gratitude Archives

Being Thankful

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful” (Colossians 3:15).

You probably still have a lot to do before you’re ready for Thanksgiving. Thank you for taking a moment out of your busy day to read and consider this short message. I am so grateful to share this life, our spiritual journey, with each of you.

Zig Ziglar was an inspirational Christian speaker who said, “Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”

As God’s children, I hope we will spend some time before and after the rush of this Thanksgiving holiday to pause and consider all that we can be grateful for in this life, and God’s promise of our lives eternal.

My wishes for the holiday are many. I hope our turkeys are moist and the pies don’t burn. I hope the salads stay cold and the vegetables stay hot. I hope the glasses don’t tip, and neither do the chairs! I hope your Thanksgiving table will be surrounded with joy, laughter, and the love of family and friends.

I pray Zig Ziglar’s wisdom will become our own today. I pray that our grateful hearts will be ready to offer the Lord’s best to those around us. Gratitude is the healthiest of emotions, and we should look for ways to share our gratitude with those around us.

So, before we get back to work, let’s take a minute to pray for this special holiday . . .

Lord God, we thank you for the blessings we can count and those yet unknown.

We surrender our plans to yours, and our thoughts and words to your Spirit.

Help us find favor with you and others today; then help us renew that goal for each tomorrow.

We praise and thank you, God, for Jesus and offer our prayers in his holy name.

Amen.

May the Lord bless your Thanksgiving with his perfect joy.

Truly privileged

The word privilege is used in our culture today for a variety of reasons but mostly to define benefits given to people of a certain race or income level. This isn’t a political or social blog so I will be using that word as it is used in the dictionary. That said, the use of the word in our current culture has served as a reminder that I am a truly privileged human being.

In Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, privilege is “a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor.”

The day I became a child of God, I received the highest honor and privilege I will ever have. It is a privilege offered equally, to everyone on this planet. It is the reason why every Christian should see themselves as a person who is truly privileged. We have been granted unique and eternal favor.

What are the privileges granted to Christians?

Christians can be found in countries around the world and come from every race of people and every socioeconomic standing. Christ came to bring God’s peace and unity to all believers. It is profoundly touching that in his last moments on earth Jesus chose to pray for all of us, asking his Father to help us find unity with God and with one another (John 17).

This world will never be completely fair, and every human being has a sin nature that causes division and false judgment. Every human being has “sinned and fallen short” of the glory that God would have designed for our lives. Knowing that truth doesn’t mean we should resign ourselves to being less than God wants us to be. The Holy Spirit is the character of Christ given to every believer. We can always seek to live according to the Spirit’s leadership. None of us will be perfect, but all of us can do better.

The apostle Paul put it this way:

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:12–17)

The high and holy privileges granted to Christians are the result of our adoption by God. He is our Father. We are “fellow heirs” with Jesus and blessed by the filling of God’s Holy Spirit. Everyone who has made Jesus their Lord and Savior can look in the mirror and see a truly privileged person reflected there.

Christians have been privileged with the promise of:

Eternal life (Revelation 22:14)
Eternal health (Philippians 3:20–21)
An eternal home (John 14:2)
A new and perfect life without pain, sadness, guilt, debt, sin, disease, and grief (Revelation 21)

I know that walking with God enhances our earthly lives, but our eternal promises don’t always apply to life this side of heaven. This life is temporary and subject to illness, disease, and sin. Jesus actually promised “tribulation” here on earth. The great privilege we can claim for each day is the hope that Jesus promised we will “overcome” this life and exchange it for the perfect life he described as heaven.

Why will God hold us accountable for the privileges he has given us?

I know that my life on earth is privileged as well. I had two parents who loved me, cared for me, and worked hard to provide for me. Neither of them came from opportunity, but they made sure that I would.

I’m also privileged to have attended churches that taught me God’s word and encouraged me to walk with God. I’m privileged to have had pastors, teachers, and friends who strengthened my faith journey and helped me know God at deeper levels.

I’m greatly privileged to have married the man God chose for me. No one who truly knows us would say we have had an easy life, but those same people could point to God’s abundant blessings. It is our great privilege to be in ministry and serve God as we serve others.

The great privilege of ministry also comes with great accountability. Jesus was teaching a parable on this subject when he said, “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’” (Matthew 25:21).

As Christians, we can know that there will be times when serving God and others will be truly exhausting. In fact, ministry is almost impossible to do apart from the filling of God’s strength and wisdom. The fact that it is difficult doesn’t mean we aren’t truly privileged to serve. Jesus is our high and holy example of what it means to live a sacrificial life of service. Our lives should always be lived with his example as our standard.

We will never outwork or outgive God. Whatever we are called by God’s Holy Spirit to accomplish in this life is God’s path of blessing for us, now and eternally.

We are called to share all that we have been privileged to receive

I know some people will read my words and think I don’t understand. Truthfully, I don’t understand because I haven’t walked in their shoes. Some truths in this life are only learned by living them.

