Grateful & Generous Day 4

There is a children’s story about a little mouse that was trying to get home. He went through several obstacles, where he fell down a hole, rolled down a hill into thorns, and on and on. The mouse was naturally frustrated, just look at all that continued to go wrong. What the mouse couldn’t see was that at each spot, there was a predator who was trying to eat the little mouse. His fall into the hole kept him from being snatched by the hawk. The thorns kept the snake away from him. When he finally gets home, the momma mouse reminds him that it could always be so much worse. 

Gratitude can be easier when things are going well. When the team is winning. When the bills are paid. When we have had our naps. When the doctor's report is all positive. When life looks how we pictured it. 

I love the song ‘Praise” by Elevation worship that we sing. It talks about praise in every location and situation. The bridge says:

I'll praise 'cause You're sovereign
Praise 'cause You reign
Praise 'cause You rose and defeated the grave
I'll praise 'cause You're faithful
Praise 'cause You're true
Praise 'cause there's nobody greater than You

Sometimes we forget that God’s character, his grace, and love has not changed based on what is going on around us. No matter what our world looks like, God is worthy of praise and gratitude. 

Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
This doesn’t say let everything that has breath praise the lord.. When or if things are going well. There is no clarifying word to shift when it is situational. 

We are called to praise because of who God is, not because of where we are. If nothing ever gets better, if life just continues to get harder, even if … God is still worthy to be praised, because the Cross changed everything. 

Maybe we should take a lesson from the little mouse today. We should be praised in every situation, because we don’t know what all God has protected us from, even in our seasons that are the hardest.

God, Thank you for all that you do. I may not love the season that I am in, but I know that you are good and you are faithful, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now. I will continue to remind myself that you are in control and that you have my situation in your hands. Because you love me, I can trust you. I can say thank you even in my heartbreak.