Grateful on Memorial Day!

This is the Memorial Day holiday weekend, so as I sit back eating BBQ, I started to reflect and it brings be to place or state of being grateful. This is the time set aside to remember and give honor to the soldiers for all they have done to ensure our freedoms and liberties. I am so grateful for them and all they do, and the price they pay to do it. I pray for them daily. Going into the armed services is surely nothing I would do, but I truly appreciate those who have.

Being grateful always brings me back to God and all that He’s done for me and continues to do. However, I find that it’s a state of being I have to fight to remain in.

Satan always comes to bring up and remind me of all the things I’m not happy about in my life. I don’t know about how your life is but I have more than a few things I want changed in mine. But just like 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (cev) says; whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do, – I fight to praise God anyway.

From experience, I have found that when I don’t choose to focus on what is good about my life like Philip 4:8-9 says; Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise. 9 You know the teachings I gave you, and you know what you heard me say and saw me do. So follow my example. And God, who gives peace, will be with you;  a portal opens and here comes demons of depression, fear, hopelessness and whoever else has time to come through. Now things are worse! Now I don’t know about you, but I have enough to deal with without inviting more demons to the party!  I also know how challenging & hard this is to do in a lot of cases. Many of us are dealing with some tough and emotionally painful situations. I get that. And just like you I want these things to get better or just go away. We want God to fix them all. And if God was a magician then our wishing for Him to fix them would be okay and they would be fixed by now.  However, God is not a magician but in Genesis 1:26 (amp) – God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth; He gave us complete authority over the earth and the art or process of us putting that (taking dominion) info practice can be longer than any of us may want it to be most of the time.

I’ve been working God’s word for many years now and I have proved that He way works better than my own. I am so grateful that I found a way that is much better than my own! And is spite of the things in my life that have not manifested yet, I force myself (sometimes it’s a battle) to believe God over Satan every day of my life because of   (nkjv) – Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

So, as I continue to use my faith to pull in the change I want, I am so grateful for the people in my life that I love and who love me back. I am grateful for my ride or die friends. I am grateful for my husband, who in spite of having experienced some of my perfect imperfections, chooses to love me anyway. I am grateful for all of my children, biological & spiritual, who continues to believe in me and my passions. I am grateful to finally have a pastor who supports and pushes me into my purpose. I am grateful for a church family that walks in love with each other and pushes every other into greatness. I am grateful for the manna that God sends everyday to cover my needs. I am grateful to God for all of the attacks that He blocks as He protects me daily.

God has started a new chapter in my life and in spite of all the unknown turns ahead, I am so grateful that God trusts me, that He’s forever with me and that I am not doing this without His approval, love, support and most of all His guidance. Whooooo Hoooooo!

Just to sum this all up, there are a lot of things in life to complain about but I am much happier in this process when I work the word and focus on what’s good in life. It brings power to me – frees my mind, builds my self confidence and feeds my faith.

I am grateful for every soldier who was brave enough to put his life on the line for me and my family and I am grateful for you too because you have taken time out of your life to read this.

What are you grateful for?