True Thankfulness

Thinking some thoughts about thankfulness today❤️ Someone very close to us in ministry has always said, “you can tell where someone is with the Lord by the thankfulness of their hearts.”  And don’t we know that what’s in the heart usually comes out.  I truly believe that real, honest thankfulness is one of the most beautiful traits in a person.  True thankfulness screams, “it’s not about me”, “I’m happy when others are blessed”, “I’ll make sacrifices to see others blessed”, “I’m grateful for everything I’ve been given and realize i don’t deserve any of it”, “I can praise Jesus for the storms of life because I know that in all things He works it out for my good”.....a thankful heart proves, JESUS IS THE CENTER OF MY LIFE. 

It’s hard to feel or exude any of the above statements in our life when we are focused inward.  How can we truly be thankful when we can’t stop thinking about how we’ve been wronged or anticipating the next moment of disappointment?  I feel like this time of year can easily lead to disappointment because we are looking at everyone else’s life, whether it’s your real neighbor or family or on social media, and wishing we were where they are.  Mad that we don’t have what they have be it physical or emotional.  Looking inward.  Everyone else’s situation makes us think something about ourself.  Jealousy or happiness.  Jealous over someone else’s life.  Or happy for them that they are there.  We have a choice.  Sometimes the only thing we can control is our mind....how we respond to any information brought before us. If we are living in a place of true thankfulness, our minds and hearts will prove it.  There is freedom in having a thankful heart!❤️ But how?  GET WITH JESUS.  We need Him so badly.  You can’t (for the long haul) produce good fruit and experience true freedom apart from HIM....for any amount of time.  If you are desperate enough to get your emotions together and your heart and mind in a good place....SEEK JESUS.  Love Him and honor Him with your time and attention more than you do anything else in life!  Desire Him.  Do what it takes to spend time in His Word and dwell in His presence.  (...continued in comments)

And realize, you can’t MAKE yourself thankful.  You can’t WORK your way to closeness with God.  You must humble yourself before Him....let Him draw you near by just BEING with Him.  By opening your bible every day, several times a day....talking to Him when you don’t FEEL anything.  We’ve got to stop being so dramatic and emotional about not FEELING or HEARING Him.  You don’t become close to a person in a 5 minute conversation.  You spend time.  And you LISTEN.  Y’all, I’m not preaching at you, I’m living this with you.  I could talk about this for hours because I feel so many things!  I also feel like we are seeing a generation of people (and I️ don’t just mean a certain age range) who are told that they need to just be “real and open about everything”....”say how you feel”....”express yourself”.....”you are entitled to your own opinion”.  But I feel like in all these things, we are abusing it in a sense and expecting people to jump at our every feeling and need.  Like, because I’ve expressed these things, someone needs to fix it for me.  Y’all, disappointment is LIFE.  But we can chose our response, in our own hearts and minds without having to express it outward.  Again, I’m just a fellow human here, and I️ haven’t heard or read this anywhere to honest, so I’m kinda putting myself out there with how I think about this.  But I really believe sometimes we just need to do the opposite of what we’ve been taught about “being honest with our feelings”.  I’m not saying we need to lie, of course not.  But I personally think we need to deal with some of our “stuff” with Jesus.  We need to throw our entitled thoughts and feelings out the window, take our thoughts captive, and ask Jesus about it.  I promise you, more times than not, Jesus will help you deal with those things without you having to make another person feel bad or without lashing out in an unhealthy way. 

2 Corinthians 10:5

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Peter 1:3

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

If you are a Christian, you have everything you need through Him.  There are no excuses.  That sounds harsh, I know, but I’m just feeling this so strongly this morning friends.  We’ve got to start taking steps toward wholeness in Him and taking responsibility for our closeness to Him.  We can’t make ourselves live a “better” life.  But we’ve got to make an effort to think different and stop expecting magic.  Start living for Him.  Do something for someone else.  Think about someone else.  My youth pastor always said, “when you feel bad about yourself or down in the dumps, SERVE SOMEBODY.”  Think outward. 

Y’all, that was long....like totally just came out and I didn’t expect all that!  But it’s helped me today too, and I hope it will help you too! 

Happy Thanksgiving month!!!