The Key is Gratitude
When we are filled with doubt
Where is God
Who is this God
Who has not answered our prayers
Who has not even heard our cry
Who has not seen our desperation
Who appears to have fallen asleep on
us
Fallen into a deep long sleep
For He has not answered our cry
In our deepest
Pitch black
Bottomless
Pit
He has left us in the pit
In our misery
Without lifting a finger
His presence wasn’t even there with
us
We were
Left all alone
Abandoned
Rejected
Forgotten
Tossed out
Nonexistent
We have lost all hope
And He still did not show up
He did not help us
Nor save us
Nor was He even present with us
As He had promised He would
For our situation has not changed
Or has gotten even worse
Is He a deaf and dumb god
Have we put our hope in a non-living
god
A non-existent god
Was He a figment of our imagination
An emotional crutch
Our “Coping Mechanism”
Darkness
Silence
Desolation
Until…
We recall
How He had been there for us in the
past
We recall
What He has done for us in the past
How He has
Granted us salvation which we did not earn nor deserve
Changed us from the inside out
Saved us from our ourselves
Visited us in the pit we have dug for
ourselves
Visited us when we were destitute
Even though they were in our distant
past
We can’t help but recall
He once was there for us
He did show up
He did save us
He did change us
He actually did bless us
Albeit in distant past
He nonetheless
Was Real
Is Real
As we reach into the recesses of our
minds
We can recall
We do recall
What He has done for us
If it hadn’t been His mercy
Or His love
We would have
Lost all hope
Given up
Walked away from Him
But for the grace and mercy of God
But by the grace and mercy of God
We were pressed on every side but not
crushed
Perplexed but not in despair
Persecuted but not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
And now
As we recall
What He has done for us in our past
As we start to recount
His blessings
How He has met our needs
Physically
Bodily
Emotionally
Mentally
Financially
Relationally
Spiritually
How He has blessed us with things we have
Not earned
Nor deserved
As we recall
As we recount
What He has done for us
All that we do have in our lives
We start to recount in the present
And start to list each of
His provisions
His protections
His mercies
His blessings
His abundant goodness
As we fill our
Hearts with gratitude
The fog or our mind dissipates
Our misery lifts
Our bottomless pit is filled
Our despair dissipates
Our hope arises
Our soul swells up
Our spirit soars
Our mouths now filled with laughter
G R A T I T U D E
Recounting God’s blessings in the
past
The provisions in the present which we
have taken for granted
Enables us to be reassured of
His goodness
His reality
His existence
