Thankful series- Faking it
There is something that the Lord has been teaching me lately about thankfulness; sometimes we are not automatically thankful. The English expression always comes to mind, fake it until you make it. That seems like bad advice, but it turns out with thankfulness it actually works. A lot of times, I find myself feeling unthankful or like life here is too hard. Something the Lord has been teaching me to do is sit down and remember what I am thankful for.
Yes, maybe everything went wrong that day. My internet is broken, I am out of clean drinking water, everything in my house is breaking and the landlord denies my calls, my cat tore up two rolls of toilet paper- whatever! Everything went wrong, okay, fine. So now what? What am I thankful for? Amidst the 'wrong, wrong, wrong' what was beautiful? What I am thankful for? This is what God has been teaching me about, even when things seem down, or dark look for the light.
Maybe I had a really yummy meal at the children's village. Maybe I found a great book to read and it was free on the kindle. Maybe I had time to take a long nap with my cat. Maybe I found some mangoes even though it is the off season. Whatever! The same way we let very little, insignificant 'bad' thing ruin our day, maybe we should let the same insignificant great thing make our day!
I now have a habit of writing down things that I am thankful for, no matter how irrelevant they can feel. With these things I am able to change perspective. This brightens the way I think. This allows me to see the good that the Lord is doing.
I stick these things right in my prayers, not only do I pray for forgiveness, for needs, for others, for direction, but for the little things throughout the day that I ended up being really thankful for. And sometimes they really surprise me. I have said I was thankful for a flat tire, thankful for down pouring rain, thankful for friends betraying me and thankful for sick days. Sometimes when you start seeing that even the 'bad things' are in God's plan, and He has a greater reason, you will be thankful for so much more. That flat tire kept me from driving towards a manifestation, the down pouring rain brought relief to the heat, that friend betraying me made me stronger and put me on a different path, and those sick days allowed me time to rest in the Lord.
God doesn't make mistakes, we as humans need to learn to be thankful for what we are given. And if you can't be thankful yet, fake it until you make it because I promise if you try your thought process will change.
Yes, maybe everything went wrong that day. My internet is broken, I am out of clean drinking water, everything in my house is breaking and the landlord denies my calls, my cat tore up two rolls of toilet paper- whatever! Everything went wrong, okay, fine. So now what? What am I thankful for? Amidst the 'wrong, wrong, wrong' what was beautiful? What I am thankful for? This is what God has been teaching me about, even when things seem down, or dark look for the light.
Maybe I had a really yummy meal at the children's village. Maybe I found a great book to read and it was free on the kindle. Maybe I had time to take a long nap with my cat. Maybe I found some mangoes even though it is the off season. Whatever! The same way we let very little, insignificant 'bad' thing ruin our day, maybe we should let the same insignificant great thing make our day!
I now have a habit of writing down things that I am thankful for, no matter how irrelevant they can feel. With these things I am able to change perspective. This brightens the way I think. This allows me to see the good that the Lord is doing.
I stick these things right in my prayers, not only do I pray for forgiveness, for needs, for others, for direction, but for the little things throughout the day that I ended up being really thankful for. And sometimes they really surprise me. I have said I was thankful for a flat tire, thankful for down pouring rain, thankful for friends betraying me and thankful for sick days. Sometimes when you start seeing that even the 'bad things' are in God's plan, and He has a greater reason, you will be thankful for so much more. That flat tire kept me from driving towards a manifestation, the down pouring rain brought relief to the heat, that friend betraying me made me stronger and put me on a different path, and those sick days allowed me time to rest in the Lord.
God doesn't make mistakes, we as humans need to learn to be thankful for what we are given. And if you can't be thankful yet, fake it until you make it because I promise if you try your thought process will change.
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