Of course He will. He cannot lie and He always does what He says.

Faith vs. Doubt

So, why do I doubt? Fear creeps in. I think, “What if I didn’t hear Him right?” I tell the Lord that I don’t doubt Him. I doubt me. Maybe I missed what He said. Or what He meant. But He doesn’t let me off that easy. He reminds me that I can hear Him perfectly fine. And I am so grateful for that. I am so grateful for a history of relationship with Him that I can look back on and remember all the other times I heard Him speak and saw Him move.  In real life.

The question is, then, do I really believe? Do I believe His promise enough to act on it? To make decisions on what I know to be true, but can’t prove to you at the moment? It is done in the Spirit.  The Lord has said it will happen. That makes it done. Just like Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” We don’t see it yet, but we have such confidence in God that we walk forward as though we have already seen it.

Conditional Faith

I think we all have things that are easy for us to believe the Lord will do and things that are not so easy. Our personal story comes into play here. Things we have experienced, both good and bad. If you come to me for prayer and the Lord tells me that He is going to heal you, I have no problem praying for you and knowing without a doubt that God is going to heal you. Probably because God has healed me in the past and I have seen Him heal others when I’ve prayed.

But in this area that I’m believing for myself right now? Hmm. I find I have to convince myself that God has spoken, that He is able and willing and He is going to do all He said. Maybe you can identify with this. In what areas is your faith in God strong and in what areas does it need to grow?

• Maybe you have no problem believing God for finances, but wonder if He can really help you forgive the person who hurt you.
• Maybe you have no problem believing God loves other people, but aren’t so sure He loves *you.*
• Maybe you believe He loves you, but aren’t sure He wants to heal you.
• Maybe you believe He is with you, but feel like you haven’t seen His direction in your life.

We need to believe ALL the promises of God and that EVERYTHING He says in His Word is true. And then, when He speaks something specific to our hearts, we need to believe that in faith as well. What we hear from Him needs to line up with what the Bible says—always—and we do need to pray in agreement with His will and in right relationship with Him. But when those things are all in place and He has said He is going to do something we have a hard time believing, we need to exercise that faith muscle. Banish all doubt. Keep bringing thoughts in agreement with the Lord.

Faith in Real Life

One day the disciples were walking with Jesus toward Jerusalem in the morning. There was a fig tree that was full of leaves, but had no fruit. Jesus went looking for fruit on the tree and when He found none, said, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again,” (Mark 11:12-14.) The next morning, the disciples walked by this same tree again and saw that the tree had “withered from its roots.” Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

Listen to what Jesus said next …

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours,” (Mark 11:20-23.)

We use this verse in a figurative sense, comparing a mountain to any obstacle in our lives and I’m sure that applies. But I’d like to point out that Jesus had cursed a fig tree—a living object in real life, not a figurative one—and it literally withered up and died. So I don’t think it is far-fetched to think that He was also talking about real, earthen mountains as well.

Now, I know I do not have the faith to tell a mountain to go throw itself into the sea. But I want to! I want to have the kind of faith that believes God can do ANYTHING. Even what I am believing Him for right now.

Faith Right Now

So I’m writing to you from the “in-between” and declaring that I do believe. If this had already happened, it wouldn’t require any faith! When my miracle happens, you’ll know that God came through, just like He said, and that I really have been believing Him and working toward believing Him more all along. I can’t wait to write that post!

So, let’s not count ourselves out of any of God’s promises. They are ALL for each one of us. Reach out and believe. It takes faith to activate and appropriate the promises of God in our lives. Believe and do not doubt. Ask in prayer. Believe and receive.

“Every good and perfect gift is from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows,” (James 1:17.)

This is the beginning of a great week for Scott and me. It’s the beginning of a great season. He’s been working in North Dakota for the past 4 1/2 years. He would work over there for two weeks, be home here in MT for five days, and then gone again. He would fly in on a Wed. night and he would fly back out on Tuesday morning. BUT, this Tuesday morning, he is not flying back because he is home to stay!

We are so happy to make this transition. We have been feeling this season was coming to an end. It was getting harder and harder to be apart. Then, a couple things changed on his job and we knew this was the time.  He gave his notice. His last day was last Wed. He packed up and drove home.

