More From Linawati Santoso

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
— Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV)

Because of God’s great faithfulness, we receive mercies and compassions that are new every morning. This is the reason why on that day when my sister looked for good things happening to her, she found them. And the following day, she found them again. Every day, she found God’s blessings, and every day, she could be thankful to God.

It is the same with you and me. If we search for good things that happen to us today, we will find them. The same is true tomorrow. Every day, God is blessing us in many ways; every day, we can be thankful to God. God’s blessings are abundant.

As I wrote about in my devotional, David said in Psalm 23:6, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” Yes, he said all the days! We know David faced many hardships, including having Saul trying to kill him. For many days, he ran from one place to another and hid. Why would David say that he was followed by God’s goodness and love even on those days? David must have been counting God’s blessings too. Every day when David looked for good things happening to them, he would have found them.

I wonder if David maybe thought, Thank you, God, I got bread (see 1 Sam. 21:1-6), or Thank you, God, I found companions (see 1 Sam. 22:1-2), or Thank you, God, Saul could not capture me in the Desert of Maon (see 1 Sam. 23:24-29).

Even amid his hardships, David was still able to find God’s blessings. And when I faced many troubles in 2021, remembering David allowed me to find good things to thank God for too.

David’s experience teaches us that we have received God’s goodness, not only in easy situations, but also in difficult ones. We may face many stressful hardships. But let us follow David’s and my sister’s examples and count God’s blessings! I encourage you to write down the good things that happen to you, even simple things like getting a discount at the market or receiving a slice of cake from a neighbor. Doing so makes it easy to realize the many blessings we all receive from God. And in the process, we will become less stressed and more thankful to God.

God bless you.