by Rev. Gina Johnson
So today as we are continuing in cultivating vision and gratitude, we are going to be looking at two verses in particular. And it's in 1 Thessalonians. The first one will be 5:16 through 18.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
To rejoice always and to pray continually in all circumstances can be a challenge for a lot of us. A lot of times we get overtaken by the things that are in front of us that it's hard to remember what we have to be grateful for.
And if you look into many times in your life, you can easily recognize those spaces where we lost sight of gratitude and got so dragged into the story that was going on. But then the minute we took a minute and paused and looked at all the great blessings even in what was taking place, it helps us continue to move forward in what's taking place.
I want to share a story with you. In World War II, Corrie Ten Boom's sister, Betsy, was in prison in a concentration camp. And even in all of that suffering, she would continue to practice gratitude. She would thank the Lord for the flea-infested mattress. She would thank the Lord for the crowds, for the dirtiness. She would thank the Lord for the guards that would inflict pain upon the people. And one day, Corrie asked, “Betsy, how can you continue to thank God in the midst of such horrors?” And Betsy's reply was, “Because even in the midst of darkness, when we practice gratitude, we find the light.”
And I thought about that. How often do we forget to recognize that it's through gratitude that we're able to shift our focus from our circumstance to God's goodness?
You know, someone had mentioned a great idea the other day about when our congregation used to “pass the peace,” which is a way of saying we greeted each other at the beginning of the worship service. What a feeling it is to go up to someone and just say, “Hi, I see you. Welcome. I'm so glad you're here today.”
And we tend to do that with the people that we know or maybe if we see an unfamiliar face and we want them to feel welcome. But how often do we genuinely stop and just thank the people in our life for being in our life? How often do we look at that person who's right beside us and maybe if it comes to our children or our spouses, maybe we have those days where we're like, I don't get to be anywhere else but here. But ultimately to stop and just say, thank you for being here.
Because, you know, in the midst of all of the circumstances that we face, sometimes it's that one person right beside you that helps you continue to move forward, that helps you to continue in the navigation of that. So today I just want to talk about gratitude and how essential it is to our relationship with God.
The first reason when you think about gratitude is it acknowledges his presence, his provision, and his love. The more that you're taking time just to acknowledge the presence of God in everything you do, everywhere you go, anything you experience that God is there, it gives you a feeling of safety and security if you really allow yourself to understand God is there. There is nothing mightier than God. So whether it's a loss of a loved one, whether it's an illness, whether it's the loss of a job, whether it's an unexpected circumstance that's flipped everything upside down, God is there.
When we read Psalm 139, it talks about where can I go to flee from you? If I go into the depths of darkness, you will be there with the light. It's essential that you acknowledge the presence of God, the presence of the I Am. When you can acknowledge that that presence is always with you, it should help remind you that that presence is within you because there's nowhere that you can go and be without the presence of God.
When we pray the Lord's Prayer, it starts off by that simple acknowledgement. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. We are saying right there that we recognize the reverence of who you are, that you hold yourself in a place that is mightier than anything we can understand, and it's important that we express thanks to God.
That is another way that we can make sure that our relationship with God is in practice of gratitude, taking time to express thanks in everything that's taking place. About three months ago, I totaled my vehicle, and I shared with you all this story back when it happened. So, I just want to skip to the part right after the wreck.
When I was in the actual moment of the accident, my car did a full 360, and I had that moment of just being in shock because everything was in slow motion, but I'm assuming it was going pretty quick. As it was going, the first thing I thought as I was clinging to my steering wheel is, “I'm going to be okay.” I don't know how I knew that.
I believe that was the spirit giving me comfort in that moment, but as it was going and it was that realization of like, “Wow, everything is moving so slowly right now, but I'm okay. Thank God I'm going to be okay.” And as the car finished making its circle, it then came to a stop after it probably went about another maybe 15, 20 feet.
Immediately when the car was at a complete stop and I looked around, I thought, “Okay, I think everything's all right,” and I drove a little bit recognizing that I didn't have a wheel. But as I stopped, I pulled off the side of the road. I just sat there, and I was so grateful.
