7 Ways to a Life of ThanksLIVING

Thanksgiving is simply too big for one day. God calls us to a life of thanksLIVING.

Honestly, I’ve lived most of my life giving shallow thanks. Sure, I’ve been grateful when big things happened and thanked God when he came through or saved my neck.

I’ve thanked God for answered prayer and for those things dear to me—salvation, my family, health, provision, freedom to worship.

But for most of my life, I haven’t seen the simple gifts, the small mercies, and God’s personal love notes all around me.

It wasn’t until I lost the love of my life that I found deep gratitude.

In those weeks and months of hard grief, I was fighting for hope and aching to see God’s goodness when the world felt so horrible.

Opening to a fresh page in my journal, I numbered down the left-hand margin: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. That day I thanked God for the obvious things he was doing.

The next morning, I continued my numbered list: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. I forced myself to think back over the day before. I noted God’s provision, how he gave me hope in my deep pain, and the small joys.

I discovered gratitude doesn’t come after the grief has ended. Instead, grief and gratitude co-exist. Right in the midst of the worst, the practice of daily thankfulness helped me see God’s goodness in a life that felt bad.

God knows the tremendous power of gratitude for us. It’s why scripture calls us to give thanks in all things. We’re called to a life of thanksLIVING.

Surprisingly, the more I journaled things I was thankful for, the more God opened my eyes to things to be thankful for.

Instead of running out of things for my gratitude list, God showed me countless blessings from a limitless God.

7 Ways to a Life of ThanksLIVING

 

1.Gratitude for all God has done. We can thank God for salvation, provision, opportunities, and open doors. We can thank him for answered prayer, the beauty of this world, our family, and our health. This list is endless, of course, because God is infinite.

2. Gratitude for who God is. This helps us look past the gifts to the Giver. We can thank God that he is merciful, loving, gracious, patient, holy, just, sovereign, compassionate, forgiving, faithful. A friend has used A.W. Tozer’s book, The Knowledge of the Holy, as a guide to spend a day thanking God for each of his attributes.

3. Gratitude for all the things that never happened. Thank Goodness God hasn’t given us everything we’ve asked him for. Only heaven will reveal all God kept from us. He’s hemmed us in, protected us from accidents, provided escape from temptations, directed us past detours and dangers, and offered salvation and righteousness instead of getting what we deserve.

4. Gratitude for all the things we cannot see. John Piper says, “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” (Piper) We see the wait while God sees perfect timing. We see the move while God sees the abundance that the move will bring. We see the obvious, while God sees every intentional detail.

5. Gratitude in advance for what God will do. We can thank God for his promises, even in the unknown. A few years ago, a doctor called early Saturday morning to tell us what we thought was a golf injury was a lemon-sized tumor on my son’s spine. As fear began to paralyze me while we waited two days to see the neurosurgeon, I realized I could thank God in advance. I didn’t know everything my son would face, but I knew God was in control, his timing was perfect, he would guide us, he would sustain us, and he would provide for us in this.

6. Gratitude for the blessings reserved in heaven. We tend to give thanks for our here and now but believers have an imperishable, undefiled inheritance waiting for us in heaven. God is preparing a place for us, there won’t be tears or pain or disability or fear. Our death will be gain, we’ll have eternal peace and joy unimaginable, we’ll dwell with God in love and we’ll finally know perfect holiness because of Jesus.

7. Gratitude for the trials. This one may be hard, but if God is for us and if he is only ever good, then we can thank him for trials he allows. Trials wean us from the world and knit us to God. They help us see what matters and what doesn’t. They mature us and shape us to become more like Christ. They help produce much good fruit in us and through us.

There is always, always, always something to thank God for. And because of that, we can live a life of thanksLIVING.

“[G]ive thanks in every circumstance, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess. 5:18, ESV)

“I bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1, ESV)