Last week it was our annual Harvest Thanksgiving at our church. Our fabulous kids made a video saying what they were thankful to God for. It ranged from playing with friends to toys! We then spent time in small groups sharing what we were grateful to God for. It was very encouraging!

Over the last six months as I was suffering with my slipped disc, I did experience times of being low and in pain. However, I also chose to be thankful to God. I would look around the ordinary everyday things at home and gave thanks: I had a bed with clean sheets on, I had a flushing toilet, I had medication to help ease the discomfort and so on! As I cultivated this thankfulness it kept my eyes on God and gave me a bigger perspective on my situation and God supplied the grace to go through it. The Bible has a lot to say about being thankful and can be summed up in this verse:

“And in the midst of everything be always giving thanks, for this is God’s perfect plan for you in Christ Jesus.”

— 1 Thessalonians 5:18 The Passion Bible

Whatever you are facing right now let me encourage you to be thankful to God and see the difference it makes.

Finally, there is an old hymn written by Johnson Oatman Jr. (1856-1922) called ‘Count your Blessings’, and chorus says this:

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your blessings, see what God hath done;

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader