ThanksLiving

It's been a while since I've posted in the blog. I was silent in 2018?! Wow. 

Anyway, I’m kicking this year off with a devotional. I am currently looking for a church that will help my spirit grow and will strengthen my relationship with the Lord. Today, I tried to go to a service where some of my blockmates go to. (It’s held in McDo! Haha proof that you can pray everywhere.)

Here’s my takeaway.

Before the service started, the pastor called out some people to say some thanksgiving in front. Since, it was my first time in the group, I was still very shy and hesitant to go up front. But I realized that it looks like most of us feel the same way, a newcomer or not, because we all waited for a while before somebody finally stood up. 

At that moment, I wonder why are we hesitant to say some thanksgiving? Don’t we have anything to say? Are our lives that bad that we couldn’t think of something to thank for? Or are we ashamed? Is the Lord God not worthy to be thanked for? Are your blessings given by God are not that big or not worthy to be shared to others?

We shouldn’t hesitate to say thanks right? If we know that all the good that happened in our life comes from God, then He is worthy of all the thanks and glory right? There are just really times that the nervousness and the shyness gets the better of us. This happens, too, everytime we are asked to lead the prayer. Haha. All these second moments we take, I think, is a sign that our focus was not on the Lord’s because we are so busy of what others might say about us or if we might say something wrong. But when we think of just praising the Lord and acknowledging Him the glory, we could be thanking Him openly, wholeheartedly, freely! 

Also, “Thanksgiving is an attitude,” as said by the pastor. If we acknowledge that all comes from God, the good or the bad, and there’s a purpose why it happened, we will always be thanking Him and will not be complaining and grunting about why that thing didn’t happen according to your will. 

I was really inspired by the first person who volunteered to say the thanksgiving. She is currently a med student and she thanked for that time that God willed her to fail in an exam that she studied a lot for. She thanked that He hurt her because she realized now that back then, she was overconfident that she didn’t rely the med school/life/stuff to the Lord. Back then, she was confident that she’ll be able to top that exam but instead, she ended up having the lowest score. Despite all that, she thanked the Lord for she realized that surviving this med life would mean taking the Lord in the journey with her especially by the time she’s going to be a doctor. She realized to have humility in what she’s doing.

I was amazed by her testimony because it’s so hard to still thank for the failure? For the pain that it caused? This I know because I was once there. Last semester, I failed a major subject because I failed to pass the one and only exam. It was really a hard pill to swallow. But then, the pastor was right, “Thanksgiving is an expression of humility.” I admit that I was overconfident, years ago, I claimed that I will never have a failing grade because I know I can do it, and it was my mentality that anyone can do it, too. I admit that there may have been times that I looked down on some people who failed and would say otherwise. Now that I’m on their shoes, I resented my old self. It was a hard phase and it has been still going on quite lately but I am making amends with myself. 

I was overconfident and somehow, forgot about God and the surrendering the burdens to Him. Now, I am really humbled. And I thank You, Lord. For everything. Let our lives be full of thanksgiving.