I Learned to Be Grateful

Dear Friend,

I've learned to be grateful. I mean learned, what I mean by "learned". I had to gain the knowledge and understanding of what it meant to be grateful. I "thought" I knew, but I really had no knowledge of it, because I thought it was conditional. I thought it was based on whether or not, I had something or all things had to be perfect, instead I found gratefulness in my most uncomfortable places. I needed to connect to God, and the only way I could connect was through praise and thanksgiving. It was in my grateful places that I would find the presence of the Lord regardless of my current situation, so it taught me to press in gratitude in praise.

Psalms 100:4, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name."

It didn't say if you felt like it LaKisha, if He had done something great for you, it said your calling card is praise, so praise Him! Praise became my calling card and the more I experienced His presence the more I have been able to experience His presence, and my "quiver" began to filled with the things that I need (love, joy, peace uplift etc). I found out the things I needed were beyond material, and what I really had been missing, was the living water (see John 7:38). I had been trying to fill my thing with other things...and I needed Jesus.

So I "learned" to be grateful, I had to have a different perspective on it, I had thought it was conditional, I learned that God's presence would provide a different perspective, so if you are looking for God, I dare you to be caught up in your praise. If you need His presence it's in your praise. I found Him, in my praise and you can too. “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.” Psalms 98:4

Caught Up,

LMJ