Home At Last

I’m so relieved! It’s so great to have him home. It’s wonderful to think that he will be here day after day. It’s awesome to look at the calendar ahead of us and to not ask the question of every event and holiday, “Will Scott be here?” Yes, he will! Yay! To realize he will be in church with me every weekend and able to consistently serve in kids ministry (where his heart is) brings such joy.

Already, I look back and wonder how we were ever able to do this. We hate being apart. We got married because we like being together! It was the grace of God, to be sure. And we grew through this season. I certainly learned to be more independent and yet, to be more dependent on the Lord. We grew even closer as a couple, knowing we were operating as a unit even though we were apart. We talked every day, if possible, and made decisions together. I always felt we were together in spirit. And of course, he was home every two weeks, the shortest rotation there was in Williston.

We needed the job and we were very grateful for it, especially because Scott worked for perhaps the best company over there. But in the midst of our thankfulness, about two years in, I started to just barely whisper to the Lord to please find a way for Scott to come home. People would ask how long we were going to “do this.” I had no idea. He was working for such a great company, but I didn’t think we could do this until Scott was ready to retire. But maybe? I told myself lots of other couples have jobs that keep them apart at times, but then the whisper, “Lord, please find a way.”

Asking for this Change

As time went on, I started to ask the Lord “for real.” My heart’s cry got louder and louder.  I knew others were praying as well. I could see being away was wearing on Scott. It was wearing on me. A few times the Lord helped us renew and reset. And that was the right thing for those seasons. (I wrote about those times here.) But then … the Lord promised me He would bring Scott home. I knew it would happen, just wasn’t sure when.

In the first part of this year, I started to sense it would be this fall. In the late spring and early summer, we knew more and more that this season was ending. We started to look toward how and when he could come home. The economy has changed. There are jobs at home now. (Scott has interviewed and is expecting a call soon to go to work for another great company.)

We Need to ASK

But let’s look back at the Ask. There were a couple of things that kept me from asking the Lord to bring Scott home at first. It looked impossible and I didn’t want to be ungrateful for what the Lord had provided through Scott’s job in N.D. But I knew it was in God’s will to ask for Scott to be home. Of course the Lord wanted us to be together. He’s the One who came up with the idea of marriage. He’s the One who designed us to need a companion. And for the past year in particular, with all the kids out of the house, I’ve been all by myself and Scott was certainly by himself too.

We need to ask the Lord for what we need. We need to ask the Lord for what we want. The Bible is clear on this. “Ask and it will be given to you,” Matt. 7:7. “… but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God,” Phil. 4:6. And there are many more Scriptures telling us to ask the Lord for what we need and desire.

The Lord Will Answer

So, I encourage you to ask the Lord today for what you need and for what you want. If it looks impossible, still ask. We serve a God who can do the impossible and who loves to bless His children. He gives good gifts! (James 1:17) When we surrender to the Lord’s will and ASK, He will do great things. I know this is true. I’ve seen it over and over. And today, we can say that God answers prayer: Scott is home!

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But then … the pivotal moment comes. A ray of light, a helping hand, a brilliant idea, a game-changing intervention. The music swells, the plot turns and we know that victory is in sight. We love these stories because they give us … HOPE.

If the change comes because of a person, it gives us hope in humanity, hope that there are still good people in the world. If the change comes from a brilliant idea, we have hope that problems can still be overcome with thought and hard work. If the change comes by Divine intervention, we have hope that there is still a God is heaven who loves us.

Where to Place Our Hope …

We all need hope. The Bible talks about hope over 180 times. Psalms and Proverbs tell us again and again that the best place to put our hope is in God.

“No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame,” (Ps. 25:3.) “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,” (Ps. 33:18.) “There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off,” (Prov. 23:18.)

A Safe Place …

When we put our hope in God, our hope is well-placed. We are not hoping in the sense of an empty wish. In fact, that’s not what hope means at all. Hope is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; grounds for believing that something good may happen; a feeling of trust.”

When we talk about putting our hope in God, it’s not with a negative expectation. Meaning, sometimes we use the word hope like this: “I really don’t think there’s any way this is going to happen, but I hope so.” A thin thread of possibility. The hope God offers is so much better than that. When we hope in God, we can have an “expectation and grounds for believing;” we can trust that something good is going to happen.

