The Importance of a Thankful Heart
A dear friend of mine, Meg, over at Homeschoolin’ Mama has come up with the beautiful idea of having 31 bloggers for 31 days talk about what we are thankful for. She has also put together some amazing prize packages for our readership to win. All this in the spirit of Thanksgiving!
What I am Thankful For
I am thankful for every since day that God allows me to wake up. I am thankful for my salvation. I am thankful for my amazing husband who is an honorable, god fearing man – that provides love, support, and anything else you can imagine. I am thankful for 5 beautiful children – 3 here on earth with us – and 2 in heaven waiting for us. I am thankful for the freedom to homeschool in a country where homeschooling is illegal {because my husband serves our great nation as a US soldier}. I am grateful for God’s Word. I am grateful for the ability to move my body and have a sound mind in order to worship and pray. I am thankful for a wonderful family in the United States that awaits our family coming home to them.
I am grateful for many things. And I am also grateful for the ability to have a thankful heart.
The Importance of a Thankful Heart
One of the things that I have learned over the last 36+ years of my life, is the importance of having a grateful heart. What do I mean? Let me explain.
A thankful heart is a heart full of gratitude for the things that God has done and continues to do in and through our life. It is the difference between a negative and positive attitude. It is also the only way that God can use our lives as a living testimony of His love, kindness, mercy, and grace. It is, in my opinion, the ONLY way to live.
For those of you reading this who share this same desire to create a thankful heart and home, it is imperative that we choose to be thankful each day.
How then, can we continue to be thankful? There are countless ways, but here are a few ideas:
Be intentional.
Make sure that you CHOOSE to be thankful each day. I do this by meditating on scriptures that I have found to be personally convicting and motivating in this area of my life.
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
{1 Thessalonians 5:18}
Be a little more patient with your loved ones each day.
It is something that if we chip away a little bit at a time, we can make a HUGE difference in our relationships with our family members. This shows God and your loved ones that you are grateful to God for blessing you with them.
But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.
{James 1:4}
Be quick to listen and slow to speak.
This shows God that we are thankful for the gift of hearing and able to be self-controlled. It also shows him {and those we are listening to} that we are grateful for the conversation and/or relationship we have with them. This not only honors God, but it also encourages those whom you are listening to that they are important and relevant.
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
{James 1:19}
Speaking the Word of God over your day.
This has become one of the single most important things that my family does every single day. We have several different scriptures that we confess daily over our family. Depending on what we are going through, we will prayerfully find scriptures relevant for that season, and faithfully speak them over our family each day. We have seen immeasurable results over the past 15 years of doing so. God’s Word WORKS! If you haven’t already, try making a list of daily scriptures to confess over your family. When we confess them we always start them off by saying….God we thank you for the truth of…{insert scripture here}.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
{Ephesians 4:15}
While these are just a few ways to create and maintain grateful heart, they are tried and true methods in our family. What are some of the ways you have a thankful heart? To show thanks for our readership, you can enter the contest below to win some amazing prizes! A BIG THANK YOU to Meg over at Homeschoolin’ Mama for putting this great series together! I hope you all enjoyed this post and I pray that you will continue to live a life of thankfulness every day of the year!