A heart of Thankfulness
I never thought I would be in such need because emptiness and fear would ravage my soul.
I never knew how prayer and acceptance would ultimately change me forever.
This week heading into Thanksgiving 2017 I just wanted to share from my heart a little of my own path to being "thankful" and rejoicing in ALL things. It has been a journey, it has taken wrong turns and there have been many tears and questions along the way. I am in no place today to say I've conquered it either. So only take my advice as a process with much to gain and learn. I pray that just by your reading this that God may make himself more known to you in your empty and hard places.
"But in retrospect, I realize that suffering has been more of a gift than I imagined. It has deepened my faith and made God breathtakingly real. Through affliction, I have learned to cry out to God for help and comfort. I have become more prayerful and dependent on God’s Word. Adversity has truly done deep work in my life. Much deeper work than pleasures or success ever have." -Vaneetha Rendall Risner
Hear me out also, I realize that there is much work of the Holy spirit taking place here too. For as much as I have "chosen joy" there has been "the peace that passes understanding" overarching my heart and soul. That is for you to have too friends.
I have met hard and suffering. I have found that His purpose in it is perfect and His love for me is greater than my circumstances. I know that I can be thankful in those seasons and for those seasons. I have been cultivating thankfulness and gratitude as a way of life, not just a discipline. And I can attest this way of life is better, more fulfilling, more hopeful. I can also say that a life of choosing gratitude will not change your circumstance but will change the way you live the life you have been given. You will accept it and grow in it differently than before.
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Here are a few practical steps to start in your daily life. This is where I started. This is where I still go. There is nothing new or fascinating here. By God's grace He has shown me some ways to train my mind and heart to choose the path less traveled. Acceptance. Joy. Gratitude. There will be overflowing Joy in empty places dear friends. Start and see.
1. Pray. I know for some this is far fetched. Especially when you are questioning your circumstances. It is natural for us to be angry, and question. It is unnatural for us to stop in the mess, and ask God to meet us in our place. Start here.
2. Write a thankful journal. Thank you Ann Voscamp for this great example where she dares us to "live fully right where you are". Stopping in our chaos, mess, and our hard and beginning calling out, and writing out the ways we see God. Even the small things that we can be thankful for will be big things... Your heart will change.
3. Look for evidence of God's grace. I've asked for lightning bolts and received rain drops. Nonetheless, there he is. He answers my prayers and makes "a way when there seems to be now way." Expect to see it, and you will.
4. Spend time looking at what is promised to come. Some days are hard to get through. The waiting, the pain, the marathon of hardship. Taking even a few minutes a day to look to what is to come for us. "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33. Take time to see that what is coming is far better than this life we are living. Ask to truly know him and his promises of this HOPE.
5. See outside of yourself. This one is SO essential for me. I can get trapped in my circumstances. It can paralyze me. As soon as I take myself out of the scenario I see that God is using what He gave me for himself. That I am a vessel to greater purpose. Sometimes I just need "eyes to see". This is where acceptance for me starts and thankfulness comes. "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison," 2 Corinthians 4.
6. Give. Maybe because this is one of my love languages it personally helps me. "It is better to give than to receive" Acts 20:35. It took a lot for me when I needed help to accept it. But once I did I saw God working in others giving. For me finding a chance to give has helped change my heart to be thankful. It may be money, it may be time, it may be a hug, or even service. I do know that when we give we are modeling what he has done for us, for "every good and perfect gift is from above".
There is 6 days until Thanksgiving and I am re-centering myself and focusing on these things that I wrote a year ago this week in my journal. Will you journey with me in this. I am always here too, I know seems far fetched to just put this out there. But if you are where I was a few years ago, searching for purpose in your pain, then I would be more than willing to step into your mess with you. I'm in my own so you are in good company here.
"He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians
Let this be the beat of my heart:
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your saints shall bless you!
They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your power,
to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
[The Lord is faithful in all his words
and kind in all his works.]
The Lord upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord preserves all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
Psalm 145
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