Have You Had Your Gratitude Sandwich Today?

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Some people never show gratitude for the good you do for them, but they can be loud when it’s time to ask for your help. Some of us have such people in our lives.

When they come around with needs, the motivation to help isn’t there because they haven’t made the emotional deposit of gratitude.

Eventually, when you decide to help and ask what they have done to solve the problem themselves, you’ll be surprised to hear that they’ve done nothing. You’re the fixer.

What we must realize is that gratitude precedes requests and must also come after the request is granted. That’s how it works with God and man. When there’s a problem you’re anxious about, before you go to God lamenting about how it is causing anxiety in you, first ask yourself, “Did I thank God for the previous miracles He did for me?”

To get God’s peace while waiting for that solution to arrive, gratitude goes out before your request. And once that request goes out, you show that you trust God by not trying to do God’s work for Him.

Let God satisfy the need for you, no matter how long it takes, while you thank Him in advance for meeting that need. It’s like a sandwich: put your requests between two gratitude slices and take a sip of faith. It goes down well that way.

How can we apply this at work?

Earlier in my career, I’d fret over the smallest glitch. As I built websites and helped clients set up their brands online, sometimes it looked like the tech was on a mission to frustrate me.

I would spend hours researching how to fix the problem while allowing anxiety to take hold of me. I would start to imagine the many ways the client could get angry and end the project.

Then I discovered the power of allowing solutions to come to me. I realized I was less productive when my mind was cluttered. All I had to do after trying for a while was to say a word of prayer and just shut things down.

Sometimes I would get the solution in my sleep, while having my bath, or while engaged in a different activity. I stopped worrying about such issues because I had this confidence that God had my best interests. This is still how I get solutions to this day.

This way, there’s always a reason to thank God for what He has done and what He’s already working out. God is always at work for you. Just believe.

“Today, I lay these problems at the feet of my father”.

What is currently weighing you down that you can’t solve on your own? Sometimes our limited wisdom fails us. So, stop trying and take a bite from the gratitude sandwich.