A Heart Of Thanks // Can Thanksgiving be All Year?
Thanksgiving: one of my favorite times of the year. Why? Because I love gathering people together over a beautiful meal. I enjoy laughing with friends, over a perfect cup of steaming coffee, or fellowshipping over a table filled with roasted vegetables and warm bread. But my favorite part of thanksgiving is...well, the giving of thanks. I wish I had the focus on thanksgiving all year long, and I read a book this past year called "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. I know I was extra-late to the party reading it, but it breathed new life into my soul. It reminded me how much there is to be grateful for, and how to train myself to function in a place of thanksgiving every day. This last year has been fraught with loss, grief, and struggle, and I've grown through all of it. I've asked myself often, 'Can sadness, hardship, and grief, co-exist with a heart of thanksgiving?'I went back over my notes from reading the book, and here are some of my favorite points:Our emptiness may lead us to see God
These biblical truths brought me to tears, and made me truly pause and shift through the weight of what giving thanks really means. I long to lean into the ugly, and say thank you. I long to have joy that spills over, regardless of what has come in this life, and to give thanks, watching my joy multiply.The Psalms are COVERED in verses about Gods goodness, giving thanks IN ALL THINGS, and for who He is and all He has done. I want that to be my approach on life, in the thick of hardship or in the easy breezy days. So I challenge us...to walk in the truths that we are loved...always and God is always good. This is not my norm y'all, when life throws us hard things or just curveballs, my flesh wants to be bothered, get frustrated and not see things through a different lens of thankfulness, but I would love to try. Join me?