While in college, I started keeping journals specifically for documenting things that I was thankful for each day. Little and big things. Simple and complex things. Birds. Coffee. Clean air. Good people. Music. Trees. My car. My family. I called it my ‘thank you’ journal, and I carried it everywhere I went, documenting throughout my day what I was thankful for. It was so key in my life. I believe that when we can stop and thank our Creator (especially in challenging seasons) for the little things throughout our day that we are thankful for, some little things that are actually a luxury to the rest of the world, that is when we shift our focus from yourselves to others, to the rest of the world living in poverty and worst of all, without the knowledge of their Savior Jesus. I believe in times of stress, anxiety and fear, that THANKFULNESS changes everything. It shifts our focus and our perspective.
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
I recently started these journals again. It’s a great place to begin training your mind to focus on the positives, not the negatives. The truths over the lies. That we are all, actually, being cared for daily by a great Father, the greatest there ever was and ever will be. God is so faithful to us, and I’m leaning on that promise today.
