Gratitude Is God's Will for His Children

In this Thanksgiving UPGRADE, Dawn reminds us of an important biblical truth about gratitude.

Last night, my pity party was fully operational. I wasn't enjoying the party, but I didn't know how to leave.

I pulled the covers over my head and tried to sleep, but sleep wouldn't come—only tears.

"Father, this is hard," I prayed.

I fully expected the months after my stem cell transplant would enable my body to fully rejuvenate. Instead—with side effects from my daily maintenance chemo pill—I've felt tired and weak. If I don't take a nap around 2:00, I'll be ready for bedtime by six. Add to that increasing arthritic pain and sometimes I go "over the edge" emotionally.

It's not that I'm any worse than others.

Through her Facebook posts, I've "watched" a friend battle Covid-19 in the hospital. She's an example of godliness with uncommon joy. Another friend who has already gone through so much just had emergency cancer surgery; but she continues to encourage others. Another writes about how God is meeting her financial needs after losing a job. Another struggles in caregiving while wondering about her own physical need.

By comparison, my struggle feels small.

But last night, for about an hour, I felt robbed of joy and battled depression. The enemy was having his way with my emotions, and I didn't like it. Thankfully, I prayed.

"Father, my body hurts. My 'heart' hurts too. Please help me."

And more tears came.

But then I heard this:

"Gratitude is My will for you."

I instantly knew what He was saying.

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

We so often say we want to know God's will, but then when we know it, how do we respond?

I've learned that surrender and obedience to God's will is the only pathway to peace, joy and hope.

Christ-followers are wise to apply 1 Thessalonians 5:18 in the hard times:

• When disease cripples,
• When disappointment comes,
• When disaster looms, and
• Even in the face of death.

I remember an article by Jon Bloom. It reminded me of the time Jesus gave thanks as He broke bread for His diciples in that solemn upper room, and then said:

This is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me (Luke 22:19a).

About to suffer a painful, horrific death, Jesus thanked God. Because of His words, I don't think His gratitude was just about the bread.

Perhaps He thought about the glory that would be His because of the cross, and the grace He would offer to others for salvation. He thought about the times in the future when His people would break bread in remembrance of His sacrifice. He focused on "the joy set before Him" (Hebrews 12:2).

Gratitude lifts us out of our circumstances into a heavenly, God-focused perspective.

Paul said we are to give thanks IN all circumstances—not necessarily FOR all circumstances—because this is the Father's good will for us.

Gratitude reminds us of the many undeserved blessings we have received because we are "in Christ Jesus."

Sometimes gratitude is the overflow of our hearts. Other times it is a matter of obedience until our hearts catch up with the truth we know.

So—with the covers still over my head—I chose to praise God for who He is. He is worthy of praise and thanksgiving because He is good and loving (Psalm 106:1).

And then I chose to enumerate my blessings big and small, thanking God for each one.

Here are just a few:

• The mercies of God and forgiveness of sin.
• A faithful pastor and caring church. Brothers and sisters in the Lord.
• A husband who dwells with me "according to knowledge," provides for me and helps me.
• Family members who love and care for one another.
• Meaningful work to do. Opportunities to write and serve.
• Friends who share in my joys and sorrows through prayer and encouraging words.
• My warm home. Carpeting instead of a dirt floor. A well-stocked pantry. An inviting patio and yard.
• A car that functions well.
• The beauties of nature. Beaches and mountains. Sunrises and sunsets. Singing birds and my sweet pup.
• Grace to endure. The ability to type for a while before the pain in my hand begins. A mind that still functions, with only occasional brain fog.
• Foods I love. Cherry Pie. Corn on the cob. Cherry Chocolate Chip ice cream. Golden Kiwifruit. Blueberries. Belgian chocolates.

My list went on and on.

Thankful When It's Hard

And then I heard the Spirit again.

"Can you thank me in your PAIN?"

It's hard to be thankful when life's hard!

I didn't thank God for my pain, but I thanked Him for the lessons I'm learning in my pain.

