This week almost everyone is sharing what they are thankful for. I say almost because not everyone feels thankful this time of the year.
It is easy to allow your current situation stop you from having a thankful heart. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to see blessings when you feel like you are in the desert.
Every year I have a word/phrase God speaks to me and my family. This word/phrase is to direct and focus us on what God has in store for us for the year. This current year’s word is Promise and I have written a lot about God’s promises for my life and for your life.
There are a lot of promises that have yet to come and I will admit, that’s been my main focus lately. I focused so much on what will come that I have completely overlooked everything that has come. Even with my giant prayer wall staring me in the face with all the answered prayers, I still focused on the unanswered ones instead.
I think back on the story of the children of Israel who were in slavery in Egypt. They were promised so much and everything in their current situation was the complete opposite. When they fled slavery and headed to the Promise Land, they were completely surrounded by desert. However, miracle after miracle happened for them.
God parted the Red Sea so they could cross on dry ground because the Egyptians were coming after them to take them back into captivity. God gave them food from the sky and water from a rock.
Over and over, God provided for them in miraculous ways.
The children of Israel were in the desert and had opportunities to learn to trust Him, walk in faith, develop thankful hearts, and become people of worship. However, they didn’t. They complained all the time.
The problem is, they couldn’t see the miracles. They had been delivered from slavery, but all they could see was the desert.
God moved and provided, but how hard would it be to appreciate that even though you are still in the desert? Wouldn’t you be asking God to bring you out of there? Wouldn’t you be asking God why He is providing food but not delivering you from the desert?
I know I would because I do.
We must do better than the children of Israel. If we are in a season of life that feels like a desert, we need to start looking around us. We need to see what God is providing during this time and become people of faith, trust, and worship.
This past week I have made a huge effort to not forgot all God has done and is doing. I have spent days just worshiping and only praying for others. I needed the focus to be off of me and back on Jesus. This week, some pretty amazing things have happened and I feel that I have been able to appreciate it more because my focus is on God and His faithfulness and not on the desert around me.
I encourage you today to spend this Thanksgiving weekend worshiping God and praying for others. Focus on what is happening around you and not on what isn’t. There is still so much to be thankful for and you don’t want to miss it.
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Heather Margiotta is a Christian Wife and Mother who has a love for relationships, adoption, spiritual growth, and helping others through grief. Heather’s life motto is “To love the life you live, by seeing the good between the chaos.” You can find her blog here and her Facebook here.