Yesterday I facilitated an “abiding” time with Jesus, which is a daily part of my work's annual church planting training. I chose to focus on the significance and power of gratitude in my walk with Jesus. If you’ve known me a little while, you know that I keep returning to this theme. When I was struggling with an undiagnosed illness and suffering with interminable pain, the Lord gave me the gift of being able to choose to worship and to thank Him for His goodness in my life, even when I wasn’t feeling it. It was the only way that I knew how to wage battle in a war with discontent and frustration. This became an even more important strategy and spiritual “weapon” when my situation became progressively harder with the eventual brain cancer diagnosis and the treatments that would follow.
After sharing my story with the students, I asked them to take around 45 minutes in that same spirit of gratitude to thank Him. It was so encouraging to hear how one student started in a place of thankfulness and then the Lord brought her heart to a place of conviction and repentance. One man shared how that worship helped him let go of his worries. Another student mentioned how the time that they were allotted was not enough for her to write down all the reasons for gratitude that she had.
May you remember that gratitude is the antidote to anxiety and that worship is a powerful spiritual weapon, no matter the situation you find yourself in.
No comments:
Post a Comment