Most days, I return from school, and the last thing I want to do is cook. I’m hungry but also too tired to get food from the refrigerator, even if it’s available. So, recently, I had the thought of, “I wish I were still a child”. After all, as a child, I most likely wouldn’t be bothered about being stressed from work or still having to cook after a long day. A friend once posted on her status that if you don’t cook immediately, you return home as a graduate student, and dinner for that day is gone, and I could resonate.
It’s probably beginning to sound like being a graduate student is a burden. But is it truly a life filled with stress?
Hello again, my name is Comfort Oladayo ADEGBENRO, and I am glad you are here again or maybe for the first time to read this episode of Hope Alive newsletter. I hope you stick around and come back often. Today’s newsletter is about remembering the Source of our blessings.
So, I talked about my experience as a graduate student, but you can replace being a graduate student with anything, like your job or a responsibility that is supposedly stressful for you at the moment. Back to my question: Is it truly a life filled with stress? Is my life truly stressful, and is your life truly stressful?
We can get so caught up in our blessings that we forget that the work or position we think is stressing us was once our desire and prayer point.
I had a conversation with my dad, and he reinstated something I already knew but maybe was somehow drifting to my subconscious rather than my conscious mind.
Don't forget where you were before, no matter how overwhelmed you feel by what is happening now.
Is it the research, the job, or the responsibility of being a parent or spouse? What do we have that we have not received?
1 Corinthians 4:7 NIV
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
We have received all, and we would be ingrates not to recognize God's grace at work in our lives. If we think deeply, we will see that we are already living in answered prayers. Not being conscious of these blessings and graces is pride and a declaration of self-sufficiency.
Everything in life has its challenges, but we should not let those challenges replace gratitude and a conscious acknowledgement of God's grace at work in our lives.
John 15:5
I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.
Based on the revelation from this scripture, one of the things I told myself while growing up, and which I’m glad came to mind while writing, is: “Comfort minus God equals zero.”
Now think about it: Just what if God takes away the “stress”? Wouldn’t we be without jobs, spouses, and children? Do we really wish to go back to previous times and how things used to be? I’ll leave you to your own answer.
So, let’s be grateful and not quench the Source of our blessings.
James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].
We should not forget that God's mercies and grace are the foundation of our whole lives and the essence of our existence.
Everything is from above and should not be a source of complaint; rather, it is a reason to acknowledge the grace of God and be eternally grateful.
PRAYER: Father, thank You for Your many blessings in my life. Help me to consciously acknowledge Your blessings always, amen.
P.S-- Unless otherwise stated, All scriptures are from the Amplified Bible Classic version.
#keepinghopealive #hopealive #Christalive #Christinme #wehavereceivedall #gbenrocomfort
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Grace by Solomon Lange
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