The stories that didn’t make the highlight reel.

We are inching toward the end of the year,  that season when goal-setters like me start flipping through notebooks  and journals and checking what got done… and what is still to be done. This is also when discouragement starts creeping in because of the dream project that didn’t lift off, the fitness routine that fizzled out when winter came  and the savings target that got derailed  It’s so easy to see only what’s unfinished  to measure the year by what didn’t happen.

I now know that even without the big milestones, there’s still more to be grateful for than we realize.

Last year, our family started a gratitude jar. Nothing fancy, just a jar i bought from Checkers, and every week, we should all add something to the jar. Big or small, we write it down and drop it in. On New Year’s Eve, we open the jar and read them aloud and thank God.

It’s now one of my favorite family traditions because it reminds us that God is working in the details. The year is long, and it is easy  to forget all the good things that happen, but those handwritten notes capture the mercies that kept us going on a daily and weekly basis.  The text that comes just in time, the peace after a hard week, and the unexpected provision.

That habit changed the way I see gratitude. So much so that I added a “gratitude section” to each of my blog posts. It’s one thing to say, “I thank God for life.” It’s another thing to pause and think about what that actually means, the details that make life possible.

This week, I came across an article about the cost for people who require dialysis in South Africa. It made me pause.

For many, this isn’t optional  it’s as essential as oxygen. A session can cost between R1,200 and R1,500, and some people require three sessions per week. That’s over R18,000 per month and over  R200,000 a year  to stay alive.

Meanwhile, my body works  on its own without requiring any support or me ever noticing. It’s a reminder that even when the “big” goals haven’t materialised, the gift of simply being here  healthy, breathing, and functioning is no small thing.

We often look for God in the big breakthroughs such as  the new job, the house, and bigger opportunities. I am here to remind you that His fingerprints are everywhere:
– In the organs that do their work.
– In the steady rhythm of our hearts.
– In the breath that keeps coming, unearned.
– In the ordinary days, that don’t make headlines, but keep us standing.

In 1 Kings 19:11–12, Elijah looked for God in the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, but God was in the gentle whisper.

As the year winds down, this is the invitation to lean into the whisper. To measure the year not only by outcomes but by the faithfulness that carried us through it.


Gratitude: This week, I’m grateful for the unseen mercies for health, for breath, and for bodies that function as they should. For researchers, caregivers, and families who make health possible for others.

And for a God who sustains even when we don’t see it.  A God who measures our years not by what we achieve but by how He holds us together through them.


Your Turn. Before the year ends, pause and ask: What didn’t make it onto your highlight of achievements reel but still deserves a thank you to God? Write it down. Drop it in your own gratitude jar because even when the big dreams take time, the little things are already proof of God’s grace.

On my playlist is this song of gratitude Goodness of God by Bethel Music.

Yours gratefully