Seeing God’s Goodness in Every Season
Learning to Shift your Heart from Ungratefulness to Gratitude
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise:
be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.” (Psalm 100:4)
Reflection
I used to be a glass-half-empty kind of gal. You know what I mean? I would see my world as half empty and lacking. One of my confidants is my mother. Whenever I called her, I would have a laundry list of everything going wrong in my life, spewing all my disappointments without perceiving any of the blessings.
In seasons of waiting, it can be difficult to see all the good things. When we were diagnosed with infertility, the negativity of that diagnosis seemed to spread to every area of my life. At the time, my husband and I both had jobs, had bought our first home, and drove newer and reliable cars, and yet my tainted perception painted the sky gray every day in sunny Colorado.
One day, my mother, who loves the Lord, decided it was time to share the truth with me. As I began the conversation, once again about how long God was going to make us wait for kids and all the other things going wrong, my mother politely interrupted.
“Ashley,” she said, “did you know some people are optimists? But when I speak with you, it’s evident you are a pessimist. There is more going right in your life right now than wrong.”
I was immediately offended. I defended my negativity and chalked it up to the disappointment I felt about trying to grow our family and the hopelessness that surrounded it.
The truth was, my mother loved me enough to remind me of all the great things happening in my life, even though we were walking through a challenging time, trying to hear God’s voice about how to grow our family.
When I finally decided to believe God and His Word, my lens came into focus, and a new joy began to spring up in my heart.
Health Benefits of Gratitude
Did you know that gratitude actually has health benefits? According to UCLA Health, by regularly focusing on and practicing gratitude, an individual can reduce stress and anxiety, support heart health, and improve sleep. When you sleep well, you’re able to set and accomplish goals based on adequate rest, which naturally lends itself to a positive attitude. “Gratitude seems to reduce depression symptoms—people with a grateful mindset report higher satisfaction with life, strong social relationships, and more self-esteem than those who don’t practice gratitude.” Isn’t it amazing that gratefulness can actually shift something biologically within us?
Shifting to Gratitude
So how do we shift to an attitude of gratitude? For me, it began with being super intentional. The Apostle Paul exhorted the Corinthian church:
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”
(2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV).
Our warfare in this life is spiritual, according to Paul, and the battlefield usually begins in our thoughts.
When we take thoughts captive (which literally means to lead away a captive in warfare) under the authority of Christ, we must then replace the negative, critical thoughts with the truth of who God is and what He has already done on our behalf.
When we do this, faith begins to grow.
“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17, NIV).
Our faith grows when we begin to speak out loud and meditate on Scripture.
When faith is stirred, your eyes open to all the Lord has done on your behalf, leading you to dwell on His faithfulness and respond with a heart of gratitude.
Family Practice in Gratitude
We have made an intentional tradition in our family, during the month of November, we practice something called the Gratitude Tree. In the past, we’ve made it on the wall with paper, foam on the tabletop, and this year I purchased a wooden tree for our kitchen table. Each evening at dinner, every person in our family fills out a leaf and writes something they are grateful for on it. Then we go around the table and share what we wrote. Additionally, we try to memorize a few Bible scriptures that focus on thankfulness that have been written on the leaves.
My children (ages 3, 6, and 12) love sharing each evening. I’ve also noticed that when we participate in this family activity, complaining and entitlement tend to shift toward gratitude and joy.
Additionally, over a long period of time, I have noticed through this intentionality to recognize God’s blessing and goodness in my life, I am less reactionary to situations and am able to take more things in stride, trusting God to take care of it by giving me wisdom or direction.
For the month of November, I want to challenge you to implement one of the following practices each day:
Ways to Practice Gratitude
Worship – It’s amazing how worship shifts the atmosphere of our homes and our hearts toward a more positive framework.
Gratitude Journal – You can purchase one or create your own by selecting scriptures that focus on thankfulness and writing a letter to God.
Gratitude Tree – Share your gratitude by adding a leaf to your family’s gratitude tree. (For a free downloadable leaf pattern for your family, click here.)
Prayer:
Father, thank You for the countless blessings You’ve placed in my life—many that I’ve overlooked. Help me to take every negative thought captive and replace it with Your truth. Teach me to see life through the lens of gratitude, no matter the season I’m in. Let my heart overflow with thanksgiving and my mouth with praise. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Resource:
https://bit.ly/4hrokak