Skip to main content

Gratitude Brings Joy | Finding Joy

Thankful for Sergeant.
The holiday season is always used to connect with family, have fun with friends, reflect on past times and look forward to future times. Focusing on the things we are grateful for is second nature and usually part of the THANKSgiving tradition. Maybe you posted something daily on Facebook, posted a picture a day on Instagram or went around the table during a meal and expressed the things you most enjoy in life. If you participated in something like this, did it make you realize how blessed you are? Did it lift your mood and brighten your day?
Thankful for him.

Reflecting on our daily blessings has a unique way of changing our mood and maybe even the atmosphere. Being thankful brings about a perspective that allows us to gaze in the right direction. Focusing on the good in our lives helps make us feel like the bad isn't so terrible.

Thankful for my
church family.
I want to encourage you to continue the routine of reflecting on your blessings throughout the year. Don't stop with one week or one season; let your thankfulness continue. God has done so much in our lives and we have a lot to be grateful for. His blessings, promises and whispers of love are far greater than any other negative aspect of life. His whispers of truth and love drown out the loud, chaotic noise of negativity.

Thankful for Flash.
If you're having trouble thinking of the blessings, please take a moment to ask God for a reminder. Ask Him to show you a slideshow of blessings and to speak love and hope over you. List out the blessings and see how your list grows with each blessing you name. Do this every day, or just on bad days, and be transformed by His love.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Be an Idiot for God

You know that kind of dirt that is just old and crusty and doesn't yield much growth? It takes patience, rain, plowing, love and care to change the chemistry of that soil. After it has been healed, the soil is moist, dark brown and smells like earth. But it didn't get to that point without a little work. Think of yourself as the old dirt. God wants to plow up the old crusty part of your life that isn't fruitful anymore and replace it with new, moist, healthy soil to plant good seed. God wants to take you higher than you've ever been before but you have to want it. The process may be painful but the fruit will be delicious. I want to encourage you to come into the newness of the spirit but you'll need the strength of God to get your through, not your own strength. Last week, my husband and I had to take his truck in because it was like riding Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. For whatever reason, the tires we received a couple months ago shredded and needed to be replaced...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reforming Undesirable Behavior

You know that thing you do that you don't wanna do but you keep doing it because you can't stop doing it? These behaviors might include: lying, cheating, raging, gossiping, pornography, drinking, drugs, eating, throwing up, etc. Reforming these behaviors on your own can prove to be a little tricky. I'd say reforming undesirable behavior might even be impossible on your own. But there is still hope for us. With the love of God, the power of the Holy Spirit and a renewed mind, you can reform your behavior. Youth conference with lots of God encounters! An encounter with God is the easiest way to reform undesirable behavior because the encounter will fill you with the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord renews our minds in a way that informs our bodies of what's beneficial to our spiritual health in the eyes of God. So, your mouth doesn't want to lie anymore; your tongue won't allow you to eat certain things; your eyes will be opened to the evil of pornogra...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Mobile Church

I love the picture to the right, taken by a friend in the church. It's the perfect picture of God's light shining down on his church. The symbolism of it is perfect: the church is soaking up God's light and charging its people inside to do God's work. I don't know about you but I always feel refreshed and recharged after connecting with a body of believers. Our light gets "re-brightened" and we are energized to keep going. God wants us to take His light out to the people - His church (the light bearers) is not to be confined by four walls and our own preconceived notions. I think a lot of Christians are afraid to be " the light of the world " for fear of being judged or cast out socially. God wants us to hand over our fear of looking stupid and get desperate for him to change our lives. To rid ourselves of this fear, we have to open our hearts to what God desires and ask him to fill us with his light and wisdom in its place. When you open your...
Post a Comment
Read more