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.
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