Echoes of Gratitude

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To be sincere with you all, I was among those who felt life was unfair, seeing how things have turned out. You will see a family enjoying wealth, travelling to different countries to have fun, having the best of life, and then you see another family struggling and barely feeding 2 times in a day. Many struggle with bad health, and there is another individual enjoying good health and doing everything they need to do.

Growing up, I envied children who were born with silver spoon, who do not have to struggle before they get what they needed and there I was, living in a two bedroom, squeezed with my parents and siblings, sleeping on the tattered mat and still finding it hard to eat what we want on some days, I felt life was unfair and why would things happen to us this way.

But in all of these, there was one thing we were taught, and that helped us live in peace, even though at times we still had to compare ourselves; it was contentment. It took me years to realise life is never unfair and it is how God does His work. Do you know why?

Have you seen a potter mould a clay pot and use it however he wants? He may even decide to make two pots from the same lump of clay, use one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use. It dawned on me that since it was God who created the world, the source of everything and the creator of humans, including you and me, He does whatever He likes and wants, but the beauty is that He does everything for His purpose, and no one can dare question Him. When I moved further to understand more, I saw that His mercy and compassion are always at work. You can read the book of Romans, chapter 9, to understand more about that.

When I think about that, I stop finding myself saying life is unfair, but choose to be grateful instead, that among those God showed His mercy and compassion to, I am among them. There are a lot of things I am grateful for that I can't stop mentioning, but I would limit them to just three for the sake of this prompt.

The first is that I am grateful that God grants my heart's desires. These are things I have wished and wanted, and God has met most of them. Just last night, I was meditating on Psalm 37 vs 4, where it says when we delight in the Lord, He grants all our heart's desires, and as I reflect, I looked around me and saw those things I had desired to have at the beginning of the year and have been met. Things I thought would be achieved by the end of the year, and perhaps some might be extended to next year, but within 6 months, all were achieved.

The second thing I am grateful for is my life in Christ. Just last September, I got re-baptised and re-dedicated my life to God, and I was determined to live my life for Him. I must tell you that it was the greatest decision of my life, where I have enjoyed lots of amazing things that most times, I am always in awe of how God does His work just so easily.

I realised that there are things I have delayed due to how I lived my life in the past, but most requests have been answered with a swift response from God because of my decision and obedience to His word. I am grateful that I am in Christ and no longer living my life as a slave to sin but of righteousness. My life has indeed taken a new turn ever since, and that is something so beautiful. An experience I don't want to turn back from. No..No, I can never turn back oo. Lol.

The third thing I am grateful for is my siblings, especially my younger brother. A few days ago, I was scrolling through my phone's gallery and found his picture. I was moved to post him on my status just to appreciate God in his life. Looking and thinking back at his old life, how he joined a cult group at Secondary school, how he could not even speak simple English like come over here, where are you, etc, he always speak in our native language and that always embarrass him in front of the kids he was surrounded with, but if you listen to him speak today, you'd be amazed at such transformation. He is living his life for God.

Imagine such a wonderful gift, seeing your siblings knowing the way of Christ and living for Him? I feel it is something I should be grateful to God for more because when my siblings and I come together, we talk about God, the Word and our lives going well. It has been God all the way.