In that circumstance, that could have went so many other ways, there were so many things to be thankful for. I was thankful that my children were not in the car and didn't have to put any of that in their cellular memory of, “Oh, my gosh, that was a really scary experience.”
I was thankful that there weren't any other drivers on the road around me that could have been hurt in that time. I was thankful for the college student who was on the side of the road telling me, come pull over here, get out of your car. She noticed that my vehicle was smoking and was like, let me help you get out of your car.
I was thankful for the random couple, or were they really random, who were there in that perfect moment to help me find my way back to town because I knew where town was, but I was in this like, “Wow, did that really happen?” But as we drove back here to Maryville, I just kept thinking about being safe, the kindness of the people who helped me, and how grateful I was for everything that took place. In the days to follow, there were many moments where I was tempted to get caught up in the situation and to be angry, angry at myself, angry with everything that happened, angry with all of the hangups or getting my insurance to pay for things. But every time I had a temptation to find the anger in my situation, I had a larger temptation to find something to be grateful for.
I remember when that whole process was said and done, I was still upside down on my car loan quite a bit. And I remembered, I just kept saying, “It's okay, between this insurance and that insurance and other things, it's going to come together, it's going to come together, I believe in it.” And I had a lady that was working with me, and she kept saying to me, “Oh, you don't know these companies like I do. I've been working with them a long time, and you better find some extra money, it's not going to work out.”
She was doing her job, and she was doing a great job. But she just kept reminding me how I was going to fall short, how I can't trust these companies, how I need to stay on their butt. And boy, was it tempting to get fearful, to be doubtful, to be angry, to wonder how were we going to get places until this was all resolved.
It was absolutely beautiful. Just in the past weeks, I was able to reach out to Travis and my daughter Isabella to share this news and say, “Guess what, I got a letter from my Gap insurance, and they're completely taking care of everything else.” And so maybe some of you are like, well, that's the moment to be grateful.
I'll tell you what, every step of the way, I was like, “You know what, they're going to do something, and I am grateful. I am grateful.” And that's where we need to be.
Sometimes people really just neglect how beautiful gratitude is, and other people are practicing it, and they don't even recognize it. I was part of a conversation recently and we were just talking about the busyness, the beautiful busyness of life. And as I heard one person sharing all the appointments and things that they would have to do in this upcoming week or in this past week, they were like, but they're able to do it. And no, they didn't stop and say, thank you, praise God, but their face said it all. Their face said it all, that even if I do have to take care of loved ones or hang out with the grandchildren or have extra points or things that go wrong, their face said it all, that I get to do these things.
It was absolutely beautiful because sometimes we can sit there and say, oh, I have to do this, and I have to do that, and I have to do that. Well, guess what? What do you get to do? What do you get to do? What do you want to do? What are you blessed to do?
I had a conversation with someone the other day about children. And a long time ago, I wrote a little Thanksgiving song, and Travis wrote the music for it. And there's a line in the song that says, thanks for the children that we call ours. I have six, and I think, wow, how was I so blessed to have six lives entrusted to me that I might love them and care for them? And the days where they're mouthing off, and the days where I'm not sure what academics look like, and the days where the moon and the stars must be out of whack because all the people in my household are out of whack, maybe those days it's challenging to stop and say, I am so grateful for these children. But the truth is, the more you practice it, the more you look past whatever is going on in the moment, the more you even take responsibility for how much of that behavior is because of me, then I'm like, “Whew, I'm so thankful for my children.”
My dad used to threaten me and say, I was worse to my mom than my mom was to her dad. And so watch, your children are going to be worse to you than you were to me. And I thought, “Dad, do not ever say such curses at me again. That's blasphemy.”
But again, we don't think about the simple things in life to be grateful for. So here is a challenge to you all. How difficult would it be to once an hour throughout your day to practice gratitude? In everything you do, how difficult would it be as you go to get in your car, you go to reach for that handle to say, “Man, I am so grateful that I have this car to get in.”
