Key to Life

Jesus talked about the keys (plural) of the Kingdom. He has taught me that one of those keys is gratitude. It may be the very first key we need to begin to enter into His Kingdom.

How can any of us appreciate God and see our need for Him, if we are not grateful for His blessings? How can this happen without us recognizing His blessings, instead of taking them for granted as our due, and recognizing that they came from the Creator? The Bible says that God's goodness leads us to repentance.

I got saved when I was 17 and my twenties were a mishmash of knowing the Word of God, obeying some of it, but often taking a lot for granted and not always being a good example to others. Even now, I am not always a good example, but I am better at it than I used to be.

I didn't really start to understand gratitude until nearly everything was taken away. Don't be a dummy and let things go that far before you develop an attitude of gratitude.

I took my marriage for granted. I was deeply disappointed that my husband was an alcoholic and I behaved ugly about it, instead of getting counselling on how to deal with his addiction, and praying for his deliverance. We had horrible fights, in front of our children, yelling and swearing at each other. It was nasty.

I remember standing outside in our yard, feeling convicted about my behaviour, and asking the Lord, "Why are You letting me act like this? I am tearing my house down with my hands, like the foolish woman Proverbs talks about. Don't You love me? Your Word says that You chasten those You love, those who belong to You. Am I not truly Your child?"

I had not reckoned with His longsuffering patience, with Him giving me chances to come to my senses without needing a swift kick in the butt. But that is what it took to shake me out of my spiritual lethargy. I lost my husband. I had behaved too ugly for him to think it was worth trying to kick his habit in order to keep me as his wife. Maybe he would have continued to drink anyway, but there is no way of knowing which way he would have gone.

I crashed. My nerves were shot after eleven years of being subjected to my husband's drinking problem, in addition to issues from childhood that were not resolved. I had a nervous breakdown. My husband gained custody of our children because I could not look after them in my condition. I was left alone in my home, isolated for four months until I was miraculously set free from the lies that bound me and started living normal again.

One of the key things that helped me recover was being thankful. The Bible says that we enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. That means that we enter in THROUGH thanksgiving and praise.

I looked around my solitary wilderness and thought about what I could be thankful for, though my husband was gone, and my dreams of recapturing the sweetness that had been in the early years of our relationship were shattered. My children were gone, too. The first thing I thought of thanking God for was that I had air to breathe. I mused on how painful it would be to suffocate. Yes, I could start there. I could thank God for air.

It was easy then to think of other things to be thankful for: water to drink, food, a roof over my head, my radio that enabled me to listen to good sermons and Christian songs, . . . so many things to be thankful for, in spite of not having those dearest to me in my arms.

The marriage did not get restored, though I recovered from that breakdown and was a much better Christian than before I had it. I had to maintain that attitude of gratitude, and also render to God SACRIFICES of praise as I struggled with finances, my car often running out of gas. I walked the rest of the way home more than once, singing songs of thanksgiving and praise, to keep from getting depressed. I thanked God for the opportunity to give Him a sacrifice of praise, which is of greater value and power in difficulties than when it is offered during times of obvious blessing.

My ex–husband took off with my children to another province and prevented me from having any contact with them for five years. If I had not learned to flow in an attitude of gratitude and praise Him, regardless of circumstances, I could not have survived this. I learned to be grateful for what I had, instead of moping about what I didn't have. Yet. I trusted Him to bring my children back, and He did; the thanksgiving and praising helped bring that about. They are powerful weapons, as well as keys.

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