Last Saturday morning while in prayer, I felt the Holy Spirit lead me into a place of gratitude. In my prayer I didn’t ask for anything, but gave thanks for everything. Little did I know, in just a few days that gratitude in advance would come into fruition. As we wait for the winter storm to pass, my heart is in a continual state of gratefulness. I am thankful for a home, my family, food, water, electricity, health, and so much more. Gratefulness is something God has been nudging me about since starting my 365 days journey towards becoming the best version of myself. We can get physically fit, eat a healthy diet and make all the money in the world, but if our heart is not in right standing with God none of those exterior things will stand the test of times. Having a grateful heart allows a special covering of God’s blessings over our lives. When God looks at us, he is viewing our heart, not our physical bodies; therefore, I invite you to join me over the next 28 days to journal with me to identify all of the things you are grateful for.

In the meantime, Here are a few ways we can cultivate more gratitude in our daily lives showing God we appreciate every blessing we have:

1. Start a Gratitude Journal: Over the next 28 days, I’m making a point to dedicate my mornings to gratefulness through prayer and journaling. We have so much to be thankful for and I believe it’s time to start making note of it. I believe when we take the time to give thanks, God will honor us with more to be thankful for.
2. Say it out loud: Get into the habit of saying thank you. When I wake up in the morning I simply say thank you as a small prayer before my feet even hit the floor. The words that come out of our mouth are powerful. God gave us power through our speech. Proverbs 18:21 reads “death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they will eat the fruit of it.” This scripture always convicts me and has me to watch carefully over the words that I speak. When we complain we will receive more things in life to complain about. When we give thanks it is a symbol of praise to God, and as our Father He wants to do more because His children are giving thanks. Over the next 28 days I encourage you dear friends to watch over the words you speak, and fill them up with words of gratitude and praise.
3. Grateful to others: We can genuinely show gratitude to others when we are first showing gratefulness to God. If we are lacking in this area we will find it hard to give thanks to others genuinely. If we are not thankful for the little things God does for us, it will not come naturally to thank the people in our lives when they do little things for us. When we learn to be grateful to God first this spills over into every area of our lives bringing an increase of joy to our most important relationships. Think of the people in your life today, and begin to practice gratitude in action first starting with thanking God.

To my friends and family who may be overcoming the winter storm right now, I am sending you prayers. I want to encourage you to know that this too shall pass. As we remain faithful and thankful to God He will restore everything we need and more. The secret key is a heart of gratitude. ❤

1 Thessalonians 5:18 “Thank God in everything, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus”

❤ Shalom