When you step into your house and you recognize, man, this place could use a little tidying up, how do you stop and say, “Oh, I'm so grateful that I've been blessed with so much stuff, that I've been blessed with food and pots and pans, and now my kitchen is messy. It needs to be cleaned up.” How often do we get out in the cold and say, “Whew, this is going to be a cold day,” and then stop when we get in our house and say, “Thank you for providing me the warmth and the shelter.”
Right? It's such a simple message. Do we even need to talk about practicing gratitude? I mean, didn't we all get raised with saying, hey, use your manners, please and thank you, right? I mean, it's so funny.
I was talking to the guys in the sound booth one Sunday and they're like, you got a good message for us today. I was like, “Oh, well, it's going to be a short one because I don't know how else to say it besides just be thankful.” And then, of course, I got a wisecracker.
He said, “Well, we're thankful it's not going to be a long message today.” And you know, I'll tell you, once you go down that route, I'm like, “Hold on. I left the other half in my office. I will be right back, and you all will be grateful that these pews are so comfortable.”
Gratitude, when we practice it, we can recognize the sovereignty of God. And sometimes it's those big words like sovereignty. What is that? You know, it's that recognition that even with our free will, even with the days that we see each and every moment, we get to choose. We get to choose the meaning that we give to situations.
We get to choose the experience we want to have. We get to choose how we're going to show up 100% and help people to feel seen and heard. But the cool thing is we don't have to choose whether or not our God is always there.
We don't have to choose whether or not God sees us despite what we try to hide. And he loves us, and he accepts us. We don't have to choose whether we're going to be forgiven or be welcomed home every moment of the day.
Because where we are, which is with God, is always home. And that home is never taken away from us. And that home is within us where the spirit resides.
It's really important to practice that recognition: I have all that I have because I have a mighty God. I have all that I have because I have a God that loves me unconditionally. That is agape.
And when we can be in gratitude for all that we have, it's amazing what shifts. We stop looking at the circumstances in front of us and we shift our focus into blessing others. That was the verse of today. Rejoice and give thanks in everything. Pray continually. This is what Christ has demonstrated before us.
The more that we practice gratitude, the more that we practice recognition of all that we have, the more we find ourselves being generous towards others. The more we recognize that we are blessed in every single moment of the day, the more we can cultivate trust. Because when you know you have a God that you can depend on, that you can trust in, then it's easier to navigate the day, especially in those unfortunate circumstances.
How many of you have had enough circumstances in your life that when another one hits you out of the blue, before you react, before you lose your footing, you're like, “This is nothing. I remember the last time I was in something like this and, man, that was nothing then, too. And it's not because I can do it all and I can face it all. It's because, do you know who's got my back? Jesus has got my back. Jesus has showed me the way in getting through this. I am here with the power of God. And he says, when God is for us, who can stand against us?”
I just want to remind you all that gratitude may be a simple practice that we take for granted, but what would it look like if we were to practice gratitude every day in every moment?
The more that we remember to make gratitude just an essential part of our journey, the more of those days that feel like long days will get shorter because we're not focused on how long this continued feeling of challenge or misery or sickness or separation or brokenness is going to last.
Instead, we look at all the great things, like I'm thankful for the strength that is taking place here. I'm thankful for the blessing that's going to come out on the other side. I'm thankful for all the people who are walking alongside of me as I'm navigating my way through this.
And ultimately, I'm thankful for Christ Jesus who showed us the way, the master teacher who said, you don't have to do this alone, number one. And number two, you will do greater things than I. So have gratitude for all that you have, all that is you. And express it and share it. And know that's how we navigate forward each and every day; it’s in the space of gratitude.
Please pray with me. Our most gracious and loving God, our sovereign God, our faithful God, God the lover of our souls, we give you thanks. We thank you for all that has happened perfectly in our lives to bring us to this point. We thank you for the challenges, the struggles, the things that have helped us to grow in strength and character and perseverance. We thank you for your Holy Spirit that is forever speaking to us and guiding us and meeting us where we are at, that we can boldly walk forward in the confidence of Christ Jesus.
Now we thank you for all that we are because of all that you are. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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