We all have a story, and everyone’s story is unique. I was born into opportunities that I didn’t earn. I was taught to do my best to use the opportunities that I was given. I know that my life is a product of great privilege and I do not know who I would be had I been born into different circumstances. I also know that my greatest privileges are the result of my salvation in Christ.

I am deeply grateful for the opportunities that I have been given. I know I am accountable to God to use my opportunities in this life, to share the gospel message and the promise of heaven with everyone I can. To whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48).

If you are a Christian, you are truly privileged.

Whom will you share your privileges with this week?

Thank you, Lord

I want to begin this blog post by wishing all of you a blessed Thanksgiving.

I hope the day is filled with all your favorite things!

We have so much to be thankful for in our lives because of the Lord’s great love for us.

Before the “busy”

For most of us, this blog post will arrive amidst the “busy.” It’s good to pause for the sake of our sanity and the sake of our souls to focus on the reason we should be most grateful.

The holidays can change from one year, or one season of life, to the next. The one, unchanging joy in our lives is the Lord. Jesus is the same “yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). The “Janet Denison version” of the verse is: “Jesus is the only thing that stays the same from yesterday, to today, and forever.”

Change will always be a part of our earthly lives. I can only imagine what heaven will be like, but I do know that every change, or every constant, will be perfect and eternal.

Thank you, Lord, for your consistent, faithful love that provides our foundation of peace amidst the daily changes of this life. “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”

We thank you, Lord, for the truth of Deuteronomy 32:4.

For the busy

Sometimes your table is surrounded by the peace and comfort of family gathered there. Sometimes your table is surrounded by the noise, chaos, and potential controversy that our family or others have created for the day.

Sometimes Thanksgiving is a “movie moment,” but most of the time it is just real life. A glass gets spilled, a child gets unruly, something gets forgotten and burns in the oven. Your team might lose, your turkey might need extra gravy on the side, and your pumpkin pie might have a burnt crust with a runny middle. A grandchild might hate your green beans and want some ketchup for their turkey. I could go on . . . but you get the picture.

If your “Norman Rockwell” Thanksgiving gets sidelined in some way, remember these words from Jeremiah 15:16. The prophet said, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lᴏʀᴅ, God of hosts.”

Whatever happens around your table, and whatever else you eat, you can be ready to speak a word from God if you have found his word and eaten that first! The joy and delight of the day don’t depend on a perfect meal, a winning score, or a crowd of people who always agree. The joy and delight of your heart will be that you surrendered the day to the Lord, with the goal of pleasing him.

Thank you, Lord, for calling us by your name. We ask you to be the “Host” of our Thanksgiving tables.

For the moments after the busy

After the leftovers are stored away, the dishes are put away, and your feet are comfortably “put up” in slippers, take time to hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23).

Thanksgiving is a success if we have served God by serving others. Thanksgiving is a success if we have shared the love of God with others. Thanksgiving is a success if we have honored God and others.

For the quiet after the busy, “Give thanks to the Lᴏʀᴅ, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1). Every holiday on earth changes with the times. Every Thanksgiving is different in some ways than the years before. But every thanksgiving should include and honor the unchanging perfection of the Lord.

We thank you, Lord, because your “steadfast love endures forever.” We are forever grateful and forever blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving.
May your celebration be filled with the joy of the Lord.
May we “give thanks” to, and for, the Rock of our salvation.

A month for grateful prayers

Thank you all for ordering this year’s Advent book. I wrote it almost a year ago and it is so fun to see it in print! We need to sell Advent books early to get them all shipped. Even though it seems our entire culture is rushing into the Christmas season, let’s not miss the JOY of November.

November has always been one of my favorite months. This month is usually a bit slower-paced because everyone is planning for December. I will celebrate a significant birthday this month, and it seems AARP, Medicare, and several more are hunting me down! But every birthday is a reminder that I have so much to be grateful for and so much to look forward to. I view my lifetime as a road trip of birthdays that will thankfully and joyfully end at the gates of heaven.

November is also the month we celebrate my favorite holiday. I love everything about Thanksgiving. It is about all my favorite things: family, food, football, and faithful praise. I don’t want us to miss Thanksgiving just because Christmas is already front and center in the stores and in the multitude of ads and emails we all receive.

How can we be careful to enjoy and celebrate November before December arrives?

A month to offer God praise

Start by listing ten things that happened in 2023 that you were grateful for, and do it in the next two minutes. Go!

(No, really . . . list them now!) Everything else can wait.

How did it go? Was it easy, a bit tough, or maybe you wish I’d asked for seven or eight?

It’s often easier to be grateful in the moment, but if we allow those memories to fade we can lose our sense of the abundant blessings in our lives.

