Todays guest post is written by
Christy Cauthen Pope
What really is gratitude?
Do we truly know what it is to be grateful or is it something we just toss around when the calendar gets to November and December of each year? Do we truly count our blessings? I was born in America and thus have the typical American mindset of "first world problems" where you desire to keep up with whatever your neighbors are doing.
Yes, I am grateful for the food that I eat, my family, my friends, my church, ability to pray to God freely, etc. but it is not something that I think about every day until I went to Israel this past summer and met Foteh and Hannah. These dear Christians are on fire for God and really know how to express gratitude.
My husband and I attend one of the mega churches here in America, Second Baptist Houston which has over 63,000 members. Our friends in Israel are proud to attend a church that has 50 members.
Gratitude changed for me after hearing them speak of how important it is that you find what binds you together in the body of Christ and concentrate on that rather than on the differences. These 50 members use whatever resources they have to spread the gospel and to help their fellow believers who are undergoing intense persecution over there in the Middle East.
Gratitude took on a new meaning for me as our guide Foteh told us about a father of six children who sells backpacks on the side of the road in Bethlehem to put food on the table for his family because he cannot get a regular job in Bethlehem as he is a devout Christian. Gratitude is realizing that for this season, we are free to worship and profess our faith in Christ here in America and we can feed our families and not face the persecution that our brothers and sisters face in the Middle East.
On this trip I also learned that in Bethlehem, Christians are now less than 1% of the population and back in 1990, they made up 80% of the population. Christians here in Jesus's birthplace are proud that they follow Christ and they put Christian symbols up outside their homes even though it can be dangerous to do so.
Gratitude is thinking of the Bedouin children that we encountered who did not have much in American standards who were thrilled to play in the dirt with rocks and sticks. It proved that gratitude is a heart issue. These children were grateful to just have something to play with.
What am I thinking that I need when all God has for me is in front of me?
Am I too busy trying to keep up with my neighbors, other mom's, what I see on tv, etc.? Am I truly being grateful for the blessings God has given me each day? Truly it is important to count your blessings each and every day.
Gratitude for me is thinking how seven years ago I was thinking I would never marry or have children, but how God provided me a spouse five years ago and children three years ago. God's timing is perfect in all he does. Be grateful for everything you have. Try to see life through the eyes of a child or through the eyes of a Christian in a persecuted area of the world. It will change your outlook.
My church supports a church in Damascus, Syria as the pastor of the Syrian church has a daughter who attends Second baptist. The Syrian pastor sent a video out to our church a few weeks ago telling of the intense persecution there but of how grateful the Christians were of the revivals that were breaking out due to the persecution.
We need to be truly grateful for what we have and stop being selfish by always lamenting about what we do not have. As a Christian, we have eternal life, something that no one can ever take from us. For this I am most grateful as I know where I will go when my time on this earth is over.
Teaching gratefulness to my 3 year old and 9 month old? I am striving to do this even now by getting our 3 year old to get a gift for a needy child. I am all for ideas as I want to have grateful children.
About Christy: I met Christy this past summer on a trip to Israel. It feels like I've known her mugh longer. She's delightful; easy to talk to and easy to listen to. She has a smile the size of Texas and a heart to match its size. She has three sweet guys in her life; her husband Clay and and her two cuties Will and Alex. (And of course Jesus...She really loves Jesus and she'll tell you so).
Enjoy if a few more of her Israel pics.
