Life these last few years has been hard to say the least. People have struggled with even day to day living. losing loved ones, struggling through health issues, and just the changes we have seen. I can see where bitterness could sneak into your life, consume any joy, and plant a root of negativity. Once this happens, it's so hard to see the good, the blessings, the things to be grateful for.
Being grateful is a very powerful emotion. it's one that if cultivated can strengthen our journey through very difficult times. Times when we get a bad health report, get disappointed or discouraged, the hard seasons that we must all face at one time or another. Every person on this planet and who has ever lived has walked through a hard season. So, how do we feel grateful in these hard times?
It is not the easiest thing to say thank you to God when you're wading through the muck and mire of difficulties in life. How do we find a grateful heart the struggles? Well, that is a great question and one that there is an answer for. You see, we can look to God's word to find ways to be thankful. It's when we stop focusing on the moment, seeing only the struggle we are in, and look to God's word in scripture that we can find ways to be grateful.
God gave us the Psalms to teach us how to find gratefulness for the difficult times. There are stories all throughout that give us ways to be grateful even when we find it hard to take the next step. These Psalms teach us how to cultivate in us a heart that is grateful and worshipful to God.
My firm belief is that we belong to a God who loves us and cares for us in ways we can't even begin to imagine. He wants the very best for each of us. You might ask if this is true, why do we struggle, why is there sickness, why do I lose my loved ones, and the list goes on. The reason is free will. God will never force us to do what's right, but allows us to make our own choices, even the choice to follow Him and have eternal life, or not.
God is always good and faithful to His people. In Psalms 100:5 it tells us, "For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. Man that makes my heart sing. This means that for thousands of years, generation after generation, God's love for us has been faithful. This scripture helps me to have an attitude of gratitude, even in the hard times.
If we can focus on the Lord, even when life makes us feel like we are drowning, we can begin to strengthen our gratitude muscle. Yes, I am aware it is not truly a muscle, but just like a muscle, it must be worked daily. We need to make it a habit to be grateful for what God has done, is doing, and will do in our lives. As we practice this, just like a muscle becomes stronger with work, so will our gratitude.
Every day we must remember that God is a good, loving, and faithful God and that there is always something to be grateful for, even in the difficult seasons of life. Just like going to the gym to build our muscles and become stronger, we must get in His word, read, take in, and become stronger. The attitude of gratitude takes over the stinkin thinkin, and before you know it, life can't bring you down because you are the child of the Most High!!!
I hope you can take a few minutes today to start strengthening your attitude of gratitude. You can start by thanking God for being God, that His love endures forever, and that He is faithful and true. Next, you can thank Him for giving you life. For everything you have, and even for the things you don't have. Thank Him for the hard times that lead you to lean closer to Him, and for those times you will never know about, when His hand covered you and saved you from the very bad.
Last but no least, Thank God for all He continues to do in your life. I hope you all find comfort in God and His word. Have a blessed day.
