With Thanksgiving next week, this is a great time to stop and consider all our blessings. Thanksgiving is such a fun time. But with all the baking, cooking, spending time with family, football, parades, and more, we can simply run out of time to be thankful. I don’t want Thanksgiving to pass without a chance to just spend a few extra minutes thanking God and remembering all my blessings.
100 Blessings Challenge
Each year, I challenge myself to do something extra in regards to being thankful. Last year, I went through the alphabet and wrote down one thing that I was thankful for for each letter. This is a great way to stretch yourself and spend some extra time just being reminded of God’s goodness. This year, I chose to go with 100 blessings. I took the time to write down 100 things I’m thankful for. Neither of these ideas take long. It just takes a few minutes and some planning to set the time aside.
It’s so important to focus on the good and to take opportunities to remind ourselves of God’s goodness and faithfulness. Otherwise, we tend to focus on the negative, on all the bad things going on in our lives. When we do that, the negativity just continues to grow and spill over. Instead, we can use this time of year as a time to flip the script, to force ourselves to see God’s good hand of blessing all over our lives.
Evidence of God’s Goodness
Acts 14 reminds us that God may let us go our own way, but he never lets us forget his goodness to us.
In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.
Acts 14:16,17 NLT
We may go our own way for a while, but God won’t ever let us forget His goodness to us. He sends us reminders of Himself and his goodness; we just have to look for them. And what better time than at Thanksgiving to look for those reminders.
I’ve thought a lot about those words. It’s made me stop and think in my own life, What am I looking at? What is catching my attention? Is it all the negativity around me? Is it the fighting of my children? Maybe the frustrations of daily life?
If I am actively looking for beauty all around me, I am going to find beauty. If I’m looking for good all around me, I’m going to find it. However, if I’m looking for faults, I’m going to find them easily both in myself and in other people. If I am focused on fear, I’m going to see life through that lens.
We Need to Focus On God’s Goodness
Our focus should be on God and His goodness. It’s impossible to focus on God’s goodness and negativity at the same time.
Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about.
Philippians 4:8 TLB
I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works.Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness.
Psalm 145:5-7 NKJV
So how can we practically look for goodness and beauty in our lives?
Actively looking for good
1. Practice gratitude every day.
I do this each morning in my Faithfully Stepping Journal. There’s a section for gratitude where I write down at least three things I am grateful for today. It’s the very first thing I do when I start my morning time routine. It puts my heart and mind in a right framework to begin my day.
2. Spend time in God’s Word each day.
It doesn’t have to be a long time. Even just five to ten minutes can make a huge impact on your day. Choose a good devotional, a Bible-reading plan, or pick a plan on YouVersion, an app that has literally thousands of Bible plans to choose from.
3. Read inspirational books.
I try to always read an encouraging and uplifting book for at least a few minutes each day after I’ve read my Bible. Why? Because reading makes us apathetic to whatever we are reading. So if I’m reading about a woman who learned to pray more and it made a huge difference in her life, then I’m probably going to start praying more. If I read about how a mom learned to be a better mom, I can learn those principles and become a better mom too. Reading other people’s stories gives us hope, encourages our hearts to stay faithful, and pushes us to become better Christians.
4. Listen to uplifting music that gets your focus off of yourself and onto God.
Music was created by God and has an incredibly powerful impact on our lives. Have you ever found yourself singing and dancing in a store simply because you heard a song you really like come on? That’s the power of music. So when you turn on a song that praises God, you can’t keep your bad attitude. The music will bring peace, remind you of God’s faithfulness, and act as a soothing balm to your soul. That’s the power of music.
5. Get out in the sun and into nature.
I am not a nature person. Most of the time, I would rather stay home and read than go for a hike. I will say, though, that I love getting out in the sun for some fresh air and exercise. We have a park that we try to go to several days a week when the weather is nice. It’s the most perfect park for our family because there is a playground set that the kids can play on, and there’s a trail that loops around the playground that isn’t huge. I can walk or jog on the path and still watch my kids.
The great thing about this path is that it runs alongside a patch of woods. So, I can walk the path, and get a small dose of nature. We’ve seen a fox there a few times and several deer on multiple occasions. It’s our little piece of nature in the city. So many times I have been upset, frustrated, discouraged, and after just twenty or thirty minutes of peace and calm and some sunshine, quiet, and exercise, I feel like a new person.