I thanked Him:

• For using suffering to draw me to His caring heart.
• For giving me compassion for others who hurt.
• For teaching me to ask Him for each "next step" instead of rushing ahead with my plans as I used to do.
• For wisdom and strength to live in day-tight compartments.
• For things that haven't happened as well as things that have. (We often forget about that!)
  

And I thanked Him that someday He will remove all pain, all suffering, death and every tear (1 Corinthians 15:54; Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 21:1-5).

Jon Bloom wrote that Jesus got through the cross "not by focusing on the cross but on the promised joy that would result from it. That's where God wants your eyes: on the future joy He has promised you."

It's a focus that lifts our struggles to a better place—the HIGHER PLANE OF GRATITUDE.

Gratitude changes our attitude, and it also illustrates biblical truth to the world.

"The kingdom of God is most clearly shown on earth," Bloom said, "when Christians gratefully suffer present trouble because they see a future weight of glory coming that makes everything this world throws at them as 'light momentary afflictions' in comparison (2 Corinthians 4:17)."

This Thanksgiving, many are struggling.

• Some are overwhelmed by concerns about the November 3 election.
• Some are frustrated or fearful of Covid-19, or even angry about lockdowns.
• Some are struggling financially with a lost job or pandemic-affected business.
• Some have relationships that need mending, healing, and hope.
• Some fight depression that seems to have no end.
• Some are battling aging, ailing bodies.

Yet Paul says in all these things and more, we are "more than conquerors" as we trust the Lord and walk in the Spirit one day, one step at a time (Romans 8:31-39). (Talk about a change of focus!)

I am choosing to be a grateful "conqueror" by faith.

I believe our Father has a plan. He is sovereign and in control. And He wants us to be grateful in the process as He works out His will.

So I'm not going to let the enemy or my circumstances rob me of one bit of joy this Thanksgiving.

Sometimes knowing God's will is hard.

But this is clear: Gratitude is God's will.

What are you going through right now? How does the truth that gratitude is God's will for you encourage you to choose to give thanks in your circumstance—right now, no matter how you feel?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator the blog, Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for women's teacher and revivalist, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, at Revive Our Hearts, a blogger at TrueWoman.com, writes wiki-type posts at  Christianity.com, and is a regular columnist at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in sunny Southern California, and Dawn has traveled with Him in Pacesetter Global Outreach. They have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

Upgrade Anxiety to Excitement in 4 Steps

Joanie Shawhan is a "choosing joy" sort of person, despite some tough circumstances she has faced. In this Biblical Thinking UPGRADE, she helps us choose a positive, godly attitude over one that can be debilitating.

"My heart raced," Joanie said. "Why was I dreading what should have been a fun celebration?"

Joanie Shawhan has been on one of my (Dawn's) big encouragers in a cancer journey, often challenging me to turn my fearful thoughts into faith, and my anxious thoughts to joy. So I'm excited to read her four steps to "upgrading" anxiety into excitement—and I hope you will be too.

So practical. So real.

Joanie continues . . .

Several months ago, my book, In Her Shoes: Dancing in the Shadow of Cancer, was released. With a friend’s help, I organized a book launch party in my home. We prayed, planned, and prepared. Every detail had been taken into account.

But when the morning arrived, I felt anxious, devastated, and drained.

What happened?

First, Mother Nature had overstepped her boundaries.

I was sure by the end of April we would’ve accelerated into spring with any significant snowfall relegated to the rear. But I was wrong! Instead, a massive snow band hovered over the highways my guests would be traveling. The swath shifted every few hours with predictions ranging from a dusting to eight inches.

Several out-of-town visitors cancelled. Would my only guests be my faithful helpers? I feared my launch party would flop.

Desperate, I cried out to God.

Suddenly I experienced an aha moment—sometimes anxiety and excitement can produce similar physiological responses!

The same sensations I was experiencing: accelerated heart rate, rapid shallow breaths, trembling, muscle tension, and butterflies in the stomach can be caused by either anxiety or excitement.

But I was so familiar with these sensations that for me they signaled only anxiety. I had never associated these physical manifestations with excitement.

Would I allow anxiety to rob me of the excitement and joy of celebrating my book release?

