Gratitude During the Storm
Gratitude During the Storm
I hope everyone had an amazing Independence Day and your celebrations reminded you of how fortunate we are to live in this country where we can be so different and still so blessed.
This week’s dive into musical lyrics and my biblical questions and thoughts was always a topic that I was going to write about, but I am slipping it in now, because my Uncle Joe made a song request. I felt like it was the 1980’s Top 40 Countdown and it was a “Long Distance Dedication”. Those were always a fun spot on a Sunday afternoon. The song for this week is so simple that is nothing but beautiful.
Natalie Merchant in her solo days and as part of the band 10,000 Maniacs was background music to my post high-school days when I was aimlessly pinging from one thing to another. The song “Kind & Generous” came out in 1998 which was my year of my greatest blessing from God. I had my daughter Brittany in 1998 and with all my female related health problems, I can look back and say, “that was a miracle”. The songwriter has only said one simple thing about the song and the inspiration thereof, “I’m proud of the song because I always wanted to write a song that had an extremely universal, simple sentiment, GRATITUDE.”
Well let’s look at the lyrics and then jump straight into how we are to be giving daily thanksgiving to God, even when we are knee deep in the depths of the valleys.
Song: Kind & Generous, 1998, written by Natalie Merchant
You’ve been so kind and generous
I don’t know why you keep on giving
For your kindness I’m in debt to you
For your selflessness – my admiration
For everything you’ve done
You know I’m bound – I’m bound to thank you for it
Lalalalala
Hey, hey
You’ve been so kind and generous
I don’t know why you keep on giving
For your kindness I’m in debt to you
And I never could have gone this far without you
For everything you’ve done
You know I’m bound – I’m bound to thank you for it
Lalalalala
Oh I want to thank you for so many gifts
You gave me love and tenderness
I want to thank you
I want to thank you for your generosity,
The love, and the honesty that you gave me
I want to thank you, show my gratitude,
My love and my respect for you
I want to thank you
Oh I want to thank you, thank you
Thank you, thank you
Thank you, thank you
Thank you, thank you
Thank you, thank you
Thank you, thank you
Thank you
I want to thank you, thank you…
I want you to STOP – GO BACK AND READ those lyrics. That is nothing but pure gratitude. It’s like a scene from Psalms, where King David is thanking God and acknowledging God for everything and even thanking him in advance for pulling him out of the mess, he was in or was about to be in. We need to stop and give thanks like David! We need to be humble and thankful before the Lord in all things.
There is so much chaos going on in our world right now, so many distractions and ugliness. We could get lost in the darkness and despair; it would be so easy to give up and let the chaos overtake us. But as Christians we cannot give in to those thoughts. We must refocus, regroup, and reprioritize. Look up from where you are, or kneel where you are and give thanks to Jesus for:
1. You are breathing.
2. You are not hungry.
3. You have a roof over your head.
4. You have pain in your body (pain means you are alive).
5. You are struggling in something (means you are trying).
6. You feel blessed.
7. You feel like you are in a tough season (God only tests those that believe in him); etc. etc. etc.
God loves us. He loves us so much that he gave his only begotten son, Jesus, to come to this earth and walk with us, teach us, be rejected by us, and be crucified by us – and to die for us!
So, we have a lot to be thankful for and we owe God more than a prayer on a Sunday. God calls on us to be thankful in all things and at all times, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. It may sound impossibly hard to give thanks to God when your life seems like it is falling to pieces or when you turn on the news and there is one mass shooting after another.
I struggled with this during my season with cancer. It was during my second bout of cancer that I was stumbling into despair with the “woe is me” attitude and I remember coming to this verse Joshua 24:18 “…Yes, we will worship and obey the Lord, because the Lord is our God.” It hit me that even when I suffer and feel fear and isolation, he is with me, and I am to give thanks and worship him. He is my only provision, my only salvation, and my only healer. In him, I have all that I will ever need.
You know that what I am saying is not an easy mindset. It’s still hard sometimes for me to “let go and let God.” When I do quiet my mind and let him in and take over, he never fails, and he never disappoints. He is my only “forever”. Understand this please, Jesus is your only “forever” anything. He will never leave you. This is what I cling to when my fleshly and worldly mind wonder to dark thoughts. I am a two-time cancer survivor, with an underlying diagnosis of Stage IV-B (the worst) Uterine Cancer. My lymph system is like a dormant land-mine. I take medications that keep it quiet and there are times (like right now) when something triggers my inner most fears. All day long I have been repeating “I am a child of God”. It comforts me to know that no matter what, my God is awesome and can work good things out of bad situations. And for that I am bound to say, “Thank you.”
It’s not just people like me with illness that find it difficult to have a heart full of gratitude. It is everyone in every situation – because our world is fallen. You know it isn’t going to get any better here on earth. That is not how the story ends. The world is going to progressively get worse until the day Jesus returns for us. And that is okay; we are not meant to be bothered or worried about this. We are told to stay focused on Jesus, to continue to do the work of God and to witness and testify to others of the greatness of God.
Your heart should be full of love, joy and gratitude every day. There is something in your day that you can be thankful for – START there. Each day give thanks for that and watch it grow into a heart full of joy and gratitude.
So in the beginning of this blog, I mentioned that the song this week coincides with the birth of my only child. She is more than just a gift from God, she’s my blessing and promise from God. She is my miracle. Right now, in my life there are things going on, that I am sure I will talk about in the coming weeks. Those things are the fruits of those prayers and response from God. I feel like I am living in the “bonus”. When I am so joyful of the fulfillment of the prayers that I prayed over her, for myself, for my family. It is such a blessing to see fulfillment. Even if my life ended today, I would die happy. I am happy because I have seen that prayer works, that God does fulfill his promises and that he does work all things to his glory. It has been a pure privilege to witness this. I feel undeserving of this honor, and I pray for each of you that God presents himself in a way that leaves you with no doubt that he exists and that he is a Good Good God!
This song’s lyrics just make me smile! Jesus is kind, he is generous, he is selfless, he is a tender and loving God, he is honest. He has given me everything, he continues to give me everything, he has blessed me with gifts, he has been there and the best one is he left the 99 to come after this soul!
So, thank you Jesus for everything. I don’t know why you keep on giving all for this sinner, but I am forever indebted to you for the peace and restoration you have given my soul and for being my salvation and way to an eternal life in heaven.
That is all my fellow sisters and brothers in Christ – I pray you have a peaceful and fulfilling week.
Here are some ways to express your gratitude or share your gifts and blessings with others.
Gratitude:
Gifts:
https://www.gcu.edu/blog/spiritual-life/weekly-devotional-using-your-god-given-talents
Look these up this week and marinate in the joy of being grateful:
Psalms 103:1-4 Colossians 2:6-7 Isaiah 12:4-5 James 1:17
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAwyIad93-c
Check out more at: https://blessingsfromcancer.blogspot.com/2022/07/gratitude-during-thestorm-i-hope.html