A Good Place …

We know this because of Who God is. He is a good God who does good things (James 1:17) and even turns all the bad things in our lives around for good! (Rom. 8:28, Gen. 50:20) If we stick with God, we can’t lose! Either something good will happen or He will take something not so good and make it good.

Join me in choosing to trust God. Put your faith and hope in Him. Soon you will hear the music crescendo in the background track of your life, the plot will turn and you will see God working things out. Victory will be in sight. God will do something good and He’ll do it in a way that will propel you forward on your journey with Him.

Listen to His Voice

Isaiah 30:21 describes the blessing of being led by the Spirit. “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’.” I love God’s direction and knowing I’m doing what He wants me to do. But sometimes we start the day with a plan–a good plan, nothing wrong with it–and then the Holy Spirit puts a person on our heart and we feel a strong urge to call him. Even if talking on the phone isn’t our favorite thing (“Can I just text him, Lord?”) we need to respond right away.

Sometimes, we lose time second-guessing and procrastinating. When we know the thought wasn’t from our own thoughts or plans, and the direction is in keeping with His Word and character, we can know it’s Him and should move forward right away.

Did I Hear That Right?

Sometimes the Holy Spirit speaks to us and what He’s asking us to do makes us say, “Was that really you, Lord?” What we really mean is, “I really hope that wasn’t You, Lord! Do I have to?” But the blessing is in obedience.

If we’re standing in line at the grocery store and we feel like we should speak to the person next to us and ask how their day is going when we wouldn’t normally do that, it’s probably the Holy Spirit. We tend to panic and worry that God is going to ask us to jump up and down and make monkey sounds. Really? He’s going to ask us to spread His love and His life. And yes, it may be a little nerve-wracking to speak up and ask someone if we can pray with her, but it’s always worth it.

Planting Seeds

I had the opportunity to make a last-minute, surprise trip to CA this week. On my second flight, I was sitting next to a lovely, professional woman. We had chatted a bit and when we were getting close to landing, I wanted to tell her how God healed me of motion sickness. I felt like the Holy Spirit was confirming that I was supposed to do that. So I told her that I used to get sick every time I flew, but that on one trip God completely healed me and it was the best miracle ever! She looked right at me and asked me what I did. Did I just pray? So I was able to tell her more about it. She said that was cool and that was it. So glad I spoke up. I was planting seeds. One plants, another waters… I Cor. 3:8. We just obey. The results are up to the Lord.

Lifestyle of the Spirit

Sometimes we get away from that lifestyle of being ready for the Holy Spirit to speak to us at any time. We forget to keep an ear open for Him to speak to us and to keep ourselves in an attitude of willingness to change our plans and to obey. But that is easy to re-align. We just need to turn our heart toward heaven and ask the Holy Spirit to work through us. We just need to be willing. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25.)

It’s a wonderful feeling to know you’ve heard and obeyed the Lord and that He’s working through you to show His love to someone. Ask the Lord to give you a special person assignment today!

When was the last time you did something at the Holy Spirit’s urging?

Life Priority Check

Live in the light of eternity … eternity in their hearts (Ecc. 3:11.) These words remind us to live for more than the here and now. It’s easy to get caught up in our daily needs, burdens and concerns, but there is more ahead, friends. So much more.

You can watch the news and see our world spinning ever closer to the return of Christ, with catastrophe and chaos along the way. This is the perfect time to perform a “systems check” on our lives. What does the way we spend our time and money say about our priorities?

Are we living for the here and now? For our self alone? Or are we focusing on what really matters? To make sure we “love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.” To remember to “love our neighbor as our self” and to show the world we are Christians by our love. Do we consciously give our families the best of us and show the fruit of the Spirit at home? Are we finding ways to make the lives of others better? Notice that these are all actions we take …

Eternal Actions: Outward & Inward

… Because living for eternity doesn’t mean sitting around and waiting for the Lord to come and take us to heaven. It isn’t only about deepening our spiritual life and our prayer life. That’s certainly part of it, but when we draw closer to the Lord in prayer, we will find He then compels us to show His love in very practical ways to those around us. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27.) There is no shortage of orphans and widows. There are so many homes with only one parent. So many kids find themselves alone. So many need support and not only financial. So many people need a friend, an afternoon out, a ride to church.

