The Transformative Power of Thanksgiving Part 2

This week I will be sharing my thoughts as well as insights and quotes from a book I have been reading - “Life Can Be Good Again” by Lisa Appelo. It is mainly about getting through the sorrowful journey of grief, and has an excellent section about what I have called the transformative power of thanksgiving.

Lisa Appelo was grieving and feeling overwhelmed. She knew of God’s promises and faithfulness but wasn’t seeing it in her life. She wanted to realize more of God’s presence in her life, so she intentionally began to journal and write down all the things for which she could be grateful. What she discovered was the more she looked for God’s mercy and grace, the more she could see His hand on her life and realize His presence. “Cultivating gratitude helped me connect the dots between my prayers and God’s answers. And as I began to see evidence of God’s goodness all around me in little and big ways, I began to see how my feelings might catch up with the truth: Life could be good again.” (p.104)

Recording your gratitude helps you to refocus your thinking from your circumstances to God’s grace. God’s grace is the transforming power which gets you through the hard times. In Philippians 4:8 we read an encouragement concerning how we should focus our thoughts. “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Whatever you focus on grows in your life, so if you want God’s grace to grow in your life, look for, seek, and record all the things for which you can be grateful.

“Choosing gratitude aligns our heart to the truth that God never has and never will withhold good from us…God is good even when circumstances aren’t what we wanted…God is good even when life feels bad…God is working His good right now even if we can’t yet see.” (p.112)

God has been speaking to me for several years about the importance of being intentional. So, in conclusion, I would like to encourage you to be intentional in looking for the good that God is doing in your life, the good He provides for you and to record those moments so that you can look back on them and remember how good God is and how much He cares about you personally. As your eyes are opened through your intentionality, you will see that the following scripture is true for each one of us. John 21:25 “Jesus did many other things as well. Even if everyone of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

God bless.

The Transformative Power of Thanksgiving. Part 1

I have been thinking and studying about thanksgiving and why it is so important. In the coming weeks, I will be sharing what I am learning about the transformative power of thanksgiving. Scripture says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

That Scripture is pretty exciting when everything is going well for you, but what about when it is not; when you are suffering, and your world seems like it’s all falling apart, and you feel like you are being crushed by your circumstances? How can you give thanks in those times?

Well, Scripture does not say, “give thanks for all circumstances, it says give thanks in all circumstances. So, when we go through hard times, and we will, we don’t give thanks for the circumstances, but we do give thanks to God for giving us the strength, wisdom, and discernment that we need to get through those circumstances and to move forward in peace.

When you read the guest testimony on this website from my friend, Barbara, you will see an example of this. Barbara was in a horrific car accident. Her husband was killed, and most of the bones in her body were broken. When she woke up from her coma, she was in a double halo brace, could not move, and could not speak. She communicated by blinking her eyes. Her family put posters all around her room with encouraging scriptures on them and had all their friends praying for her. Many people, looking at her circumstances would have thought she was in an impossible situation. But what did Barbara do? In that condition, Barbara made a decision. Instead of thinking about her circumstances, she would think about 50 things she could be thankful for each day. You read that right-50 things. She was thankful for seeing the sunshine outside her window, for the nurses, doctors and aides who took good care of her, for her family, etc. By choosing to be thankful, her mindset was changed from despair to joy. Having that positive mindset helped to set the stage for her healing. Today, she functions well and lives her life to help others. God gave her all that she needed to move through her tragic circumstances and be victorious.

In the natural (vs. the supernatural) realm, how do we feel when someone is grateful to us for something we have done or given them? When someone expresses gratitude to me, I feel good inside and I want to do even more for that person in the future. Without the attitude of gratitude, those positive emotions are not elicited. So, even in the natural, thanksgiving has transformative power.

I look forward to sharing more with you in the coming weeks. What are your thoughts about thanksgiving? You can let me know by scrolling to the bottom of the page and sending me a message.

God bless you this week.

What's Love Got To Do With It? Part 3 of 3

This week, I would like to continue looking at what the different aspects of love look like in real life. This post is mostly my opinions based on observations from my life. We left off with “Love is not self-seeking.” Let’s continue with -

Love is not easily angered. Why do we get angry? Oftentimes it is because of unmet expectations. My husband used to say that sometimes our expectations are not met because we failed to give the other person the script of what we expected. Sometimes we think others can read our minds and know what we want or how we want things done. They can’t. So, if this is one of the reasons you get angry, you may want to work on your communication skills.

On occasion, we get angry as a defensive mechanism or because people believe differently than we do. Another piece of wisdom from my husband was, “If we truly give others the right to their own opinion, there would be a lot less conflict between people.” I used to think that I was always right and knew what was best for myself as well as everyone else. Imagine that! Then one day, my husband said, “Who do you think you are? God, that you would know what is best for everyone else?" I had to rethink my position and I realized that I could never have all the information I would need to make decisions for anyone else. As a result of John’s guidance through the years, I hardly ever get angry anymore. God has healed many of the wounded parts of me that would encourage me to get angry. Praise the Lord!

Love keeps no record of wrongs. I think this one is very important because it relates to your thoughts and beliefs about others which in turn affects how you relate to them. Those thoughts and beliefs will create your perception of that person and your perceptions are your realities. For example, if you have positive thoughts about someone, you are always looking for the good in that person and if that person offends you, you will think that it was not intentional. If you have negative thoughts about someone, you will be sensitized to any perceived offense toward you and you will think that they hurt you intentionally. If we keep a record of wrongs done to us, we will set ourselves up for unpleasant relationships. God wants the best for us, and He knows that if we forgive others and don’t hold grudges, we will be better able to live at peace with others. (Note: I realize that some relationships can be toxic. If that is the case, we still need to forgive, but we do not necessarily need to engage in the relationship).

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. I think this part refers to gossip. If we delight in sharing something about another person that is not beneficial, or we heard about it, but don’t know the truth of the matter, we are gossiping.

Ephesians 4:29 gives us some insight on this topic.” 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen”. If we love, we share only those things that are uplifting and encouraging to another.

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. If you have ever been the recipient of Godly love, you know how it made you feel: You are special; you are encouraged; you are valued; you are validated just as you are. As a result, you wanted to be the best version of you that you could be. You wanted to share that love with others. Little by little, you were empowered to love others as you have been loved.

This concludes my series on "What's Love Got to do with it? I hope that it has been an encouragement to you to be able to better understand God's immeasurable love for you, how He exhibits this through the people in your lives, and how you can walk in His love to be a blessing to others as well as to yourselves. I will close with this scripture:

Ephesians 5:1-2 “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”