God is Awesome
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Sometimes we become so accustomed to the blessings in our lives that we stop recognizing them as blessings. We wake up, move through our routines, take care of our responsibilities, and prepare to do it all again tomorrow. Meanwhile, there are countless reminders of God's goodness woven into what we consider an ordinary day.
Back in 2007, I wrote a short post that began with three simple words: “God is awesome!!” I went on to talk about appreciating things such as good health, food on the table, clothes on our backs, a roof over our heads, a sound mind, and the ability to use our bodies. Nearly twenty years later, the message behind those words is still worth remembering.
The older I get, however, the more I realize that appreciating God's goodness is about more than making a list of the things we have. It is learning to recognize His hand in our lives, including the places where His goodness may not immediately look like a blessing.
WHEN ORDINARY BLESSINGS BECOME ORDINARY
There are some things we thank God for when we first receive them, but eventually we become accustomed to having them. The new job becomes the job we complain about on Monday morning. The home we once prayed for becomes the house with something that always needs fixing. The people we asked God to place in our lives can become the people we unintentionally take for granted.
It happens because we are human. Familiarity has a way of making extraordinary gifts feel ordinary.
That is one reason gratitude is so important in our relationship with God. Gratitude causes us to pay attention again. It reminds us that what has become common to us is not necessarily insignificant. 💛 The meal on the table may not feel miraculous, but it is provision. The strength to get through another day may not seem extraordinary, but it is grace. The ability to pray, worship, laugh, think, love, work, rest, and begin again are gifts we can easily overlook simply because we experience them so often.
GOD'S GOODNESS IS NOT LIMITED TO THE BIG MOMENTS
It can be easier to recognize God's goodness when something remarkable happens. We prayed for a door to open, and it opened. We needed provision, and somehow it came. We were facing something that seemed impossible, and God made a way.
Those are beautiful reasons to praise Him, but they are not the only evidence of His goodness.
Sometimes God's goodness is found in the wisdom that keeps us from making the wrong decision. Sometimes it is the unexpected encouragement that comes when we are struggling. It may be the peace He gives us even though our circumstances have not changed, or the strength He provides to keep moving when we thought we had nothing left.
There may even be times when God's goodness is hidden inside something we initially considered a disappointment. A closed door, a delay, or a change in plans may not feel good when it happens. We do not always know what God is protecting us from, preparing us for, or accomplishing through circumstances we do not understand.
That is why recognizing God's goodness cannot depend entirely upon whether life is going the way we hoped.
GRATITUDE DOESN'T MEAN EVERYTHING IS PERFECT
Being thankful does not require us to pretend that everything is wonderful. We can acknowledge disappointment, grief, uncertainty, frustration, and unanswered prayer while still recognizing that God has been faithful.
In fact, some of the deepest gratitude develops after we have walked through difficult seasons. When we look back, we begin to recognize moments when God sustained us even though He did not immediately remove what we were facing. We see strength that we know did not come from ourselves. We remember people He sent, Scriptures that encouraged us, wisdom He provided, and grace that met us one day at a time.
Gratitude gives us perspective. Instead of allowing what we do not have to overshadow everything God has already given us, we begin to see our lives more clearly.
SOMETIMES WE NEED TO LOOK AGAIN
Psalm 31:19 speaks of the abundance of God's goodness that He has stored up for those who fear Him and take refuge in Him. What I love about that Scripture is the reminder that God's goodness is abundant. The question may not always be whether God has been good to us, but whether we have been paying attention. 01
Take a moment and think about your own life. Consider where God has brought you from, what He has carried you through, and the prayers He has already answered. Think about the people He has placed in your life, the lessons He has taught you, and the ways you have grown through circumstances you never would have chosen for yourself.
Then look at today.
There may be something you are still waiting for. There may be a prayer that has not been answered the way you hoped, or an area of your life that you desperately want God to change. Bring those things to Him. But while you are waiting for what comes next, don't allow it to make you overlook what He is doing now.
GOD IS STILL AWESOME
I ended that original 2007 post with another familiar declaration: “God is good all the time. All the time God is good.”
Those words mean something different after you have lived a little more life.
It is easy to say God is good when everything is falling into place. Faith teaches us to recognize that His character has not changed when life becomes difficult. 04 Our circumstances change. Our emotions change. Seasons begin and end. Some prayers are answered quickly, while others require us to wait much longer than we expected.
But God remains God.
Maybe that is the invitation for us today—not simply to ask God for another blessing, but to become more aware of the blessings and evidence of His faithfulness that are already around us.
Look again at the ordinary things. Remember where He has brought you from. Pay attention to the quiet ways He is sustaining you today.
You may discover that you have far more reasons to say “God is awesome” than you realized.
You are God's masterpiece, created with purpose.
Keep growing in His Word, walking by faith, and becoming who He designed you to be.
Blessings and Hugs,
Toia M. Thompson
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