Despite suffering injuries during his quest to play Major League Baseball, former NFL quarterback and outspoken Christian Tim Tebow asked his followers a simple question as 2019 comes to a close.
“As you look back on your year, what are you grateful for?” he asked, before listing a few of his own.
In a follow-up tweet, Tebow adds a bit more context.
“How was God present in your life? I think it’s so important to share how God is leading us and teaching us in not only the good seasons but the difficult ones as well,” he wrote.
This is such an important reminder because we are often so laser-focused on the worries, challenges, goals, and other uncertainties that lie ahead of us, we forget to look back and thank God for seeing us through all the trials we’ve recently left in the rear-view mirror.
When Jesus healed ten lepers, as described in Luke 17:15-19 only one comes back to say thank you to Jesus. The one who came back to glorify and praise God also happened to be the only Samaritan, as the other nine were Israelites, making their failure to praise God all the more surprising.
It is very easy to get tunnel vision and worry about the future. However, when we turn back to praise God and remember the seasons of life He’s successfully carried us through, suddenly we begin to worry less and trust more. God hears our prayers, and while He doesn’t always answer them the way we hope, His perfect will is always done.
So before you kick off your 2020 by diving into a mountain of goals and checklists and diets and promises, remember to look back on 2019 and remember all of the ways God has been good to you.
Remembering God’s goodness will help us deal with the uncertainty of the future. He will always be the one constant, our hope, our deliverer, our rescuer, our shepherd. Pray for things to come in 2020, but spend just as much time in thanks and gratitude for all He has done for you in 2019 and in the years prior.
Your heart will be glad you did.