Having A Grateful Heart

“Praise the Lord, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.”
Psalm 106:1

There are days when life can be every hard. Where it is hard for me to see good in anything. Where my heart is heavy and my thoughts are anxious. It feels out of control. How did I get here and more importantly, how do I get out of this place?

This is where I am so grateful to God and His ministry of Celebrate Recovery and all He has shown me through his teachings and examples of how to live  my life. Life will be hard, but I can either choose to get stuck in those circumstances or look beyond the circumstance and focus on God and the hope He gives me through it all.

I have learned that I cannot control things or people, but that I can only control my reactions and actions. I can control where my thoughts go and where they will stay. I can control the words that come out of my mouth. The Serenity Prayer has been an integral part of my recovery, reminding me to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I can (my actions, words and thoughts) and the wisdom to know the difference.

By doing this I have found that I can change my thoughts when things are heavy and overwhelming to having a grateful heart and a positive mindset. I look around me and focus on the things that God has blessed me with; the birds I hear chirping away outside, the sun providing warmth, the flowers I see all around me, my sisters who love and encourage me unconditionally and most importantly a God who loves me through it all. Trust me, it isn’t an instant process. Sometimes it takes days and the help of my Sponsor and Accountability sisters. But with God by my side, I know that He is in control of everything. And no matter how it turns out, He will use it for good.

As we continue to grow in our faith, we continue to grow in having that conscious contact with God, going to Him when times get tough and overwhelming. We tend to go to our habits less and God more as we learn to trust Him and His plan for our lives.

A few years ago, I was stuck. Stuck in my circumstances, stuck in a victim mentality, stuck in fear, just plain stuck. One morning the word “grateful” came to me in every word I read and every song I heard. I said to God, “How can I be grateful when I have all this happening in my life? Where do I even find something to be grateful for?” I had heard of the process of starting a Gratitude Jar. Putting at least one thing to be thankful for in a jar every day for a year. So I decided to do this. Every day for a year, I put at least 1 thing I was grateful for in a jar. Somedays it was a struggle, but I did it. There were some days I put 3 or 4 things in. But bit by bit, it started changing my thinking, my outlook on things. Did my circumstances change? No, but my attitude towards them did. At the end of the year, I saw that God was with me the whole way. It was amazing.

God blesses us each and every day in a unique and special way. Whether that is by a bird building a nest outside your window so you can see them grow day by day or by enjoying the flowers in a garden. Or by seeing God answering a prayer. Or by having a stranger smile at you as you walk by. Or by seeing the changes in ourselves as we continue on our journey of recovery. These can be such blessings if we open our eyes to see Him in each and every one of them.

We can learn to be content in all circumstances when we learn to trust God and His will for our lives. This week we are grateful to hear of the victory of an incredible story of someone who has struggled with abandonment, fear, the pain and shame of divorce, abuse and incarceration and an eating  disorder.

Related Posts

Related