The second half of that verse, “to keep oneself form being polluted by the world” is a tall order these days as our society reaches a saturation point of sin. We have to take a sober look at how much is seeping into our hearts and minds through the music and media we absorb. We have to be careful to not “call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20) but to align our hearts and minds with the Word of God and what He says to be true.

A Life that Lasts

If we want to live a life that lasts, if we want our works to live on and to not be burned up as worthless at the judgment (I Cor. 3:12,13), then we need to be sure we are living for the right things and that we are doing the right things. Time is short. The Lord is coming soon.

“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8.)

I know I have some things to work on. What does your “Light of Eternity Systems Check” tell you?

I used to go to my chiropractor “all crinkled up.” (He called it subluxated. Whatever.) He would ask me if my stress level was high. If I said, “Yes,” he would then ask, “Is it going to get better?”

Great question. Sometimes we are in a specific situation that is short term and will resolve itself, such as the pressure of taking a test or a job interview. But sometimes we are in a situation that is more long term, such as when the stress is coming from dealing with a chronic illness or a strained relationship. It’s especially difficult if the situation is out of your control and you are powerless to change it.

The Long Term Situation

As many of you know, my awesome husband works in North Dakota. (We do not live in North Dakota!) And we are blessed. His schedule is two weeks on and one week off. So he is home for five days every two weeks. That’s a good rotation for someone who works in the oil field.

He’s been going over there to work for two years already. The Lord’s grace for me in this situation has been amazing. It’s hard to have him gone. It’s hard for him to go. We really like each other! That’s why we got married. We aren’t one of those couples who needs space and time away from each other. We really like being together all the time. Even though it’s not easy, I’ve been mostly ok with it. Until last Fall…

Wait! I’m All Done …

All of a sudden, I wasn’t ok with it anymore. I had this terrible feeling like, “Oh no! What if I can’t handle this anymore? What then?” I cried more. I was more lonely. I was anxious and more panicky. I had to be ok with this. I couldn’t change it.

Then, I remembered. … His grace. His grace is enough. Oh, that’s right. Breathe. (In and out!) The Lord brought to my mind a two-step process for difficult, long-term situations.

The Two-Step Reset

First of all, count our blessings. There are so many things to be thankful for regarding Scott’s job. As I mentioned, his rotation is one of the best. His company flies him back and forth so he doesn’t even have to make the ten-hour drive every two weeks. Great benefits, fulfilling work, a good crew, opportunity for advancement, God’s favor. Plus, he gets vacation time and it’s like a five-day weekend every time he comes home. And he is always home over a weekend so he gets to go to church. Many things!

I needed to focus on the positive. Look at all the good things about this. And give thanks for them. Count those blessings!

Second step is to remember that His grace is enough. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you’,” (II Cor. 12:9.) This is the Lord saying, “You’re ok. I’ve got this. And I’m in you, so you’ve got this.” I was able to tell myself, “His grace is enough. I have all the strength I need to deal with this. I am ok.” And you know what? My feelings came back in line and I felt much better. I didn’t need to worry that I couldn’t do this long-term. I can do this for however long God has ordained this situation and season to be because He gives me the strength.

Hope & Strength

It’s still hard. It was an adjustment again after Christmas when my son went back to college and Scott went back to work after some vacation time. I was by myself again, which is still so weird. There may have been some tears when I took him to the airport. But I know what to do now. Count blessings. Rely on God’s grace.

And so can you. If you’re facing a long-term situation that you wish you could change, but you can’t, follow these two steps to peace and joy. Count your blessings. Walk in His grace. Amen!

Is there a difficult long-term situation you are facing today?

Our family is going through what so many thousands of families in America have experienced. My mom called me a couple months ago and said, “Beki just left my office.” I could tell my mom was upset. I could hear tears in her voice, but I couldn’t imagine why. “She’s been diagnosed with breast cancer.”

“What?!” I couldn’t catch my breath.    “Our Beki?” I couldn’t comprehend. I asked my mom to start at the beginning. It all started with a bug bite that left a lump. That lump was benign, but thanks to that bug, they found two other spots of breast cancer that couldn’t be felt. My brother’s wife, Beki, only 39, was diagnosed with Stage I invasive breast cancer. Then, they found another spot of cancer in the other breast. Beki had a bilateral mastectomy the end of September and thanks to a little tiny spot found in a lymph node, she was “upgraded” to Stage II and is now getting ready for 12-weeks of chemotherapy. It has been God’s grace at every step that this cancer has been found and treated. (You can read about her faith-filled journey at her blog.

