Unfiltered Faith and Thankfulness in The Mundane By Jenny Warfield
In the midsts of the unknown or the seasons of change, we can still be thankful.
In the midsts of the unknown or the seasons of change, we can still be thankful. Two years ago, in September of 2020, my husband was hit head-on. The worst call I had ever received, but thankfully I heard my husband’s voice on the other end of that phone instead of an emergency responder. His truck was so old that it didn’t have airbags, but he survived with only a broken tibia and fibula. I rushed to his side. Thankfully it was only a few minutes away from our house. It was hard for me to see him hurt, and it was heartbreaking to see him struggle with even ordinary things, both physically and emotionally. I carried all the weight of helping him physically and emotionally, along with everything else. I can’t imagine the sadness in God’s eyes when He sees His child get hurt. He was out of work for about six months, and so was I. It was a tough time for us both. At the time, we didn’t know how we were going to eat and pay our bills. Through the mighty grace of God, we had enough food, never paid any of our bills late, and never once used a credit card. Some people might not understand, and sometimes we reflect on it without full comprehension besides “but God.” We are forever grateful for that and the many times we have seen God work in our lives.
It was incredible to see the hands of God during that time in our lives and to see Him move through our time of trouble. I remember people messaging me on Instagram about how blessed they were to hear our story. As Christians, we rarely want to talk about our troubles, but I shared on Instagram and received messages about how our faith and gratitude blessed them. Even when you are in the midst of a storm, God will bless it.
Often we tend to overcomplicate the small and the simple. We do this in our Bible studies, with praying, in our homes, and even in our faith. Today, we can get too caught up in our homes looking like they came right out of an Instagram post and busy striving for it to be “Pinterest-worthy.” Have we lost sight of what genuinely matters inside of the home? Now, there’s nothing wrong with making your house cozy. But it can go too far when we go crazy about the paint colour on the walls or the next trend for the fireplace. That is when we lose focus on the things we are thankful for. It doesn’t matter what our house looks like if we don’t care about what fills the home.
The people inside and all those who enter, serving with love, and hospitality, are important. However, our number one goal should be to always strive to make sure our home is Christ-filled. There cannot be peace if God isn’t in it. We all have gone through tough times, and even times, we have tried to do something without God in it. Talk about some rough waters.
Not every season we go through, and every trial we face will be smooth sailing. But there will be peace when we trust and rely on God to help us through. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” - Psalm 46:10 Think about a fresh apple pie baking in the house on a crisp fall morning—the rays of the sunshine glow against the floor and your kitchen table. You can know just by the aroma that an apple pie is in the oven. It feels cozy and warm, right? To me, that is what God’s peace feels like. The warmth from the morning sun rays and the aroma of a freshly baked apple pie on a fall day. It gives a sense of “home” not only in our house but in our hearts as well. Often we can let society fill our minds with trends and slogans more than we have let the Word of God fill our minds. Reading the Bible and studying it thoroughly can be challenging; sometimes, it feels like a defeating task.
For me, I realize I overcomplicate just reading the Word itself, and I thought I needed to spend hours digging deep into every word of scripture.It is wonderful to do when I have the opportunity, but sometimes we need to dial it back and grab a Bible to dig into. Prayer should be a daily thing for us as Christians, and with our to-do lists, sometimes it feels like it gets swept under the rug. Finding time to write down my thoughts and prayer gives me more focus on actually praying. I need to put away all distractions and just take a few minutes to talk to God. Some days the prayers can be nothing but sitting still in God’s presence, and other days the Lord hears your cry with your tears. Prayers don’t have to be a whole sermon. They just have to be from the heart.
We have to fully rely on God with every ounce of our being and have faith. There were times our faith wasn’t as big as the grand canyon, but small faith can still move mountains. Even in times of stress, God will make a way. We can still praise God for all we have through our mundane tasks daily in our homes, jobs, and family. Before, during, and after, we go through something that strengthens us.
“So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” - Matthew 17:20
We can be as thankful in the small as we can be thankful in the big. May we never stop praising Him through the blessings and through storms. God deserves our thankfulness, and we don’t deserve even a fraction of what we have. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 I challenge you to reflect on what you’ve been through and what you have now, then give Him thanks for it all. Everything that we have, our home, our jobs, our money, our family, the list goes on.
I’m Jenny, married to my best friend for four years, and I’m a multi-passionate creative/entrepreneur. From being an author of a Christian faith-based book to being the founder of my faith-filled and Jesus-centered community, Servant hearted sisterhood. I love being able to encourage women and to also serve my clients with all things social media and fulfilling my God-given purpose through it all!