6. Actively look for the good in others.
I’m not going to lie. This is the hardest one for me. I have wired my brain to find the faults in myself and others all the time. My kids bear the brunt of this. It’s something I really have to work on. Finding the faults in others is so easy, but finding the good in others? Not so much. If I want to find more beauty in my life and less negativity, I am going to have to start looking for the good.
7. Go for a trip to someplace that quiets your heart and helps you focus on God.
This is obviously not something you can do every day. But it is so worthwhile to take a break from the pressures of life and just get away, especially if you can get away to a place that has some aspect of nature you can enjoy. Maybe it’s a trip up into the mountains. Perhaps it’s a few days at the beach. Maybe it’s packing a lunch and taking it to a park that has a lake nearby that you can sit and enjoy. For us, sometimes it’s simply a trip upstate to Amish country where the houses are spread out, the grass is green and lush, and the pace is slower. Whatever it is, find a place you can escape to and focus on God’s creation and let its beauty soothe your soul.
Looking for the Good and the Beautiful.
I am convinced we miss so much good and beauty in our lives because we simply don’t know how to look for it. We haven’t made it an active part of our lives. It’s time for us to stop focusing so much on the negative and start looking for the beauty and the good all around us. Pick just one of the ways to actively look for the good in your life each day and see if that doesn’t make an impact on how you see the world around you.
Are you the kind of person that’s always carrying everybody else? Do you encourage people when they are down, help others as much as you can, and stay strong for your friends and family?
Often, those of us who help everybody else don’t handle our own trials well. In the book of Job, we read about all that happens to Job in a short amount of time. He loses everything in one day, and his friends come to comfort him. Job’s friend Eliphaz speaks candidly with him in Job 4.
Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. Job 4:3-5
Eliphaz says, “Job, I get it. You’ve always been the strong one. You’ve taught so many people, you’ve encouraged others, you’ve helped the elderly, you have always had a kind word for people who are having a hard time. But now, it’s your turn. You’re the one in the trial. Job, you’re the one who is in trouble now, and you’re not handling the pressure very well. You’re fainting; you’re failing.”
The Tables Have Turned
I read these verses in my morning time and stopped to think about them for a few minutes. I thought about how those words could have been said about me. These words are so harsh, but for how many of us, do they ring true?
We have taught God’s Word to others, we have encouraged those around us, we have stood by friends as they have faced tragedy and heartache, we have been the one to write the notes of encouragement to others. We have always been the strong one leading and encouraging those around us. But now, the tables have turned. Now it’s our turn to face hardships.
It’s so easy to be strong for other people, but when your own set of burdens and hardships push you down and the weight feels like more than you can bear, what do you do?
How Do We Handle Trials?
1. Get serious about your morning time. Spend time praying, reading your Bible, and journaling. The time you spend with God in the morning will be your sustaining grace and strength to get through. Often when we are going through a hard time, we start to pull away from God. Usually, it’s because we’re hurt and upset with Him, but now is when you need Him the most. Tell Him honestly how you feel, how you’re hurt, how you feel betrayed. Cling to Him. Satan wants to use this time of trial and testing to make you doubt God, question His goodness, and pull away from Him. Then he can move in and destroy you. Times of trial and testing are when we need to pull closest to God; it’s when we are the weakest and most open to attack. If you want some inspiration for morning time, you can read my post here for tips for an effective morning time.
2. Don’t go at it alone. You can’t make it on your own. Find a good support system. Your spouse, family, friends, or small group. Tell others what is going on in your life. Find those you trust, who can keep it confidential if you need them to. Let them carry your burdens with you. Keep them updated on how they can pray specifically for you. Let them know how they can tangibly help. Your friends want to help during times of hardship, but sometimes they just don’t know what to do.
3. Read books that encourage and strengthen your faith. Here are a few good ones, if you need some ideas.
Uninvited by Lisa TerKeurst
The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson
The Hardest Peace by Kara Tippets
Get Out of That Pit by Beth Moore
Daring to Hope by Katie Davis Major
Ultimately, remember that God loves you and is working out the details of your life for His purpose. Choose to see His goodness. Choose to trust that everything is working together for His glory and my good.
