We all have so much to be thankful for!

I am focusing this week on thankfulness. The great American revivalist Charles Finney once said, “A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of a growth in grace and a thankful heart.”

Yesterday I focused in on being grateful for the various things of nature and the people the Lord has brought into our lives. Today I am reminded of the many gifts the Lord has given me, and the great gifts that I see in my family and friends around me.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17

Every gift you have been given has come from God. No good things that you have or see in your life has come from anywhere or anyone but God.

Take a few moments to, as the old hymn says, count your many blessings. The blessings in your life and around your should remind you how truly blessed you are. They should also remind you of how loved you are by God.

To count your blessing first look at the abilities you have, the things that come easiest to you, and the successes they bring. Then look in you refrigerator, look at the home you live in, notice all of the material possessions you have been given. Just the fact that you are reading this blog on a computer shows how blessed you are, when in many parts of the world even a computer is a luxury that many could not even begin to comprehend.

Count the senses that work, your ability to see, hear, touch, taste, smell. I lost my sense of smell for about a month at one point. What a blessing it became to even begin smelling something bad.

Look around you at all of the stuff you have. The average person in a third world or developing nation lives on less than three dollars a day. In Sudan the people I met there were thrilled to eat one meal every other day. The children in Zimbabwe were happy to play with an empty plastic bottle as a soccer ball. Open your medicine cabinet. Most of my friends in the third world have no access to medical care, not even an aspirin. Turn on your water faucet; clean water is a gift many do not have. This is not to make you feel guilty. God has blessed you appreciate that blessing.

Develop an attitude of gratitude and see what the Lord will do with you. If we take time to give thanks our view of our world changes. We all have so many good gifts in our lives. This Thanksgiving truly give thanks for how blessed you are!