I realized I needed to CHOOSE EXCITEMENT.

That’s when I felt the Lord whisper, “Rejoice!”

In anticipation of fun events and celebrations, how do we switch our thought tracks from anxiety to excitement?

Here are a few ideas.

1. Ask God to help us recognize the presence of anxiety.

Sometimes we become so familiar with an emotion or emotional response that we fail to recognize the source of that vague sense of unease or apprehension.

We need to identify our feelings and the lies we believe about our situation in order to respond appropriately.                                                                                    

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts (Psalm 139:23 NIV).

2. Discern if the emotional response is appropriate for the situation.

Since anxiety and excitement can produce similar physical cues, we must determine if the situation is a real or imagined threat.

Anxiety can take us on an imaginary train ride of numerous what-ifs that never happen, derailing our strength and joy.

We need to rein in our runaway thoughts.                                                        

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things (Philippians 4:8 NIV).

3. Pray with thanksgiving.

Thanking God changes our focus from our problem to the loving God who cares for us.

I had much to be thankful for. The book I had labored over for years was finally in print. I had prayed and placed the details of my book launch party in the capable hands of God and many friends.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Philippians 4:6 NIV).

4. Choose excitement.

I chose to use the emotions I associated with anxiety—my racing heart, quivering stomach, and chest tightness—to fuel excitement instead of anxiety.

This choice immediately changed my perspective.

A new joy and strength surged through my body and emotions. I was excited about my party.                                                                              

Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength! (Nehemiah 8:10 NLT)

Rejoicing and choosing excitement over anxiety changed me as well as the atmosphere of my book launch party. Despite the threats of snow, I welcomed a house full of guests. I enjoyed their company, signed books, and gave away fun door prizes.

I felt energized, excited, and joyful.

This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24 NKJV).

How do you upgrade when anxiety attempts to rob your joy?

Joanie Shawhan is an ovarian cancer survivor, registered nurse and author of In Her Shoes: Dancing in the Shadow of Cancer. She has been a featured guest on podcasts, radio, and television. You can find her media interviews, blog, speaker topics, and contact information at www.joanieshawhan.com. Her book, In Her Shoes: Dancing in the Shadow of Cancer, is available at Amazon.  

Graphic adapted, courtesy of Alexandr Ivanov from Pixabay.

I Can (Thanks to Jesus!)

In this Thanksgiving UPGRADE, Dawn Wilson invites us to be thankful for all the things we can do ... in Christ.

I was one of those bratty kids who stomped her feet and pouted with an obstinate, "I CAN'T!"

Mom would hear none of it. She promptly showed me how quickly I could, with a little "backside encouragement," do what she asked.

Old habits die hard. I still tend to say, "I can't," whenever the Lord asks me to do something.

God says, "Invite that woman to church."

"I can't. I'm afraid."

Or, "Teach that class."

"I can't. I'm not as smart as so-and-so."

Sometimes my "can't" really is a stubborn "won't," but most of the time it's because I think I'm not enough.

Not good enough, smart enough, young enough, connected enough. So many excuses.

You'd think I would have learned by now that God is my sufficiency in all things—especially those things HE calls me to do.

It's not that we are necessarily qualified to do anything on our own, but our competence and sufficiency come from the Lord—"It is God who makes us able to do all that we do" (2 Corinthians 3:4-5).

It's amazing how scripture can cut through all the "I can't-because-I'm-not-enough" excuses.

Here is another verse that is often quoted (and seldom fully embraced):

"I can do all things," it says in Phillipians 4:3, "through Christ who strengthens me."

All things.

Through Christ.

Believing that truth frees me to choose wisely, grow strong and be faithful to all God calls me to do.

I've learned that:

1. In Christ, I can DO it.

I can do the hard things. The things I've avoided, made excuses about or feared.

I can even do the thing the enemy keeps throwing up to me as "impossible," because "with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).

2. In Christ, I can FACE it.

I can face my ugly past—and we all have one, from God's perspective. I can do this because God has forgiven me and made me righteous in Christ and right with God (1 John 1:9; Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

I can face tough circumstances now because the Spirit of the Lord is with me (Psalm 118:6; 23:4; Matthew 28:20b).