My list

I was able to quickly list the first two on my list, but the others came after a few moments of reflection. I praise God that:

My grandson’s treatments for leukemia were a great success and he is doing well.
Our move to Tyler was exhausting, but we are settled into a home that we love, and we are excited for our first holiday season in our new home.
Our ministry continues to receive amazing notes and words of encouragement that keep us motivated and excited to keep walking with God and following his lead.
We enjoyed the blessing of seeing our Tyler-area grandkids play sports, swim in the pool, and just live their happy lives.
Jim and I both experienced COVID this year, and it was NOT a big deal.
Jim and I are older, with a few more aches and pains, but we are healthy and happy.
My mom made the move with us and is now settled into a wonderful place that serves her with God’s love and God’s priorities.
Life is expensive but usually well worth the price!
We have moved to a new city, made new friends, and yet still love our other friends too.
We continue to hear from friends in Israel who are doing fine in terrible circumstances.

Those were the big things that came to mind, but there are SO MANY seemingly small moments of life that God worked to create the circumstances listed above. I am thinking of the phrase “God is good all the time. All the time, God is good.” That has been true even when our circumstances weren’t that good!

When I struggle to praise God

We all have so much for which we can offer God praise. We also have a list of things we wish God would change or fix.

Somewhere in everyone’s life a loved one isn’t walking with God. Somewhere in everyone’s life a loved one isn’t doing well, isn’t happy, isn’t safe, or isn’t content. God is good all the time, but we aren’t. We aren’t good all the time because we aren’t always good, always perfect, always godly. Only God can be good all the time.

Some years our list of blessings is easier to write. Other years need more than two minutes.

Every November can be a month of praise

I was writing the entries for Wisdom Matters for the month of November. I had completed about one-third of the entries when I highlighted each one and hit “delete.” (THAT, by the way, is a PAINFUL thing for any writer to do!) I was getting November all wrong. I just wish God had brought that up a bit sooner. Or, maybe I just wasn’t listening to his leadership in the beginning.

I had been struggling to write before I hit delete. After I hit the delete key, the ideas flowed. I hope you will get the app and listen, even if just to November. God led me to rewrite so that I could talk about the blessings of offering our praise to God.

Why is praising God essential for our souls?

I can answer that question in just two verses. Psalm 95:1–2 says, “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”

Why can God’s children praise him this month? Why can we praise him regardless of our circumstances? Why should we praise him every day?

God the Father, Son, and Spirit invites us to “come.”
God tells us to sing to him because he is always, always listening.
God tells us to bring our “noise” to him with joy.
God reminds us that he is a rock upon which we can stand and be saved.
God tells us that our praise of thanksgiving ushers us into his presence.
God welcomes our noisy prayers and songs of praise.
God wants to be near you, hear you, encourage you, and enjoy you each day.

November is a month for praise

Let’s commit these next weeks to the praise of God. Let’s “taste and see that the Lᴏʀᴅ is good” (Psalm 34:8). Let’s enter God’s presence each day with words of praise and words of thanksgiving.

God doesn’t need our praise. God wants us to praise him for our sakes, not his. When we praise God, we enter his presence, approach his throne, and stand on the rock of our salvation. It is from that rock that our healing and hope will come.

It’s only two weeks until Thanksgiving. When the table is set and the meal is prepared, may all of us know and say, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3).

November is a perfect month to praise the greatness of God. May our praises be a fragrant offering lifted to our God. May our praises fill us with his joy.

Science confirms spiritual truth about anxiety

When it comes to controlling anxiety, science supports what the Bible has consistently taught each generation, throughout history. My friend and coworker alerted me to a truth about our brains that I knew I wanted to blog about.

After reading several articles on the subject, I can honestly join the psalmist’s gratitude for God saying, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (Psalm 139:14).

I hope you will join me in that praise as you read this blog post!

Scientific evidence about our “fearful and wonderful” brains

There has been a lot of discussion and research about the increased anxiety that our culture, and especially our young people, are feeling right now. A 2022 Pew Research article states, “Experiences of high psychological distress are especially widespread among young adults. A 58% majority of those ages 18 to 29 have experienced high levels of psychological distress at least once across four Center surveys conducted between March 2020 and September 2022.”

All of us experienced stress during the 2020 Covid crisis, but for many people, and especially young people, it can be difficult to move forward without worrying about future concerns. Interestingly, brain science continues to support the truth of Scripture as more is discovered about the unique ways we have been created by our God.

A recent Mayo Clinic article reported, “Expressing gratitude is associated with a host of mental and physical benefits. Studies have shown that feeling thankful can improve sleep, mood, and immunity. Gratitude can decrease depression, anxiety, difficulties with chronic pain and risk of disease.”

The Mayo Clinic article explains that the best way to control anxiety is to make use of the opposite side of our brain. While anxious thoughts occur in one half of our brain, thoughts of gratitude occur in the other.

The article went on to say, “Remember that behavior changes biology. Positive gestures benefit you by releasing oxytocin, a hormone that helps connect people. Some people call it the love hormone.”

Is it any wonder that Jesus said the most important commandment was to love God and the second was like it? We are also called to “love one another.” God’s word has always taught us how to live our best lives, with both health and happiness.

It’s important to consider God’s word as scientifically accurate as well as spiritually sound. When we suffer anxiety, we need to quickly move those thoughts to the other side of our brain. Scripture teaches us how to do that.

