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Verse:And always be thankful. Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. —Colossians 3:15–17, NLT
Maybe you will agree with me that 2020 and 2021 will probably go down in history as two horrific years because of the invasion of the COVID-19 pandemic into people’s lives worldwide. This pandemic filled us with fear, stress, anxiety, pain, and worry. Millions became ill, and millions succumbed to death, including some of my dear friends. No one was left unscathed. I was unhappy because it had also interrupted plans my husband and I had to travel. We were stuck at home.
No way in my heart did I feel any gratitude.
I pondered whether anything good could come from this awful and painful experience. But God! Yes, only He could do it. Early one morning during my devotion, I rattled off to God my long list of things I wanted Him to do.
Quietly, my conscience began to gnaw at me; guilt overwhelmed me. I was impressed to change my prayer, and instead of my regular prayer asking Him to do this and that, why not spend some time just thanking Him.
As I reflected on my incredible journey, my eyes welled up with tears. God had done so much for my family and me, yet I was drowning in the sea of ingratitude. I recalled how God had provided the opportunity for me to speak more than eleven times on seven prayer lines and health ministries’ calls over the past year.
That was the first in my lifetime.
I also received texts, emails, and phone calls from individuals who were blessed and inspired by my messages and articles published in recent devotional books. God had also protected us from the coronavirus and spared my life to reach eighty-one years. I had so much for which to be thankful. Dear reader, today, amid your busyness and pressures of life, take time to consider what God has done and continues to do for you and offer Him your thankful heart. May you be inspired by these powerful words in 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (NIV).
Shirley C. Iheanacho