The heading promised: “Expert Tips for Creating a Gratitude List.”
But nowhere did the writer suggest who we’re supposed to thank. And that omission raises an important question: Can gratitude provide any value if there’s no one to receive it?
On the other hand, giving thanks and praise to God lifts our spirits as we review his unfailing love for us, expressed in countless ways.
Imagine King David’s euphoria as he wrote:
In Psalm 31, David included these five inspiring truths: our God is faithful (5), loving (7, 16, 21), good (19), merciful (22) and protective (23).
And as I considered theses scriptures, my thoughts turned to examples in our family’s lives when we’ve seen these attributes in action. For example:
God is faithful (Psalm 31:5) and shows us the wonders of his love (21).
Our son Eric needed slides of his paintings for a college application. However, several days of overcast skies made it impossible to sufficiently light his work and show it to best advantage.
The deadline was fast approaching, and four paintings still hadn’t been photographed.
Eric decided he’d have do his best with the light available. But as he finished setting up and adjusting the painting on his easel, the sun came out! Three more times, just as he finished positioning, the clouds parted and the sun shone!
God stores up abundant good things for those who honor and trust him (Psalm 31:19).
Our family has experienced an abundance of good things—sometimes in miraculous ways (like provision for employment through an astonishing string of God-incidences [1]), and sometimes in smaller-but-no-less-startling events, like the one described above.
I’ve recorded hundreds of such moments in a notebook-journal kept since 1983 (as many of you regular readers know). Entry after entry proves our God is abundantly good and ever faithful [2].
We need not fear that we shall ever
come to the end of God’s goodness,
or any experience for which
He will have no blessing ready.
–J. R. Miller [3]
God hears my cries for mercy when I call to him for help, and he protects the faithful (Psalm 31:22, 23).
Years ago before GPS, I became hopelessly lost on a lonely, tree-lined road. To make matters worse, the gas tank was approaching empty, and I was going to be late for an appointment.
In near-panic mode I prayed, LORD HELP ME!, and tried to calm my racing heart by affirming that God would not fail me nor abandon me (Hebrews 13:5b NLT).
Suddenly a three-way stop appeared. I looked left to see a gas station about fifty yards down the road, almost hidden by the trees.
I turned the corner—into the 1950s. The style of the building and peeling paint indicated the age of the station; the pumps were just as old.
More alarm ensued as I studied one of the ancient pumps. What do I do with THIS?
And then an older gentleman approached (an angel, perhaps?) and kindly offered, “I’ll pump that for you.” He also directed me where I needed to be, and I arrived at my appointment just a few minutes late.
I could share SO many more examples. But it’s not just our family that’s experienced God’s goodness, faithfulness and love. All of us have stories to tell of God working wonders in our lives.
May we be quick to give him the thanks he deserves, and with King David, experience the euphoria of gratitude and praise that makes us leap for joy!
Now it’s your turn. In the comment section below, please share one of your stories that makes you leap for joy in what God accomplished!
[1] See https://nancyaruegg.com/2020/08/27/after-the-fact-2
[2] See https://nancyaruegg.com/2012/11/12/proving-gods-presence for how this journal came to be.
[3] Quoted by Herbert Lockyer, Seasons of the Lord, 199.
Art & photo credits: http://www.flicr.com (Evelyn Lim); http://www.biblepics.co; http://www.pickpik.com; http://www.freerangestock.com (Paul Morris); http://www.pickpik.com; http://www.flickr.com (Bill Badzo); http://www.canva.com.
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The Lord has done great things in the lives of all His children and will be faithful to continue into the future. I love the fact that you’ve kept a gratitude journal for such a long time, Nancy. You’ve inspired me to do the same going forward as I continue to count my blessings and give thanks to the One who can do all things in His time. Blessings!
Isn’t it fun to trace God’s hand through our lives? I’m so glad you’ve joined in the joy of counting our blessings, Martha.
I loved the happy ending to your dilemma. You asked God for help and he sent His angels to guide you. Praise the Lord! Here’s my example: Years ago, a hospital supervisor came to me at my work station and asked me to apply for a certain job. So I did. The son of a staff doctor requested that the job be given to his friend. His friend was hired and I wasn’t. The next day I was shopping in a grocery store and happened to run into my old boss who I’d worked under prior to having children. He was ecstatic. A long time employee had just retired-was I interested? He hired me on the spot! 🙂
LOVE it, Nancy! God must have so much fun planning and executing all these surprises for us!
Praise God for His care and provision throughout our lives. Many years ago, I was hoping to move onto a doctorate position from my masters and was a bit lost as to where and how. We had a visiting lecturer. Something compelled me to randomly share my desire with the lecturer. She immediately took me to the office, made a call to a professor she knew and connected me to him and that was the start of how I ended up doing my doctorate. I marvel at God’s provision.
Another marvelous story of God’s provision, Manu! Thank you for sharing. And congratulations for persevering through the arduous work of earning a doctorate degree!
Praise the Lord for His faithfulness. He is teaching me now of His goodness and faithfulness as we navigate the care for my 94 year old dad who has been a faithful servant of our Lord! Thank you, Nancy!
Praise God you can see God’s goodness and faithfulness during this difficult season, Pam. Some people lose sight of his blessings when the trials come. I pray God’s peace, joy, and contentment fill your spirit as you care for your dad, and also for him.
Nancy, I was feeling kind of blue the other day. In the car, I turned on The Message, Christian music on Sirius radio and sang my heart out. God turned the blues into joyful praise in no time flat. He is worthy of our praise, our gratitude, our songs sung loud and clear. Thank you, Jesus.