Our God-given cure for anxiety

The apostle Paul provided us with God’s cure for anxiety in his letter to the Thessalonians. Consider the science of the Mayo Clinic article in light of the inspired wisdom Paul wrote: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–22).

God created our brains to function as they do and then gave us the wisdom of Scripture to help us know how to use our brains in the best possible way. Paul knew that the path to physical and spiritual health involved both gratitude and love. Remember that gratitude and anxiety occur on different sides of the brain.

So, when we are anxious, it is God’s will that we:

Rejoice always.

The first thing to remember when our brains are consumed with worry or anxiety is that we are never without joy as well. Christians need never live a day of our lives without hope and a sense that our future is guaranteed. God must grieve those times we have allowed worry to control our thoughts rather than our faith. God created our brains to have a path from our worries. It is the road of rejoicing.
Pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances.

Even the worst moments of our lives can draw us closer to the reality of God’s power and presence. It is God’s will that we learn to trust his perfection and lean on his love, even in those anxious times. Have you expressed gratitude to God for his loving care during those difficult days of COVID? We should consider all we learned during those pandemic days and be grateful for the ways the Lord has been working all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). Our normal routines stopped for a few months and gave us time to think about our priorities. Did we lose some of that perspective as our schedules restarted?
Do not “quench the Spirit.”

One great thing about anxiety is that it can often send us straight to God in prayer. We can always know that the Holy Spirit stands ready to speak, teach, comfort, and guide. He already has the answers we need; we just need to not quench his voice by focusing on all the world’s ideas instead.
Hold on to God’s word by testing all other ideas against its truth.

The prophecies of Scripture were written to a specific generation, but the truth of those prophecies is for every generation. We need to “hold fast” to the wisdom of Scripture because it is “good.” At the same time, we should avoid anything that contradicts God’s wisdom. God’s Spirit will guide, but the Evil One will also make suggestions in an effort to distract us from God’s truth.

We are commanded to overcome

God’s words to Isaiah remain his command today. He told the prophet, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:9–10).

The apostle Paul told the Philippians, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7).

God didn’t encourage us not to worry but rather issued those words as his command. He loves us and wants us to understand how he has wired our brains to function. When we worry, it is bad for our health and our relationships. We shouldn’t choose to live with our worries rather than God’s solutions for our worries. When we follow the commands of Scripture, we are taking the road that points us away from our stress and toward our hope.

But God also created us with free will, the ability to choose. Are we choosing the path God has designed, the path that will move us away from our worries?

We have a choice to make

Victor Carrion is an MD and a professor of childhood psychology at Stanford University. He was writing on the subject of anxiety when he made this point: “Thinking positively is not something that happens automatically. In fact, automatically we think negatively. That, evolutionarily, is what produced results. Negative thoughts are automatic thoughts, and positive thoughts need to be practiced and learned.”

In so many ways we have been raised to worry, and experience has taught us to think negative thoughts. Most of our parents were careful to warn us of the dangers in this world. We can be grateful that our heavenly Father taught us how to overcome the worries of this world. But Carrion’s words above point to the truth of Scripture. The path away from our anxieties is a path we must choose each day. It won’t be our natural instinct; it is a Spirit-directed choice.

Before you close this article:

Take a moment to pray and seek God with the gratitude he deserves.
Then, consider those things you are anxious about.
Then, choose to praise God for all you have, all you have learned, and all you can faithfully hope for in the future.

That will enable your thoughts to move away from your worries and toward God.

Aren’t you grateful that God wired your brain with the road of praise and provision?

We truly are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

His works are wonderful, and our souls can know that well.

Thanksgiving Prayers

One of the most important things to prepare for Thanksgiving is our hearts. I wanted to share a few prayers with you for your holiday. Thursday will be about food, family, and football. Let’s make today about our faith. As we prepare for the celebration, we can prepare our hearts for the day as well.

Pray to make a difference

John F. Kennedy said, “We must find the time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” Chances are, several of those people will be at your Thanksgiving table or central to the holiday weeks ahead. Pray for the opportunity to tell them how they made a difference in your life.

We can also pray to be a person who makes a difference in the lives of those around us.

Lord Jesus,
As we gather around our tables, may you give us your eyes to see everyone as you do.
Show us who belongs to you, and who needs to.
Show us who has joy and who is still searching.
Reveal those who need to know they are greatly loved by their heavenly Father.
Then, Lord, fill our words and our ways with the power of your Holy Spirit so that
people can’t help but notice you have a place at the table too.
Come to our table, Lord.
With grateful hearts, we pray. Amen.

Pray for the conversations to be uplifting

Most families have variety. Some of our votes cancel some votes of others. Some opinions are shared as fact. Some facts are shared as opinions. Some are hopeful about the future and others are not. Thanksgiving can be a day of diversity or a day to celebrate all we have in common. The Thanksgiving table is a place to find some common ground.

Nora Ephron was a famous author of many popular feel-good movie scripts. She said, “The turkey. The sweet potatoes. The stuffing. The pumpkin pie. Is there anything else we all can agree so vehemently about? I don’t think so.”

