I’m not being dramatic when I tell you the practice of daily gratitude has changed my life.
I didn’t start a gratitude journal for any lofty purpose or to become some good Bible study girl.
I started it out of desperation.
Life had collapsed around me. I was staring at the remains of every shattered dream, wondering if my heart could ever be mended.
I was a sudden widow and single mom to seven children who needed me to show up for them, to help shepherd them through their grief and to pick up the shards of life and help put our family back together.
Life felt unbearably bad and I desperately needed to see good.
Isn’t God good all the time and all the time God is good?
It sure didn’t feel like it.
If God is good, and the Bible promises He is, then I needed to see it. I needed to see God’s hand was on me that He cares for me, and that His goodness pervades even in shattered dreams and broken hearts.
Get your FREE
Gratitude Journal
& 30-day Bible Reading Plan
So I began a simple daily practice.
Learning to Give Thanks
Every day, I’d open a journal, number down the side and record seven things for which I was thankful. When that journal filled, I pulled out a spiral notebook and when that one filled months later, I continued in a new one until today, I just filled the last page on my 10th journal.
Little did I know, that taking 5 minutes each day to thank God would throw the door wide open to so much more.
I began to see God’s hand all around me.
I saw how personally and tenderly God loves me.
I found God was bringing good not after, but in the midst of pain.
I realized how incredibly blessed we were even when life fell apart.
My faith grew by leaps and bounds as I saw all the ways God was fulfilling his promises.
In overwhelming circumstances, daily gratitude forced me to lift my eyes off my pain and my circumstances and fix them on God.
He is a good, good Father.
But sometimes we miss it because we’re not looking.
This grace and gratitude challenge is just what we need to see all the good God is doing.
The Grace and Gratitude Challenge
Let’s start with a two beautiful, free downloads for you.
First, I’m super excited to share this gorgeous, free Grace and Gratitude Journal.
This journal has pages for each day of the week to record what you’re thankful for. You can record bullet-journal style or write out all the glorious details of what God has doen. Each page has plenty of room to record your daily thanks, as well as Bible study notes or prayer requests.
Second, it gets better because along with the Grace and Gratitude Journal, I’ve created a 30-day gratitude Bible reading plan.
This Bible reading plan has a daily Bible verse or short passage to help us see why we’re to give thanks, how to give thanks, when to give thanks and show stories in the Bible of those who gave thanks.
Join the for the 30-day Grace & Gratitude Challenge
Want to cultivate more gratitude in your life? Want to capture and really see all the good God is doing around you?
Join the 30-day Grace & Gratitude challenge. Once you sign up, you’ll get the free 30-day Bible reading plan along with the gratitude journaling pages.
I’ll send encouragement along the way to unpack the Bible reading, to see what God says about thanklessness, how to give thanks and how we can really give thanks in every circumstance.
Join here for the 30-day Grace & Gratitude challenge with free printables.
Download the free printables and then pray.
Ask God to open your eyes as wide as He will to see His grace, His hand, His care, even His humor.
This I know — cultivating a heart of gratitude will change you.
You will be different 30 days from now. Gratitude changes what we see and how we see it. It changes our hearts. Gratitude forever impacts the words we use, the responses we make and the faith we have.
I have no doubt that in this 30-day challenge you’ll join me in saying gratitude has changed my life!
To get your free Grace & Gratitude Journal along with the 30-day Gratitude Bible reading plan, subscribe here.
“Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Thank you for this invitation
I am grateful!!
Please sign me up.
God Bless you and your loved ones daily!
I used to keep a gratitude journal & got out of the habit, this will be great to get me started again! Thank you so much for offering this!
Thank you for the invite.
Thank you. I love 1 Thess 5:18
For this, Id like to join this gratitude journal journey.
Thankyou for inviting.
Where do I find the blog/daily study?
I’ve done this in the past and life happened. I need gratitude. Thankyou for inviting me.
I get it, Brenda. Life can distract us but I’ve found 5 minutes for my gratitude journal is heart changing.
I Thessalonians 5:18 has been and important part of our family life throughout the years…the children were teens when we started emphasizing it and now they are in/approaching their 60’s!
Here is a poem that helped me through some difficult times and encouraged me to start a thankful journal while it was necessary for my mother to be a nursing home resident…the most difficult decision I ever made in my life so far.I
I used notebook paper and wrote one-liners, because I couldn’t stop with just “Three Good Things”!
Three Good Things
When I lie in bed at the end of a day
That was long and sad and the clouds were gray,
I find it helps if I stop and say,
“What were three good things that happened today?”
It might have been a stranger’s smi1e,
Or a letter that came over many a mile,
A friend at the end of a telephone dial,
Just something that made the day worthwhile.
It could be a bargain I chanced to buy,
A craft or hobby I’m going to try,
A book that could make me laugh or cry,
A poem or story that made time fly.
It may be the maples touched with gold,
A hummingbird where the sweet peas grow,
An orange sunset with the mountains below,
The sound of rain, or the water’s flow.
It might be a memory from the past,
Some special face that I thought would last,
Or a mountain meadow so wide and vast,
Or a kindness done when I needed one, fast.
No matter how bad my day may be,
How rough the road, how wide the sea,
I thank my God on bended knee
For three good things that happened to me.
Rita Kullar Fischer