There is indeed power in music, Linda! I’m so glad God gave us the ability to make music. It has ministered to me countless times over the years. And you’re right, God is “WORTHY of our praise, our gratitude, our songs sung loud and clear!” I’m always amazes to think: when we seek to honor him with our worship, he turns right around and blesses us with his joy, peace, strength, and more!
Remembering to praise and thank God keeps me aware of His loving fatherly care, from small to large ways that He blesses me. This time last year I was in Houston with our daughter and baby grandson. She was selling their house while her husband was at sea. They had bought a house here where we live in Kansas from friends of ours who were selling just at that time. The house in Houston wasn’t selling quickly so our friends here told us they were praying for a cash buyer in order to speed things up. We also started praying for that cash buyer, and I asked the Lord to let the house sell while I was in Houston. On my last day there we had a showing and on our drive to take me to the airport their realtor called to tell us there was an offer on the house. Oh, and by the way, it was a cash offer…for the full asking price!! And I hadn’t quite left Houston yet. Ha! Praise God for His kindness!!
What a wonderful story, Patty! God often acts at the last minute, it seems. Perhaps his purpose is to highlight his power. Just when things look impossible, he intervenes! And we adore him all the more.
What a beautiful post, Nancy! It reminds me of a meditation from Frederick Buechner where he talks about attending a lecture about prayer. The woman described the way we often pray as not really expecting anything – as if we are tying Jesus’ hands behind his back with our belief that we won’t get help.
It strikes me that your examples are great because you asked and received help!
Thank you Wynne for sharing that lesson from Frederick Buechner’s writings. God wants us to pray about the things on our hearts. He inspired the Apostle Paul to write: “Pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). How silly we can be to struggle on our own!
I have a very similar story to share with you about getting lost. While driving to my home in Mansfield, Ohio, from our alma mater, Taylor University, to spend the weekend with my parents I got lost! It was getting dark and I don’t know how, but I wound up in Bellefontaine, Ohio, in the middle of nowhere. (about 94 miles southwest of Mansfield) at a dead-end road in a pile of dirt where there was a home whose owner was in the middle of constructing a building. The kind people towed me out and got me back on the way to Mansfield. I have always been convinced that the Lord intervened and answered my prayers of help. He is always looking out for his children! Praise His holy name and love for me. Talk about THANKFUL!!!
Oh my goodness, Cheri–Steve’s sister and her husband have lived in Bellefontaine since the early 1970s! It did used to be in the middle of nowhere, until a Honda plant was built nearby. God certainly supplied for your needs that day! The euphoria of gratitude after such circumstances can’t be described!
I cannot begin to tell you how relieved I was! Also, I remember when that Honda plant was built in Bellefontaine. And on a different note, when my family moved to the country in 1965 we were in the middle of nowhere…just like Steve’s sister! Just five years later we were five minutes from a new mall! And now many businesses have moved just couple of miles from us!
Time AND construction march on!
While an attitude of gratitude may be pleasant, acknowledging that our blessings come from the Creator changes our entire perspective.
Amen, Anna. When our perspective changes to a more positive outlook, our emotional state also changes in positive ways. God instituted gratitude for a reason–actually, many reasons!
Nancy,
When we least expect it the Lord does comes through. I pray the Lord comes through everytime.
In Christ, Gary
Gary Avants Forbear Productions * *garyavants66@gmail.com garyavants66@gmail.com
You’re right Gary–we DO pray for the Lord to come though every time. I have to admit, though, that his ways are higher than mine and his thoughts than my thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). When his answers to my prayers don’t match my desires, I can be confident he’s accomplishing more than I can imagine (Ephesians 3:20).
Higher, deeper, wider, longer than our understanding.
Gary Avants Forbear Productions * *garyavants66@gmail.com garyavants66@gmail.com
“Can gratitude provide any value if there’s no one to receive it?” I paused my reading to reflect on that (and with good reason). My default story for God’s mercy is a solo car accident in college; one I had no business walking away from. It was the proverbial “you were meant to be here a little while longer” moment, so I live my life wondering exactly when and how I was meant to fulfill that purpose. More recently, we’ve attended three weddings of family members in the past eighteen months where travel snafus (ex. blocked highways, flight cancellations, missing baggage) suggested we should’ve turned around and gone home instead. Yet somehow we made it to all three. So which is it in this case: Faithful? Loving? Good? I’d say take your pick 🙂
I wholeheartedly agree, Dave. Our God is faithful, loving, and good even in the middle of travel-snafus (and worse). I couldn’t begin to guess WHY you had to endure all those setbacks. Perhaps someone in your vicinity needed to see how a true Christian responds when frustrations occur!
It is so good to be reminded to take a few moments and reflect on all of the blessings of God we have experienced in our life. Sometimes we get so focused on the “now” we forget all that God has done for us in the past. Thanks for this reminder.
You’re welcome, Barb! Yes, a bit of review of God’s faithfulness is good for the mind, heart, and spirit!
Expressing gratitude when it is just saying what one is grateful for might be a bit helpful for mental health or positive attitude but if we do not acknowledge God, it does not have lasting value.
By sharing what we are grateful to God for, it focuses us on God not on what is happening in our lives. It reminds us God is at work in our lives and is with us.
Amen, Matt! We may start out thinking that gratitude to God is a gift we present to him. But as we grow and learn, the truth becomes clear: he gave US the gift of gratitude. First of all, he doesn’t really need our gratitude, and two, the benefits for us are numerous (which even secular research has proven). No wonder our heavenly Father has instructed us to give thanks continually (1 Thessalonians 5:18)!