We can pray that when everyone heads home they are thinking, “That’s the happiest Thanksgiving I have ever celebrated.”

Lord Jesus,
You are King of kings and Lord of lords.
It is You we want to impress with our words.
Help us to remember the variety of people around your table, in the Upper Room.
We know you loved and then died for all of them.
May the conversations we have be pleasing to you.
May our voices bring your wise counsel to the room.
May all of us enjoy and embrace those who are different because you did.
You knelt in the garden and prayed we would be unified.
Lord, may we be an answer to your prayer as we gather together.
May we enjoy our table and eat in remembrance of yours.
With hopeful hearts we pray.
Amen.

Pray for the day to be about gratitude

Something might be overcooked and something else undercooked. Someone may get sick and someone may talk too much about their aches and pains. Our team may win and our team might lose. And one child may shove another or say something that produces anger or tears in their cousin.

Every moment is a chance to respond with gratitude. Last year we were all worried Thanksgiving would cause the virus to spread. It did. Last year the stands at the games were empty and the parades were canceled. Last year the cousins probably didn’t fight because they were probably not able to play together.

This year, every moment is a chance to be grateful.

Bruce Wilkinson wrote, “A moment of gratitude makes a difference in your attitude.”

Let’s pray we will embrace any and all of the moments of this holiday with cheer-filled joy. It’s Thanksgiving, and this year we have a lot of reasons to be thankful.

Dear Lord,
Your word says, “Give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
We do thank you, Lord.
For health and for happiness.
For blessings of family and friends.
For the perspective from your word that says
we can be grateful . . . in every circumstance.
That’s what you want for our Thanksgiving celebration.
In gratitude, for you, we pray. Amen.

May your holiday be filled with overwhelming gratitude for his great goodness.

I wish you a blessed Thanksgiving!

If you had to list one hundred . . .

If you couldn’t take your seat at the Thanksgiving table until . . .

If you couldn’t turn on the television set and watch the game until . . .

If you had to wash ALL the dishes unless . . .

What?

If our Thanksgiving holiday couldn’t take place until we created a list of one hundred reasons we are thankful, I imagine all of us would come up with one hundred reasons. The same would be true if the list required a thousand.

We would rack our brains, ask for help, and make the list a high priority if it were the only way to sit at the table, enjoy our families, and maybe get out of the cleanup later.

My list

I decided I needed to create a list of my own before I presented the idea to you, my readers. I began to mentally count off all of the things I was most grateful for. The first fifty came quickly and easily. Then I started to bog down just a bit.

I began to make the larger categories like “family” into something specific about each person. I am grateful for my faith, but I began to break down that thought into specific categories like grace, forgiveness, salvation, calling, comfort, and more. I was grateful for my health and then was able to get more specific with that.

In the end, the last fifty began to take me from completing a challenge to a truly personal sense of gratitude for the things God has blessed and filled my life with. I could have continued past the one hundred mark, except I needed to type this blog post instead!

Give it a try

I wish I had a way of convincing all of you to take the same journey of gratitude. I would love to hear how far you got before you had to dig a bit deeper.

It’s actually shocking how many things we should be grateful for that we probably just take for granted.

I’m not really grateful for my dishwasher unless I stop to think about the days we didn’t own one. I’m not thankful for my refrigerator unless I consider what life would be like if it were broken, or worse, not yet invented.

I’m grateful that I can write this blog post on a computer instead of an old-fashioned typewriter. Did you ever use Wite-Out^® to cover your typo? Now, I can delete whole sentences, even paragraphs, with ease.

Are you grateful for your car? Your can opener? Your microwave? Your heater?

Last winter, when our power went out for days, it got down to forty-eight degrees in our house. I was grateful for my gas logs, my battery-powered lantern, and the stack of soft blankets that kept us warm.

Honestly, if you take a mental journey through your home, you will easily reach the one hundred mark on your list.

**Why don’t we walk through life feeling greatly blessed?**

I hope my list of one hundred will continue to grow and my “attitude of gratitude” as well. It is a joyful thing to remember all that we have been given in our lives.

The psalmist wrote, “Oh give thanks to the Lᴏʀᴅ, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 107:1). God’s presence in my life was high on my list. My “deeper dive” is the realization that I will have his presence, his power, and his unending love in my life forever.

James told the early Christians, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). I’ve taught the book of James several times and don’t remember noticing the first few words of this verse. We have so many gifts to be thankful for. Some of the gifts are good, but there are other gifts in our lives that are perfect.

If you had to create a list of one hundred perfect gifts, what would you say?

Only God can give perfect gifts because only God is perfect. (It kind of takes some pressure off the gift list for our Christmas holiday, doesn’t it?)

Christians are greatly blessed because we are greatly loved—now and eternally. Doesn’t that give light to your thoughts and a different perspective on your day?

The deepest gratitude

What I found interesting as I reexamined my list was that it didn’t include any of the difficulties I have faced. Did yours?

