GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER

So often, we pray for God to move in our lives and change things about ourselves that we don’t like.  When we send up those prayers, we often don’t think to ourselves, “I wonder what he will use to make that change in me,”  and if I’m honest, I picture him just taking that thing away from me and making me a better version of myself.  Easy-peasy.  But that’s not how God works.  We have to go through a pruning and refining process, like precious gold and gems; we too need to be chipped away at, refined in the fires, and come out on the other end more beautiful, more radiant.

I have found myself in a very long season of asking God to help me in one particular area of my life, and that is to work with a cheerful heart.  You see, I have been stuck doing another person’s job for two years, on top of my own.  As a result, I had allowed bitterness and resentment to creep into my heart.  I couldn’t understand why I had been taken advantage of so many times and for so long.  Feeling like I was completely unappreciated, I would cry and beg God for my workplace to find someone else to do the work.  I prayed for God’s strength to get through the work, and he was so faithful to help me get everything done without making mistakes.

I believe the thought of just having to do the extra work is what bothered me most if I’m honest.  But many times, I heard Him say to me, “work as though working for me, and not for man.”  Those words brought me so much comfort and helped the time to go quicker.  It certainly changed my heart of bitterness to a cheerful heart, as I would do anything for Him. With His help, I recognized the bitterness and repented of it.  I was able to take captive my thoughts when they crept in, and instead of stewing about the extra work, I thanked Him that I was able to help out and thanked Him that I actually had a job!  He brought my out-of-control thoughts to my attention so that I could stop them and give thanks to Him instead.  I had, after all, asked Him to help me work with a cheerful heart, so how else could I do that if not tested and by intentionally making it a choice to be cheerful.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7(ESV) says, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”  Although my situation was not my choice, I still had to do the work.  So I decided in my heart, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to give thanks. Doing so changed my compulsion to help into a choice I decided in my heart – to give with a cheerful heart all that I had to offer.  I’m not sure if my workplace was thankful for the extra that I gave, but what I do know is that my Heavenly Father definitely saw all that I had done, and He was well pleased.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the reminder that I should work as though working for You and not for man.  Thank you for helping me to put the needs of others before my own, when it was so hard to do.  Thank you for reminding me that a cheerful heart is what I asked for, and You helped me get exactly that!  Even though it was not the way I had expected, You knew exactly what You were doing.  I have learned to give thanks in all circumstances, for this is Your will for me.  In Jesus’s name, I pray.  Amen.

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