I can face an uncertain future with hope and confidence too! (Psalm 23:6; 2 Corinthians 5:6, 8; Romans 8:28). 

3. In Christ, I can OVERCOME it.

I can take heart because Jesus, who has already overcome the world (John 16:33), can help me overcome my sins and addictions. God is faithful to help me, and when I am weak, He is strong (1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 12:10).

By faith, I can overcome, because Jesus in me is greater than the enemy Satan and his hoard of demons (1 John 4:4; 5:4). I can CHOOSE not to be overcome by evil, but instead CHOOSE to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).

I am an overcomer, because I am no longer a slave to sin. God's light has shined into my darkness and changed my heart (John 1:5; Romans 6:6, 6:18; Galatians 4:7).

Why did I make this "I Can" post my Thanksgiving praise today?

I praise the Lord for all the BLESSINGS that have come into my life because of this great truth: I CAN ... in Christ! 

When have you said, "I can't"? What is God telling you today?

Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator of three blogs: Heart Choices Today, LOL with God (with Pam Farrel), and Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for Revive Our Hearts and a writer at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in Southern California and have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.

A Scriptural Attitude Adjustment

In this Attitude UPGRADE, Liz Cowen Furman, a speaker, author and artist who also runs a motel in Wyoming, tells how she changed her whole outlook on life by doing two simple things.

“I wanted—no, I needed—a serious attitude upgrade," Liz said, “But I didn’t know how to make it happen.”

Do you identify with her words, like I (Dawn) do? Have you ever needed a change of attitude but couldn’t summon the wisdom to make it happen?

Liz continues . . .

I used to read the Bible dutifully.

But our pastor suggested that, instead of making a bunch of New Year’s resolutions—as good as they might be—we consider a new approach.

He said “Get yourself a blank journal and start reading your Bible in Psalms. Read it with an eye for something that speaks to you. Then jot that verse in your journal and write a few lines about how it affects you or ask God to reveal something to you.”

Many times, I would get to the end of a chapter and realize I hadn’t heard a word of it, and would have to reread it.

Since I started this approach, I have fallen in love with the Scriptures. I started in the Psalms but have been through the whole Bible a couple of times now.

Reading the Bible, listening for something that spoke to me, made it feel like a letter written just to me.

Talk about attitude adjustment! A total game changer.

The second thing I did that fostered a new attitude happened quite by accident; except that I had been praying for help in this area, so maybe it was by design.

The members of the Bible Study I teach chose to study One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voscamp. As part of that study we were instructed to write down 1,000 things we are thankful for.

We all thought this exercise would be an easy assignment.

I purchased blank journals for us to write these “easy to identify” blessings, and we began. The first couple hundred came easily, then we really had to start looking to write them down.

We asked ourselves, “What would you miss, if everything you didn’t thank God for was taken away?”

By the time I reached 1,000, I saw a blessing in almost everything in my life.

I have continued the exercise. I write five things a day I am thankful for, and plan to continue until Jesus calls me home. Knowing that I will be logging five every morning keeps me on the lookout for things that I appreciate. And, since whatever we focus on increases, this has been an amazing exercise.

I now see the silver lining in situations I would have thought terrible. I now notice and appreciate the many blessings showered on me daily by a God who loves me (and you) so much! Plus, I have a legacy of thankfulness to leave to my family.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says:

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

If your attitude needs a tweak as we start the New Year, as mine did a few years ago, may I suggest you try these two exercises, pray for help, and then watch what He will do to transform your outlook.

Start now! What are five things you are grateful for today?

Liz Cowen Furman is an author, artist, encourager, mentor, teacher and speaker. Writing is like the balm of Gilead for Liz. When she is not working on a book, she is writing articles and blogging. She has published three books, is a member of AWSA (Advanced Writer Speaker Association) and a graduate of Christian Communicator’s Conference. She has written humor for The Christian Pulse magazine and for AWSA’s Suicide Blog. Liz’s new Bible Study, Trusting God in Everything: A Bible Study for Women Who Wonder If They Can, released May 20, 2015.