With a heart brimming with gratitude, my feet hit the ground each morning. I wake with the aroma of possibility stirring the air. I see more than the human eye can see, as I lean into the promise of each day. I am ready.
When our hearts are trained toward gratefulness, then nothing can stand in our way. When we decide to look for the good in each day, and find the blessing in all circumstances, we will always be successful.
It is from a position of thankfulness that we present our requests to God…and He hears. No parent enjoys an ungrateful child.
When we are thankful for the small, it opens the door for the large. When we are thankful even in the midst of trials, we are positioning ourselves to receive miraculous breakthrough.
Over the last 5 years, I have learned what it is to be grateful in the middle of trouble. There have been multiple occasions when I find myself sitting in the middle of a huge storm and finding gratitude. It’s a wonderful thing.
If you look around at your friend circle and discover you are in the midst of a lot of complaining and ungrateful people, it’s time to seek out better friends. It’s also the time to examine your own heart and ask if you are a grouch. Like speaks to like, so if you attract grumbling complainers, then it just may be that your own heart needs a shift.
I am constantly shocked as I watch people walk through challenging seasons and when they reach the end…they don’t praise God because they feel it just worked out. Or they don’t see the answer as truly miraculous because it didn’t fit into some sort of box they believed miracles fit into. They think they got through because of a variety of other reasons that have to do with earthly circumstances and relationships…when nothing could be further from the truth. God delivers. We should be programmed in our hearts to always seek to thank Him first.
I don’t ever want to be like nine of the lepers…
As He entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him for what He had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.” Luke 17:11-19
I want to be the one. The one who always acknowledges that God alone is my Deliverer. Don’t you? Let’s make it a practice to always praise God when we see a situation working out. We don’t have to prove to anyone that God did it, because we know He is the only One capable of doing good things. There is always a reason to praise Him. Let’s be people who look for that reason in all seasons.
If the Lord had not been on our side- let Israel say- if the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the Lord, Who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 124
365 Days in the Presence 