If I am honest, the tough times of my life have taught me the most about God. Not all blessings feel like blessings.

Paul told the church in Thessalonica, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

If you had to make a list of one hundred things you learned because of the dark, difficult times, what would be on that list?

I couldn’t help but think of Daniel when he knew the document had been signed that meant his daily prayers might cost him his life (Daniel 6). Scripture says, “He went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously” (Daniel 6:10).

Expecting to die, Daniel got on his knees and “gave thanks before his God.” But, as terrifying as it would have been, what did Daniel learn about God because of the lion’s den?

Gratitude for God transcends the circumstances of this life when we learn to be grateful to God for allowing any circumstance to draw us closer to him.

That’s why Paul said, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). It is God’s will that we know we are always loved.

I hope that knowledge will be number one on all of our lists.

Christians have a LOT to be grateful for. Let’s be like Daniel and “give thanks” for all our blessings: the good, the perfect, and even the painful.

If God is drawing us near to him, we can be grateful.

Amen?

What happened to Thanksgiving this year?

A note from Janet: Before I blog, a quick suggestion.

I wrote this year’s Advent book last spring, not knowing what Christmas 2020 was going to look like; but God did. The first entry begins December 1.

If you want a copy of Our Christmas Stories, you can get it here: https://www.denisonforum.org/product/our-christmas-stories/.

I think these stories, and God’s story, will be a daily blessing throughout your holiday season.

Jesus is, and always has been, the joy of Christmas.

Jim and I decorated our home for Christmas before Thanksgiving!

I’m typing this blog post in front of my tree with my QVC Christmas candle burning brightly.

I’m not skipping Thanksgiving this year, but I am going to celebrate it with 2020 style!

A NEWLY-WILLED HOLIDAY

Jim and I made an early decision to respect this virus. It has been tough to draw the lines and live with them. But, we have made it this far and want to “finish strong.”

My first thought was not to worry about decorating our home for the holiday this year. After all, it is going to be just us. Then, we decided to go all in with the decorating and I’m glad.

It’s been so many years since it was just us I’d forgotten how to celebrate us.

Jim and I celebrated forty years of marriage last June, with a steak dinner we brought to the house in Styrofoam containers. Can I get a woo-hoo?

Not so much.

It seemed like Thanksgiving and Christmas were going to feel a lot like that milestone anniversary. So, we changed our plans. Actually, we changed our perspective.

We are going to celebrate a newly-willed holiday season.

This year, we will have turkey with all the fixings, candles, china, and quiet conversation with each other.

Of course, we will schedule that around the Cowboys game. Quite frankly, we both love football, and it is part of our Thanksgiving celebration. Well, at least it is part of our Thanksgiving Day. I’m not sure if we will be celebrating the score.

It has been a tough year for our Dallas Cowboys!

But, I digress . . .

TRULY THANKFUL

Jim and I aren’t newlyweds anymore, but we have newly-willed ourselves to enjoy this unique year. Interestingly, it is actually pretty great!

Forty years later, I still love and enjoy the man I married and look forward to spending the holiday with him. I can honestly say I am truly thankful to celebrate this Thanksgiving holiday safely. We have a lot of reasons to be thankful this year, and we need to make sure others can feel the same way.

I’m thankful for the doctors and nurses who will give up their family holiday in order to care for someone else’s family member.
I’m thankful for those in our country who serve so I can celebrate.
I’m thankful for the scientists who worked around the clock to develop a vaccine that would end the crisis.
I’m thankful to have what I have, even if it isn’t all I would want.

I am truly thankful for so many things this year. There are moments and memories I am going to miss. But, I’m not going to allow those thoughts to remove the gratitude I feel for all the moments I have enjoyed and all I will have in the years to come.

A POLLYANNA PERSPECTIVE

I wanted to write this blog post even though I knew it would make some people upset. Who am I to say what a family should or shouldn’t do this holiday season? Well . . .

I’m someone who prays for friends who are in the medical profession. They wish I would tell my readers to have a uniquely safe Thanksgiving.
I’m someone who is praying for people who have COVID and it is worse than they thought it would be.
I know people who had COVID and it was no big deal. I also know people who were on a ventilator and their lungs will never be the same. Some are simply thankful to be alive this Thanksgiving season.

I’ve taken a Pollyanna perspective to my COVID holiday because it is the perspective that brings me joy. I can’t write about “loving our neighbors” unless I choose to love my neighbors. I can’t teach about commitment unless I keep my commitment. I can’t stress family values unless I value every member of my family.

I’ve wondered who I am keeping safe by keeping my holiday newly-willed. I’ve wondered if someone might change their plans and be kept safe because of this blog post. I may never meet those people this side of heaven, but I’m glad they are safe on this side of heaven.

I know some will read this and roll their eyes. Some will smile and consider me overly careful. But, I’ve been called “Pollyanna” before. I actually believe a positive outlook is a source of joy.

I decided to share my Pollyanna perspective because I pray before I write. My goal in writing a blog post is to try to share what God places on my heart and mind. Please know I did that with today’s post.

