Thankful, Grateful and Humble No Matter What

Have you ever stepped back, evaluated your life and thought to yourself, "there’s no way I deserve these blessings... But God!" Even during struggles and trials I always remind myself that things could be much worse. God has this amazing way of taking events in our lives and turning them into miracles. Paths that we start on and maybe think will end a certain way, but then God blows our mind and makes it amazing.

My dad could have not qualified for a kidney donation, I could be without a job, my friend could have passed away from cancer, my grandmother could have lived and still be in extreme pain, confusion, and suffering. There's always the other side of the coin. It's in these times, that I am thankful, grateful and humble,... no matter what.

Although scripture was written when Jesus was raises Lazarus from the tomb, it’s relevance is the same: “Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”” John‬ ‭11:40‬ ‭NIV

Believing and having faith through the noise is hard, trust me I know. I have experienced times where my faith was tested and tried. Whether it was when my grandmother recently passed away, or while my dad was at Mayo hospital during all of the kidney testing, or even when my friend was hospitalized with cancer. It's during these times we can often wonder how strong we really are.

Blind faith is what we are called to have.

After failing the Certified General Contractor exam and being discouraged and afraid to take the test again, my faith was tried. I had lost hope in myself and doubted my abilities. After several months of my dad having dialysis, I was beginning to lose hope in the possibility of him receiving a transplant.

Being humble and resolving myself to know that everything is in God's hands, not my own, is one of the ways I was able to remain thankful and grateful.  Even in the midst of the unknown, I knew my heavenly Father would glorify it all.

Related Post: Developing a Mindset of Thankfulness

If my mindset was different, I would not have been able to push through every day, going to Mayo for my father's exams, studying every night for the General Contractor exam.  I would have stopped, given up, thrown my hands up in the air, and said, "screw it all." And trust me, that would have been the easy route.  Running away and taking my ball home to play by myself.

Trusting God during difficult times takes work.

Choosing what has your focus is key. If all of your issues have your focus, then you will never have light in your life.  If you are focusing on different options and the many ways to improve your situations, you will have more of a positive outlook on things. Be humble and allow God to be your focus, not other things.  Those "other things" are complicating your life.

Calming the noise and finding peace in the quite is also important. We all get busy with the hustle and bustle of life and when we are in the throws of life, we don't have peace.  Without peace, we can't hear from God.  If we are not hearing from God, we are not able to find rest in his love and comfort.

Giving everything over to God and trusting in His perfect timing is a must. I don't know about you, but I have control issues... hi my name is Virginia, ha! But seriously, I feel better when I know I have control of things. The when, the how, everything under the sun. But I find that I have peace when I give every timeline to God.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV

Being humble allows you the time to let God lift you to greater and more amazing doors in life. Staying humble means recognizing that we are not on this earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others.