ETO Talks: it’s okay to just be grateful

Yesterday I got my hair done by the wonderful Musanda of @gracioushairdesigns (Instagram) and we got chatting about life and faith especially. She recently got married and we naturally got to the topic of how I got married and for those of you who don’t know, it wasn’t the smoothest of experiences with my former church.

It led us to talking about how we view God, she rightfully noted that if I didn’t have a personal relationship with God, all that I went through with the church could have easily steered me off the path had I attributed the ill treatment by humans to God – and I thank God for holding me firmly through it all. We also spoke about how that sort of thing tends to happen because a lot of us attribute our relationship with God as a transactional one, I pray and keep His word and in return God blesses me – but what about when things are actually rosy?

What about when your immediate needs are met, you’re healthy, you can pay your bills comfortably and quite frankly things are looking good – if you only talk to God to get these things from Him, what happens when you have them?

That’s why I am so glad that I got to nurture my relationship with God through that difficult time, it wasn’t a easy period and I cried countlessly, but I learnt that even my tears were prayers. I was never alone and now that God has answered my prayers I enjoy just singing to him, praising him, and continuously expressing my gratitude. I truly don’t take any of His blessings for granted, I am acutely aware of the times when what I have now was difficult to even imagine.

So I say all this to say that there’s nothing wrong with just being grateful. That’s why the Bible said we should enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. He actually loves it – it’s ONE of the few things that we can actually give to God.

Prayers are no less powerful or emphatic if they aren’t accompanied with tears and yearning. Every prayer is time spent with God – and that’s enough.

Till next time,

Dr ETO (decided to switch to the formal initials after a research publication accidentally published my abstract under Dr Kandi and I had to get it corrected lol)