How easy is it as women to dwell on the negative? What you don’t have or what you don’t look like or what you don’t get to do. It’s so easy to look around and compare. If I’m being one hundred percent here, I’ve been really convicted lately about not being thankful and grateful. When I was asked to do this blog post, I had to do some soul searching and thought… how in the world am I going to do a blog post about thankfulness and gratitude if I’m not being very thankful and grateful on a daily basis? It was as if the enemy had pulled a sheet over my eyes and was whispering lies in my ears. When I opened my eyes, I saw so many good and beautiful blessings. There will always be that next big thing, or that next big opportunity, or that next big season. We spend so much of our lives thinking, if I could just get here, if I could just get that, if I could just get past this. If we spend our lives just waiting for that next big thing we “want”, we will miss what we already have. We are called to praise God in the good times and the hard times. Even in the hard times when life can look so bleak, He is faithful. [clickToTweet tweet=”We have to stand up to the lies of the devil and practice gratitude even still. ‘But even if not…” – Daniel 3:18″ quote=”We have to stand up to the lies of the devil and practice gratitude even still. “But even if not…” – Daniel 3:18″]
We have to stand up to the lies of the devil and practice gratitude even still.But even if not…” – Daniel 3:18
I am reminded of the story in Daniel about Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. When they were told that if they would not worship the idol put before them by their king, they would be thrown into a burning furnace. Their life was looking pretty darn bleak… in spite of it all they said:
“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.”But even if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”… – Daniel 3:17-18
What challenge in your life has the devil been trying to set up before you? Will you praise him and be grateful in the valley as well as the peak? There is always something to be thankful for. Joy and gratitude is a choice and, unfortunately, a choice I’ve not been very good about making every day lately. I would say that my life, marriage, and job has been in a bit of a slump as life, marriage, and jobs tend to do on this roller coaster of life. I’ve been choosing to focus on that instead of all the beautiful blessings. I don’t have a sad story to share, no big event that would cause major heartache and grief, I’ve been very blessed and have a beautiful life with so, so many things to be thankful for. But I’ve been in a headspace where I think a lot of women can find themselves in with the mundane and day-to-day demands of being a mom to little ones and a wife. When you just get to that place of complacency and blah. Those are lies from the devil. Today, I woke up and chose to focus on the positive and, I want to challenge you to do the same. See if making a conscious choice to focus on all the things you should be thankful for instead of all the things seemingly going wrong. See if that doesn’t change the perspective on your whole day. And soon, those days will turn to weeks and weeks into months and before you realize it, you’ll look back and see that you have been able to climb out of that “slump”. Anytime you want to feel thankful for what you have, go back and look through the camera roll on your phone. I take pictures of the moments I don’t want to forget or the things that make me laugh and when I look back at those things I am always reminded of how good my life really is.
About the Author:
Koral is the Creative Director at Scarlet & Gold, a gift and lifestyle brand whose mission is to equip women with resources to live a joyful and content life. She is a contributor to Scarlet & Gold’s weekly podcast, the Give Grace Podcast that speaks to women about finding joy and community in the hard seasons of life. She is a wife and mother of two little ones. Her and her husband have a 3 year old daughter and 7 month old son. She and her family live in Birmingham, AL.
Instagram:
@koraldean
@scarletandgoldshop
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