In 2018, during our New Year’s Eve service in church, we were given cards to write out our requests and desires for the coming year. I already had my list but as I sat to write them down on the card, a thought came to my mind:

“What will you do if none of these desires come to pass by the end of the year? Keep your mind open because beautiful miracles you didn’t ask for will come your way.”

As much as I try to avoid using the phrase, “God/the Holy Spirit spoke to me”, I believe strongly that it was His voice speaking through my thoughts.

The next day I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw a friend’s post about her ‘Gratitude jar.’ She took a picture of a jar with lots of folded sticky pads in it. The sticky pads had notes of all the blessings she received all through the year. As I read through, I decided that while I wait for God to grant my requests and fulfill my desires in the coming year, I would also be deliberately mindful of the other miracles I didn’t ask for, and keep record of them. I got a small gift-box and kept it by our bed with a pack of sticky notes in it.

On 30th December, 2019, I brought the box and poured out all the folded sticky notes on our bed. I started opening up each one, reading them and counting. I counted over 25 folded pads and I am certain there were still some of the blessings and favours I received that year but forgot to record.

📌I realized that God saved me from three car accidents that year; one of them happened a few days to my 40th birthday. I had my 4 kids in the car with me. It had snowed the night before and so the roads where slippery. My car swerved off the highway into a shallow ditch. We all came out, shaken but not hurt! The car also ‘came out’ without a scratch or dent! There was also this young man who stopped, called a towing van and waited with me for almost an hour until the van showed up. I don’t know him, had never met him, and I’ve never seen him again since that day!

📌I realized that God gave blessed me financially through people I never expected; one of them was someone I hadn’t seen for over 20 years. She remembered me and decided to bless me!

📌I realized that God paid all our bills that year; even though I was on maternity leave and earning 55% of my income!

📌I realized that God gave me a salary raise at work, right after I resumed from maternity leave. I mean, who gets a raise after taking time off work for a year? You get a raise when you have done exceptionally well at work right? Well, I was at home, chilling, and I got a raise!

📌I realized there where so many things I didn’t ask for, probably because I felt I had the right to have them or probably because I felt it was too much to ask for (like the raise) but God overlooked my childish thoughts and chose to bless me anyway!

As I counted those folded pads, I compared each one with the list I had on the card I was given in church and I found out that I had just one prayer on that list that was answered! Lol! Even though I didn’t get answers to the 10 things I asked for, I got over 25 things I didn’t ask for! That’s how God works! He tells us to ask, He goes through our list, but He still chooses to give us what we NEED per time, because He knows what is best for us.

As human beings, especially those of us who have identified with God, our default mode should be the gratitude mode – that is, being in a state of gratitude all the time because our God works round the clock to ensure that our needs are met, our protection is guaranteed and our joy is full. God keeps doing great and mighty things in us and for us on a daily basis.

“Here’s what the Bible tells us:

He won’t let you stumble,
your Guardian God won’t fall asleep.
Not on your life! Israel’s
Guardian will never doze or sleep.”
(Psalm 121:4 The Message)

In the midst of all our troubles, pain, uncertainties and anxieties, if we look closely and think deeply, we will find that there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for.

Start today. Let your default mode be the gratitude-mode. Be thankful. Stay thank-full!