International (MNN) — You may be looking ahead to the new year, but don’t forget to look back too! Dr. Jenn Murff with the MENA Leadership Center explains that pausing to thank God is more than just a good idea for Christians.
“Gratitude reorients us from self-sufficiency to God-dependence,” Dr. Murff says. “We go through really hard things, but gratitude reorients us towards the things of God.”
Photo courtesy of Navid Sohrabi via Unsplash
Yet for people carrying heavy responsibilities, it can be tempting to rush past gratitude.
“One of the things that we struggle with as leaders is becoming results-driven. We have this mindset of always thinking about what’s next, and we’re not pausing to acknowledge what God has done,” says Dr. Murff. “It’s kind of ironic, if I can be honest. We know that God is the God who gives and takes away. He is the God who gives us the desire to follow His mission, yet we kind of want control of everything. I think it’s a pitfall.”
Giving thanks is a spiritual discipline, she says. Not taking the time to practice it will blind us to God’s provision.
(Photo courtesy of MENA Leadership Center)
“When I think about what we’ve accomplished at the MENA Leadership Center, where we started and where we’re going, I’m completely blown away, because God is a God of multiplication,” says Dr. Murff. “We have completed 19 courses this year. We have reached 2,247 leaders across 41 nations over the past few years. This gratitude comes so deep that even if I was told that God was going to do these things, I wouldn’t believe it. Truly, I would not believe it.”
In 2025, the ministry built new partnerships and is now positioned to train leaders in a new country — Pakistan.
“I believe that the Lord is going to do great things. Their history is complex. The challenges that they face are so complex, and the needs that they have are completely different than in the Middle East,” says Dr. Murff of Pakistan.
Join the MENA Leadership Center in thanking God for what He has done. Pray with them for continued open doors, provision, and stamina for ministry in 2026. Learn more about the MENA Leadership Center’s mission here.
Then, remember to thank God for what He has done in your own life and ministry this year.
“Our prayer is that [people who hear this story] would draw close to God, that as they step into this new year, they would know God and make Him known, whether it’s in their local community or how they’re impacting the world,” says Dr. Murff.
Header photo of field in Pakistan courtesy of Abdul Rehman via Unsplash.
