AGAINST ALL ODDS, GIVE THANKS

Sometime last week, one evening while taking a nap, I had a wonderful dream. It was a personal experience of God opening my eyes to realise something I apparently took for granted recently but i want to share because so many of us can relate to this. In the dream, the first scene, a gospel song video was being played. Its was a praise song by an artise who was rejoicing greatly, the song video showed several scenes of averted bikes and car crashes.  I watched and saw many careless actions or decisions made by the people in the video that could have resulted in a crash but were averted. This made me realise how often we are careless, loose control, loose our directions, go astray but God still finds a way to bring us back or save us from those circumstances. This song video doesn't  exist as a video in real life but maybe the experiences are real to some of us. Sometimes it may not be carelessness but one may just happen to find themselves in such circumstances.

Then later on still in that dream after the song video, the next scene was that of a helpless person who looked sick and was at the verge of giving up on life. Made me realise how several times we wanted to give up or we even gave up but grace was made available.

The next scene was of me going for our family yearly gathering, in the dream it was like i hadn't seen my family in over a year. I walked into the place, sat down, i was almost getting distracted by the act of my sister playfully pulling my hair, when God made me look beyond my distractions. He made me see what he wanted me to see, that we were all complete and healthy. This brought tears to eyes in the dream.  Yes all this was a dream. But then i woke up with reflection in my heart.

My reflection took me back to how much I have been complaining about things lately. How much I have been ungrateful and forgetful. I was even cranky about several things before I slept off that afternoon.  I got answered prayers to several requests, I was thankful but i still went on to point out the imperfections in them, that's what so many of us do when we receive from God instead of wholly thanking.

Sometimes things happen to us and sometimes we get so carried away that  we don't  see what God is doing for us and what he has done already. Think about it, how many things has God saved you from  this year? The ones you know about and the ones you don't  know about.
This may not be a perfect example but it is a common problem of many single people. For instance, you may be unhappy about not being in a relationship and the year is almost gone or you may be cranky about not getting what you wanted but you don't know what God has saved you from. Everything happens as God wills. Perhaps, he is trying to groom you for these things but you are not seeing it, be thankful to be groomed/taught by God, it's a previllege.

 You've  been through alot I guess, but how many times has God pulled you through it? that now you look back and wonder how it was possible to come out of it. It was all God. How many times has God been there through it all with you? Counting it may not be everything right now because it is more than you know but being forgetful is unacceptable.  Don't Get too carried away with what's happening around you that you forget all that God has done for you and your family. Remember  and be grateful. The fact that you are  reading this now says you are alive in September, be grateful to God. You are stressed, tired, depressed etc, God's got  you and this too shall pass with a testimony. Just don't stop being thankful. Complaining never solves anything.

Remembering God's faithfulness helps you remember that God has always been there for you, don't let the devil trick you into thinking otherwise. This message is not a reminder to only thank God at month ends or beginnings but to have a heart of thanksgiving at all times and seasons, when things seem to be going well or wrong.

Just take a moment to thank God today or even now with a joyous heart of gratitude.