Family, Friends…

I have a friend who walked through a similar journey three years ago and while I had complete peace for my friend then and I have peace for Beki now, it is still an emotional journey. Besides the obvious, “I want to be sure all my girlfriends have their mammograms done right now!” there is some fear to deal with as well. It hits home how widespread this disease is and that it steals friends and loved ones. I don’t want to lose anyone! According to the American Cancer Society web site, there are 2.8 million breast cancer survivors (including those still in treatment.) There will be about 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer, about 64,640 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer and about 39,620 women will die from breast cancer in 2013.

Breast cancer, like so many things in life, is something we can’t control. It’s a trial that seemingly pops up out of nowhere. And suddenly, it’s a fight for life. And it’s a life that will never be the same.

Faith, Comfort…

But – our God IS the same. He is not surprised. He is our comfort and our strength to walk through any trial. If we let Him work in us through it, we will even grow in our faith and in our trust in Him. “Why do these things happen at all?” people ask. Entire books have been written to answer that question, but a couple things we know: We live in a fallen, imperfect world where there is disease, hardship and death. But in this fallen place, there is God’s redemption and His love. We know from Romans 8:28 that He works all things together for our good. And Joshua 1:9 tells us, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

God is with us. He is for us. His love for us will carry us through anything! We are strong and courageous and we fight. And we rely on the Lord every moment, knowing it is His power, giving us strength. Praise be to God. We trust in Him.

What trials are you facing right now?

Rhythms of Change

I laughed. I told him, the rhythm of my life has been up for constant change for the last year and a half, ever since my husband started working in North Dakota. And now, with a truly empty nest, it would change yet again.

For the first time in my life, I will live alone for two weeks at a time while my husband is away at work—and then for five glorious days, he is home, and then he goes back. The good thing is, I had plenty of time to get used to the idea. I had plenty of time to pray about it and to receive God’s peace about this new season, even to get a glimpse of God’s vision for this season.

And now, as I am living my first two weeks “by myself,” I find that I don’t feel alone at all. Some of that is because I get to talk to my husband every day (a blessing many oil field wives do not have!) and because I have lots of family and friends. But mostly, it’s because I’m not alone. The Lord is with me.

Rhythms of Rain

Many others are experiencing new rhythms of life right now as well. For some, it’s back to the routine of the school year. For some, it’s getting used to having a child in college or having that empty nest. Others have been hit by sudden trials or distress and they are experiencing new rhythms of necessity, dictated by a doctor’s diagnosis or a spouse’s decision.

It’s important to acknowledge when seasons change. It’s important to note that everything is changing and that some things will never be the same. And that’s ok. New seasons mean new growth. Life is a continuous process of moving from one season to another. We need to keep moving forward.

Rhythms of Grace

Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:” and then verse 11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” We need to make note when new rhythms come to our life. We need to make adjustments that will allow us to appreciate the beauty of this season.

No matter what kind of a season we are moving into, we can know that God is always with us and that His grace is available to us for this very season. For, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength,” (Phil. 4:13.)  He knows right where we are, whether we are in a time of plenty or want, a time of sunshine or storm. And we can trust Him because He loves us ~ and because He does all things well.

“Lord, help us to keep in step with the new rhythms You bring into our lives. Help us to hear Your music through the noise of life. Even if we are learning new steps to a new song, help us take Your hand and by faith, dance with You.”

What new rhythms is this Fall bringing to your life?

Running Ahead…

Some people get in trouble because they run ahead of God. An idea comes and they’re off! Sometimes there is prayer and preparation missing from the project, which will always become an issue at some point. But these inspired quick reactors don’t worry about such things. They are getting started right now!

Lagging Behind…

This is not me. I tend to hesitate. (I could benefit from being more like the quick starters.) I want to wait and see, assess and test, see how it feels. Which is why sometimes when a change needs to be made in my life, the Lord has to slip it in quick. If I think about it too much, I’ll wait.

The Lord really does prepare me, though. I’d been thinking all last fall that we were going to need to move sometime in the next year. With my husband working out of town so much and our youngest son graduating high school this year and probably going away to college … who would mow the grass? Or rake the leaves? Or shovel the snow? Snow happens … well, all the time here. Mostly in the winter (ha, ha!) but you never know. So I was thinking we should move to someplace with less maintenance and someplace smaller too…

Should We Move?