Doing without our loved ones this holiday season might mean that someone else doesn’t have to do without theirs forever. It’s my job and my calling to remind all of us that Jesus wants us to love one another as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39).

You may never know who you are keeping safe—but God knows their names and loves them.

Consider making a personal sacrifice and make that choice with newly-willed joy for this 2020 holiday season.

If you aren’t sure what to do, pray. God will give his answer to your willing heart.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THANKSGIVING?

Thanksgiving is still a day for giving thanks. Whatever you do, pray and be thankful for God’s leadership.

God wants you to have his joy and his blessings this Thanksgiving. You might be surprised to discover that it was COVID restrictions the Lord used to provide those very blessings.

This Pollyanna blog writer wishes you and your family a blessed, safe, and wonderful Thanksgiving—whatever God calls it to be like for you.

I close with this message from the Apostle Paul:

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” —Colossians 3:17

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. Have you signed up for my bible study, Foundations of Faith, yet?

It’s not too late, we just released another lesson!

Visit https://www.janetdenisonbiblestudy.com/ to sign up for this study, if you’ve already signed up you can login and access the newest video too.

Grat – i – tude

I was almost finished with a blog post when I decided to take a break and check my email.

I was surprised to see holiday ads this early. After looking over that day’s selection of stuff I don’t need, I came back to my blog post. I reread it and realized it would never be sent.

Words can’t express what it takes to highlight two pages of work and hit delete. But, while I was looking at the ads, I had several new thoughts.

That’s how God often inspires. His thoughts come at random times, in different ways, but with focused intent. (I just wish I’d checked my emails before I’d written two pages.)

I looked at the holiday ads and realized Thanksgiving was coming, but, this year, I wasn’t feeling very thankful.

That thought led to these.

I’m not thankful, Lord, but I should be

I looked at the holiday ads and thought, “I’m not feeling thankful, Lord, but I know I should be.”

What do you do when you realize that something in your life is spiritually misaligned?

Those thoughts caused me to spend some time with the Lord, which led to my decision to start over on this blog post.

What thoughts, feelings, and events are causing you to lack gratitude right now?

Let’s face it: that isn’t a difficult list to write this year.

But I saw a pot holder in an ad with the verse, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

I didn’t need the pot holder, but I needed the reminder.

God wanted me to be thankful, and I really didn’t feel that way. How like God to use an ad to help me remember what he wants for my life and, hopefully, write a better blog post!

Tea-towel wisdom

I like to shop for holiday dish towels. The messages make me smile. My kitchen counter currently sports a set that says “It’s Fall Y’all.”

If we have to dry dishes, we might as well smile about it.

There were a bunch of tea towels in the ads that simply carried one word: Blessed. 2020 hasn’t felt like a year of blessings, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t blessed.

The way to “give thanks in all circumstances” is to stop and realize that no matter what might seem bad, there is always something to be thankful for. God will always bless what he is able to bless.

Christians can give thanks in all circumstances because we have been given the blessing of eternal life. Our promise is a blessing today; heaven will be our promised blessing one day.

Another towel said “Gather here with grateful hearts.”

We all have needs right now that we bring to God. We pray for health, safety, healing, and peace for ourselves and others. This year, I find myself missing the chance to easily gather. I miss walking into a room and simply enjoying the company of others. But it is always safe to gather with the angels in the presence of God.

We can approach God’s presence anytime, with gratitude. “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” (Psalm 100:4). David’s verse of praise described the process of entering the gates of the Jerusalem temple and moving through the courts in order to draw near to the place that was called the Holy of Holies. The place that held the Ark of the Covenant, God’s Presence on earth.

The tea towel simply said “Gather.” God said, “Gather here, with me, anytime.” We should.

There was a personalized tea towel in the ad that said “Thankful for all my little turkeys.” My husband and I have two sons, two daughters-in-law, and four grandkids. Is there anything in this world better than family?

We FaceTimed with two of our grandkids, and they sang the first verse of “Amazing Grace” to us. We have a LOT to be thankful for in our lives.

And aren’t we thankful to know that our names have been embroidered on God’s list of “little turkeys?” (That’s not a bad description of us these days!) God made certain we could live our days on earth knowing we are his family.

That promise is something to feel thankful for every day.

A sign for the times

The website also sold a wooden sign that read “Gratitude turns what we have into enough.”

I came kind of close to making that purchase! This season of politics, COVID–19, and contention can take a toll on our soul. It can feel like this life just isn’t good enough. But Scripture tells us, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

I saw a beautiful sunrise this morning, and the harvest moon makes it seem like a light is left on during the night. God made this day and he will make tomorrow. Let’s rejoice and be glad in our knowledge that we have enough.

In fact, most of us have enough to share.

Gratitude

There was an ad for a journal titled “Grat-i-tude.” The cover carried this definition: “The quality of being thankful. Readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.”

Gratitude is a key ingredient of joy. A lot of people lack joy right now.

