OUR GRATITUDE ENGINE

Psalm 103:1-2 NKJV Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:

I was standing in a supermarket queue this week when the lady being served at the front of the queue suddenly went off to find something she had forgotten, so we were all delayed even longer! 

The lady in front of me started talking about patience being a virtue and there followed a lovely conversation, with each of us finding different things we were grateful for, until we were served. We thought about the huge choice there is, the health to enjoy our food, etc. You get the picture.😊

It turned a tense situation into a happy light hearted one and we left each other smiling, but delighted to have met and having reminded ourselves how very blessed we were.😊

Isn’t it lovely how being thankful and finding things to be grateful for can totally turn a potentially grumpy situation around? So next time you’re finding it hard to be patient, try looking for something to be glad about and share it with someone else and maybe brighten their day too.

The great thing is it won’t cost a thing because gratitude comes from deep inside, just waiting for someone to press the right button and set it going, a bit like turning on an engine. We all have a gratitude engine inside us!😊

It reminded me as well how being grateful is also an act of worship, which is something we don’t always think about, so there’s all the more reason to be grateful, don’t you think?  

And just in case your gratitude engine might need some help, I’ll start things off by saying how grateful I am for everybody who takes the time to read my Blog.😊 Now it’s your turn to go and tell somebody what you’re grateful for. It may be for just being who they are to you.😊

Have a blessed and grateful weekend everybody.x

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WHAT’S WEIGHING YOU DOWN?

Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…

Isn’t it strange how some days we wake up and feel as light as a feather and other days we feel heavy and weighed down. Now I don’t know how you woke up today but our verse encourages us to lay aside everything that slows us down or hinders us.😊 It might be our worries or our fears, or feeling condemned about something, that holds us back from running our race.

It says we have to lay them down, a bit like putting down a heavy shopping bag or back pack, it’s an act of our will. God won’t do it, it’s our decision.

It might be the weight of worry for a family member or perhaps you’re weighed down with health issues or bills to pay. Maybe you’ve been carrying grief over a loss, or holding on to bitterness or unforgiveness for a long time and it’s time to lay them aside. It could be any number of things, including sin, but God wants us to let them go and cast the care of them on to Him.

We all know carrying all those burdens ourselves won’t solve any of them but if we give them to God then we can trust Him to deal with them. He’s asking us to surrender to Him those things that cause us sleepless nights, the ‘not knowing what to do’ moments, the times when our strength has run out, and trust Him to give us whatever we need.

When we decide to throw off whatever is weighing us down, we can reach out for something new, and God can grab a hold of our outstretched hand to lift us up to give us His strength, His ability, and His wisdom. His grace will overflow to us to meet the challenges of the day.

So let’s surrender it all to Him today, lay aside, or ‘throw off’ every weight, and let His grace flow so we can run our race unhindered. In Jesus name. Amen.😊

Photo: Varun-Radhakrish on Unsplash