An Attitude of Gratitude

I have been getting smacked in the face all day today with the same verse. Does that ever happen to you? It's like the Holy Spirit telling you, "Hey! Are you reading this? This is important and you keep missing it! Read it again!" (imagine Holy Spirit flicking you in the forehead). It really could not be more evident that there is something you really need to hear that you just aren't getting. Wake up, it comes up in my quiet time. Check my email, it comes up in my daily devotion. Read the book I'm reading and the chapter I'm on starts with the same verse! Okay, okay...I get it...I'll look deeper, break it down word for word...oh wait! I never noticed that before! So here's the verse...it's a pretty familiar one.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-7

Did you catch that? 2 little words my mind had never focused in on, or really even heard before when reading this verse. "With thanksgiving." How many times did I miss that? How many times did I pray about a financial situation, a health issue, a broken down car, a child...and not do it with thanksgiving? How many times did I forget about all of the blessings that I have and start to worry about things that I had no control over anyway?

You have to choose to use a grateful attitude. Make a conscious decision that I'm going to thank you for all that I do have instead of lingering over that one thing that I want/want to happen. Flip the switch in your head and praise Him for all that's been given. It isn't always easy. But what was the reward from that? The peace of God, which is beyond all understanding...peace. How many times in our world do we here someone say "I just want peace." I wonder how many of them know that without Christ, without giving thanks, there will be no peace? What if the world started giving thanks? What an amazing change could occur!

This past week, my husband and I had an issue come up that could have destroyed our world. Broken down everything we have.  I took 20 minutes to be angry...not to act angry but to feel angry. Just 20 minutes. I took the next hour searching scripture and listening to some good music. I then took the next 30 minutes to give thanks. I thanked the Lord that he brought up issues from my past that I had pushed to the side, because now I could work through them with Him as my guide and my counselor. I thanked Him that we could have full disclosure and my husband could be totally honest with me in our marriage without fear of reprecussion. I thanked Him for lifting the shadow of guilt from our marriage so that my husband could be led by the Holy Spirit whole-heartedly. Nothing is holding him back. And most importantly for me, I thanked Him for helping me to hold my tongue and not lash out in anger, and for allowing me the grace to work through my anger quickly so that I could deal with the issue at hand with a clear mind. Can I just tell you that at the end of this time of thanksgiving, I felt so much peace about the issue. I was able to forgive and let go. What a freeing moment in my life. I couldn't quite figure out what I had done differently this time that allowed me to so quickly come to peace with this until today. There it was in black and white, over and over. I didn't just ask God to help me get beyond the situation, I thanked Him for it. I recognized what I did have now because of this, and I thanked Him for what it was doing in my life. What freedom we have when we enter his presence with an attitude of gratitude!

I hope that this was helpful for someone else needing a good thump on the forehead!

Have a glorious day digging deeper into those "same old verses" and learning something totally new!