death through accidents, the same road(s) you have travelled not once, yet you are alive. This cannot be your making; it has been the Lord...Something to be thankful about!

Many people have lost jobs, but you still have a place called office where you go to no matter how small and whether your own office is under the tree...if only some people will be able to work under that same tree, they will be eternally grateful to God. You have a job yet you complain; you have a place where you sleep every night, yet you complain; you have food to eat every day, yet you complain about the taste and quality...some have no food to eat, others have no place to call home, and yet some have taken to begging as occupations. Many have lost jobs. Where you are now and you feel so ungrateful or never opened your mouth to thank God, that same place is another man’s lifetime prayer point so that God will take him there. Something to thank God for!

You had carryover and you almost asked where God was. Some people have been crying to God for admission, while some have admissions but could not pursue it because there was no one to sponsor them. You may have lost some things, but the reason you have not lost everything is because of God. Something to be thankful about!

You have been sleeping and waking up, but do you know that there are people who cannot sleep unless they take drugs? Some have equally slept just the way you do, but they woke up on the other side of eternity, many were unprepared for it and landed in Hell. But you woke up and got another opportunity to repent...Something to be thankful about!

Hmmm...when you slept, many times the enemies would come trying to eat up your flesh, but they always stumbled and fell. Many hosts have risen against you, but God defended you. When they called your name, God and fire answered for you. You did not even know when all these happened, and God does not have to tell you because they are too numerous to count. Something to be thankful about!

And now you are worrying that the year is ending yet you have not achieved some of the things you set out at the beginning of the year...but if you will count, you will find that even the things you do not deserve, and the ones you did not outline, God has done them for you. You have survived fuel subsidy troubles that emerged at the beginning of the year. You will agree that the things you have are far more than your income, yet you do not steal or beg.  Something to be thankful about!

Do you still think you have no reason to thank God? We could prayerfully ask God to “bless” you with just a simple 3-day headache with one night of sleeplessness, and then let healing happen thereafter perhaps your heart of understanding would open up to the need to be thankful to God in every circumstance. There is always something to be thankful about...the life in you, the air that you breathe (some pay for oxygen just to survive), the water you drink, the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the feet for walking...and then the hope of eternal life in God. There is always something to be thankful about!

Let not November end without you dedicating one day of thanksgiving to God who has helped you and your family this far.  The only valid shortcut that I know is that of thanksgiving (and praise)...it takes you straight into the presence of the Father, “and in His presence, there is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). As you thank God this month, fullness will pour on your paths, and what your eyes did not see from January till now, you shall not only see but possess in December. Celebrate God!!!