Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. {Psalm 107:1}.
Sometimes when we look at the circumstances of our lives, we find it hard to find things to be thankful for. But friends, shift your eyes to Jesus and see Him. Thankfulness overflows. Thank you God for your Son, Jesus, who came to this earth, lived a perfect life, died the most gruesome death, and rose again so that we may one day live with You forever in eternity. Your Son, Jesus, who took our sin and our darkness and our sinful flesh and put it upon Himself so that when you look at us, You see light, You see holiness, You see righteousness. Thank you God that we don’t have to perform perfectly in order to receive Your love and grace. Thank you that we are not left in a place of despair and depression. Far from it. God we thank You that You give us life; You give hope; You give joy; You give peace.
The two major truths God has revealed in my life this past year is the power of prayer and the power of being thankful. Just as I learned that often the most precious prayers are those I am whispering to God as I go throughout my day, the same is true for thankfulness. The small thank-yous make a big difference. They shift my perspective to Him and remind me of His goodness.
One of my favorite bloggers, Ann Voskamp, challenges her readers to log 3 things they are thankful for every day. She calls it the “Joy Dare”. I challenge you to print this gratitude list out and make it a daily family tradition to recount the things you are thankful for. Jot it down, talk about it as a family, and see how God provides your family with more joy and goodness than you even knew you had! Go to the following website to download your the Joy Dare Calendar for free: https://www.aholyexperience.com/joy-dares/
So today don’t let the world, your circumstances, your ideal situation, comparison, or perfectionism steal the JOY that is set before you. Rest in your salvation. As we celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, take time to be intentional in vocalizing what you are thankful for. I think you will find that your list is a lot longer than you first expected. 🙂
Psst… This whole Thankfulness thing isn’t just a “feel-good”, emotional idea …. Research from those who do not call themselves Christ-followers support this habit as they have reported these results:
“…a new study suggests that helping teens learn to count their blessings can actually play an important role in positive mental health. As gratitude increases, so do life satisfaction, happiness, positive attitudes, hope and even academic performance…. [A]mong those kids who say they feel grateful for a variety of things in their lives, [the researchers] found an association with critical life skills such as cooperation, a sense of purpose, creativity and persistence.”
Those who keeping a gratitude list:
- Have a relative absence of stress and depression. (Woods et al., 2008)
- Make progress towards important personal goals (Emmons and McCullough, 2003)
- Report higher levels of determination and energy (Emmons and McCullough, 2003)
- Feel closer in their relationships and desire to build stronger relationships (Algoe and Haidt, 2009)
- Increase your happiness by 25% — (Who wouldn’t want a quarter more happiness!) (McCullough et al., 2002)