Someplace like one of the awesome condos across town! After some research, I really liked this idea. The condos were beautiful and we could rent a two-bedroom, two-bath for the same price we were already paying. I had a friend living in the complex and in January she showed me her lovely home. I looked at the floor plans online and some had an office too! There was one in particular I liked. I thought an end unit would be nice, not so claustrophobic. But I was told no one moves in the winter.

I called the property management places anyway. The first one said they had no openings, as expected. On the next phone call, a nice lady said they had a unit opening up the next week! It was the floor plan I liked and it was an end unit. The showing was the day after Scott got home. So we set up an appointment to see it.

Now?!

When we came to look at it–the end unit with the exact floor plan I wanted–suddenly I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know about the stairs. There were a lot of stairs. I thought we should wait. I didn’t know. But the leasing agent said the couple that saw it before us was really interested and she had two more showings booked. I quickly realized I couldn’t waffle. We had to go forward! Scott liked it. So, we said we could get our application in right away. And we did. An hour later. And we moved. Four days later!

We packed in 24 hours. Moved the big stuff the day before Scott went back to work. Then Kellyn and I moved for another week. You can’t really pack everything in 24 hours. And when you downsize suddenly … well, we still can’t park in the garage!

God’s Grace

But the house is absolutely beautiful with views of Big Mountain out my kitchen window (one morning in Feb. pictured above) and my office window. The stairs are a perfectly good daily workout … in addition to the workout room at the clubhouse and all the other amenities there. No yard work.

It really is perfect, more perfect than I could have imagined. And left to my own devices, I may have missed it, but God set up the circumstances so I had to decide right then. I had to go forward right then. I think that’s called—opening a door and giving a push! I’m so grateful He did. God is so good. He knows what each of us needs. When we ask Him to order our steps, He will. He’ll help us make the right decisions. If we need His Hand to come in front of us and slow us down a little, He will. Or if we need a little push, He’ll do that too.

He’s that good.

What about you? Does God usually have to slow you down or speed you up?

Thanksgiving is such a great holiday. A time to get together with family and friends—and feast! I mean, give thanks.

The Bountiful Life

The lavish Thanksgiving table that most of us indulge in symbolizes to me the bountiful life that we have. We have so much! So much food, so many material possessions.  Truly, we live in a land of plenty. And though many, many households have experienced financial loss in the past several years, even in our struggles, we are far richer than most of the world.

We have to keep perspective to stay thankful. It’s easy to focus on things we need and areas where our checkbook falls short, but when we think about the 870 million people who are hungry today (source) and who do not have enough food, we quickly realize we are blessed.

Gratefulness is Good for You

We have much to be thankful for, so we need to actively give thanks. This is a great time of year to be reminded how valuable a grateful heart is. It’s the perfect time to start a gratefulness journal to jot down 3-5 things a day, or even every week, for which we are thankful.

Studies show that gratefulness will literally make us “happier and healthier.” It will improve our outlook on life and encourages positive interactions with others. “Recent studies have concluded that the expression of gratitude can have profound and positive effects on our health, our moods and even the survival of our marriages.” (For this source and more info, click here.) That’s a lot of benefits for just saying, “Thank you, Lord.”

Although it shouldn’t surprise us that there are such positive results from a grateful heart because God’s ways are always life-giving. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (I Thess. 5:18.)

Thankfulness in Hard Times

In all circumstances. Sometimes it is hard to give thanks. Sometimes the heartache and stress in our lives is overwhelming, but if we will choose to give thanks, the Lord will bless us for our obedience. Thanking God in and through and for everything will lift our eyes to where they need to be and we will be reminded that we serve a good God who cares for us.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (I Chron. 16:34.)

May your heart be happy and light this Thanksgiving as you look up and give thanks.

*I’m giving thanks in all things this holiday, even though my family won’t be together. My daughter is in Hawaii (where she lives) and my oldest son is visiting friends in South Dakota. Most importantly, my husband is away at work, but my youngest son is here with me and we have a large, wonderful extended family to give thanks with and I am so grateful for that.

What are you giving thanks for? What are you giving thanks for in spite of…?