We can be consumed with what we don’t have instead of what we own.
We might think too often about what isn’t good instead of all that is.
We might ask God for what we want instead of spending our time with him, grateful for his abundant blessings.

Maybe the most important cure we are waiting for is a vaccine labeled “gratitude.”

Let’s be ready to show our appreciation for all that God has done. Let’s be ready to return his kindness to others. The real cure our nation needs is to wake up and realize all we should be grateful for.

It was a cure for this blogger.

I didn’t buy a thing I saw advertised, but I still received a LOT.

I’m looking out my window at the day the Lord has made.

I am glad for it.

Thank you, Lord, for speaking, even when we don’t plan to listen. We are grateful for all we have and all we can hope for. Mostly, Lord, we are grateful for you.

P.S. Have you signed up for my bible study, Foundations of Faith, yet? It’s not too late, we just released lesson 4!

Visit https://www.janetdenisonbiblestudy.com/ to sign up for this study, if you’ve already signed up you can login and access the newest video too.

The Big Picture

A NOTE FROM JANET: Before I begin this post, I want to thank each of you who donated through this website to help me provide the Jesus: Got Questions? gospel to children.

Your gifts will enable the Pocket Testament League to give more than fifteen thousand copies to children, free of charge. You have blessed a lot of kids you will never know this side of heaven but will one day know in heaven.

I’m grateful for your compassionate help with this important, life-changing project. The gospels will be sent out shortly to all who have ordered. Pray that the Lord will bless our efforts and use those gospels to help children understand and receive salvation in Christ.

You helped make this Easter special for a lot of kids. We will keep the donation button on the janetdenison.org website dedicated to this project through the rest of this week.

And, again, thank you for wanting to help.

Is it odd to say I enjoyed two funerals?

This past week, I attended two funerals.

It seems strange to say this, but I enjoyed both of those services. Heaven gained two godly women last week. They each left a legacy of faith, love, and grace to their family and friends. I left both services saddened by the losses their families will feel and reminded of the potential every life can make in our world. I start this week encouraged to live with the priorities those women shared.

Those two women were incredibly popular with the people they knew. Proverbs 31 is about a godly woman, and Proverbs 31 passages were quoted by their grandkids during both services. I hope my grandkids will feel that way about me one day. And I wish I had counted the number of times words like grace, love, integrity, and godliness were used for each of them. Funerals are good reminders of how we want to be remembered.

Both of these women would probably roll their eyes and be uncomfortable with the words people said at their funerals. Let’s face it: memorials don’t usually talk about our bad days and character flaws. We all have some. But, when our earthly lives are over, people will probably remember our strengths more than our weaknesses.

Thankfully, that’s what people usually want to remember.

We live our legacy

I hope you all saw the movie Unplanned this past weekend.

You probably won’t hear this on the news, but the film made more than $7 million on its opening weekend. A lot of people saw this film and I’m glad. It will be almost impossible for people to view abortion in the same way.

Abby Johnson changed Planned Parenthood forever. This movie will probably impact more lives than she will ever know this side of heaven. Abby Johnson had no idea that God would use her life like he did. She just knew the right thing to do—and did it.

Her funeral sermon will include the story the movie portrays. Interestingly, Abby Johnson would wish it wouldn’t.

Is our legacy about fame or favor?

All of us have “movies” made about our lives.

Yours will probably not be measured by box office sales, but it will be measured. Remember to evaluate your success and significance like God does.

He redeemed Abby Johnson’s choices for a greater good, but she would be the first to admit she would rather have made different choices from the beginning. She would trade her moments of fame for a legacy of favor. She shared her story of redemption with the world, but she would rather have chosen a different story.

The key is in the before and after

All of us would like to think we are going to leave a godly legacy, but we tend to evaluate that legacy like the world does. We tend to measure our moments, but God measures our lives. It’s probably a better goal to want a good funeral sermon than a hit movie.

I imagine you have quoted Proverbs 3:5–6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” But do you know what comes before and after those favorite verses? It’s interesting!

Proverbs 3:3–4 says, “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.”

I think sometimes we shoot for the “straight path” but aim for it only in the moment. God’s word teaches us to be “steadfast” in our love and faithfulness. We are to wear those qualities on the inside and the outside and then we find favor with God and man.

Maybe we are aiming too low. We tend to strive for faithful moments, but God has told us to lead a faithful life.

The key to a faithful life is found in Proverbs 3:7: “Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”

How do we learn to trust God? To not lean on our own understanding? To submit to God and walk straight paths?

We need to realize that there is a higher wisdom than our own. We need to adore and revere our Holy God. And, when we see evil, we can choose to get rid of it rather than tolerate or just complain about it.

Proverbs 3:5–6 can’t be fully understood or obeyed without those verses that come before and after.

Our legacy is about the big picture

Your legacy will be a summary of all your days.

So, I suggest one simple change in our thinking. Instead of thinking about, praying about, and evaluating our “moments,” maybe we should look at the larger picture more often.

Let’s not put so much energy and focus into writing an interesting screenplay. Instead, think about writing your funeral sermon.

That’s the big picture that matters most.