‘Darla, you are always on the good ship lollipop even when we feel like we are on the titanic!’ My family teases me with this complement.
‘You are welcome to jump on the good ship lollipop. It’s much better over here!’ I reply.
Truth About Gratefulness
Through my difficult and traumatic childhood, teenage years, and thirty-years of domestic abuse, God has blessed me with the ability to be grateful for something in my life. I know many people find it very difficult to find something to be grateful for. While other people, like me, find it easier. The truth is, no matter if you think being grateful is easy or hard, you are right.
What you believe and continually tell yourself will be your truth, and you cannot go against what you truly believe. For this reason, God instructed the apostle Paul to tell us,
‘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 Cor 10:5)
God knew that we need to retrain our minds even though we became new creations at our salvation. Our minds didn’t instantly change when we asked Jesus to come and live and reign in our heart, mind, and life. Even though we are spiritually new, we still need to reprogram our mindset. We must choose to work with Jesus to be transformed through God’s word and our personal relationship with him.
Practice Being Grateful
Even if you struggle to feel grateful, Jesus can transform your mind to be grateful. As you live and grow in a personal relationship with him every day, it will be easier to surrender your thoughts and feelings to him and let him transform them into his. His mind is gratefulness to his loving Father, God, who has made all things possible.
If all you can see right now is Christ in your life to be grateful for, it is a big start. In fact, take a moment and celebrate the fact that you will never be alone and you are his chosen, treasured, and beloved child. Rejoice that all of Christ’s love, joy, peace, and gratefulness is living in you right now. Jesus is alive in you and he is worthy of your gratefulness.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17 NIV)
As a disciple of Christ, stand on this truth. Build your trust in him as you practice being grateful for what Jesus is doing for you today. Train yourself to see all of the good things that happen to you throughout your day. The parking spot that just opened up. The smile or compliment you just received. The ability to get out of bed. The lesser level of pain you felt today. The sunshine or rain on your face.
Gratefulness Empowers You
Finding the silver lining in the difficult and dark times in our lives is the path of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Think of how seeing the gratefulness and kindness of people have brighten your day. The attitudes, words, and acts of kindness you share could save someone’s life. We never know what people are going through right now.
The aspects of gratefulness include Christ’s hope and belief that one day we will live in a perfect heaven in his perfect love. Let go of the deception and lies of the enemy that the challenges you are facing determine the level of gratefulness you can have in your life. It is time we live like we are grateful for all he has done, he is doing, and he will do for us in the future. It’s time to get on board with Jesus, for he is our good and unsinkable ship!
To learn about Christ’s love design, join my news list to be one of the first to know when my book is released early next year, Quest for Exceptional Love: Transform your love and relationships through Christ’s love design.
