Uplift

A Grateful Heart

In honor of the season were approaching in the coming days of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share about gratitude.  I’ve been pondering about a grateful heart.  What truly is a grateful heart?  Is it absent of sadness and pain?  Is it a heart that is always joyful? These are a few of the questions that I have considered a few times in thinking of gratitude.  I think we have painted a picture that a heart of gratitude comes from a joyful heart.  I believe after a lot of pondering that a grateful heart is not created in just joy, but it is also created in those moments we have walked through that we know that there was no one that carried us through it but Jesus. A grateful heart can be created in hopeless situation that we see no way out, you know those situations that we know there is no one on this earth that can fix it but Jesus. I believe gratitude is so much more that an emotion it is a heart posture. When the posture of your heart is gratitude, it flows out of you no matter the circumstances, situations or present and pass moments. A heart posture of gratitude shapes your thinking about everything you walk through. Your heart awakens to feel gratitude in it all. Your eyes are opened to see something in everything to be grateful for. Fact is, you might not have a job right now, but you have not gone without the things you need. You might be homeless in this moment but, your alive and because you are alive, God must have a plan. You might not have your dream home yet, but you are not homeless. The job you work is not the perfect job, but it is a job. I understand that gratitude can be so hard to feel at times, especially when it feels like everything that is surrounding you is so difficult. I want to offer a small prayer for you this year during this season. I want you to pray. ” Lord help me to build my heart of gratitude. Right now, God I am truly trying to see a reason to be grateful but within myself I just cannot. I need you to help me because I truly want to be grateful and give thanks in all of it. In Jesus name. Amen”.

Gratitude will look different on each of us. My way of showing gratitude may not look like yours but nor does my journey. I still believe that gratitude also comes from our life’s journey. When we go through really hard things in life, we can be bitter or choose to be grateful. Now gratitude changes everything. It causes a shift in your thinking. It causes a shift in what you see. Grateful people see things differently. The eyes that they see through are the eyes of gratitude. A heart posture of gratitude has to be cultivated. We have to train our heart, mind, spirit and eyes to lean into gratitude even when we don’t feel like we can or even want to. It does not happen overnight, but I want you to know that it is possible. I can find so many things to be sad about during this season. I can look around and focus on all the things that are wrong right now in my world. I could lean into the lie of satan that God forgot about us. I could lean into the feelings of loneliness or disconnect from those I wish I was closer to. Oh, I could fill your ears with so many things that should keep me from a heart of gratitude. I’ve come to know that gratitude is a choice, and it is a choice you will have to make more than once. I choose gratitude daily. I choose to see good even when it is difficult. I choose to give Jesus my heart of gratitude. So, today I want to encourage you to lean into a heart of gratitude that is being built in you. God desires to change the posture of your heart to a posture of gratitude. See, what I do now is make sure my heart stays faithful to Jesus no matter who or what that comes or goes. At the end of the day, I want my heart to be filled with gratitude. This might be hard to read but I’m going to write it anyway, “There is always something to be grateful for”. I want you to know that when we live from a heart posture of gratitude, we find something in all things to be grateful for. My mom died at 77 and I was sad, but I was also grateful for the years he had given me with her. My husband was diagnosed with kidney failure several years ago, but I was grateful because God assured me that he would live and not die. In the coming year we celebrate 5 years of him being double transplanted. I had a very traumatic childhood that according to statistics I should be in a mental hospital. I should not be living the life I am living with an amazing husband and amazing children, even in the trauma I went through, I am grateful that I survived and now I thrive in Jesus. I pray that you are able to find gratitude this season that you are alive and because you are alive, God has a plan for you. I am truly grateful for you being here. May this Thanksgiving be an opportunity to build within you a heart posture of gratitude.

From my heart to yours. You are so loved🤎🧡💚
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godsgirllora
I am a wife, a mother a believer in Jesus Christ and a person who has lived with a mental health condition. My desire is to come alongside of those like me who need support. I will write my real, raw, honest journey through this in hopes that you and I can find strength through it together. Your comments are welcomed and honored here. All I ask is that you be respectful with your words because my journey might not look like yours but it is mine. Looking forward to walking alongside you here in this safe space. P.S If your looking for perfect grammar and words placed perfect….you won’t find that here. You will find words that come from my heart and the heart of Jesus, hopefully in that you will find hope. I believe with hope comes the courage to step into the safety of the light.
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