Month of Thankfulness...

I was reading my devotional book the other day and have been wanting to write about it, so now that I have some free time, here is what it said:

"This is a time of abundance in your life. Your cup runneth over with blessings. After plodding uphill for many weeks, you are now traipsing through lush meadows drenched in warm sunshine. I want you to enjoy to the full this time of ease and refreshment. I delight in providing it for you. 


Sometimes my children hesitate to receive My good gifts with open hands. Feelings of false guilt creep in, telling them they don't deserve to be so richly blessed. This is nonsense-thinking, because no one deserves anything from Me. My kingdom is not about earning and deserving; it's about believing and receiving.


When a child of Mine balks at accepting My gifts, I am deeply grieved. When you receive My abundant blessings with a grateful heart, I rejoice. My pleasure in giving and your pleasure in receiving flow together in joyous harmony." (Devos)


Lately, I've been feeling extremely blessed about my life. I'm thankful for the friendships I have, my family, free time, weather, joy, and several other things. I wrote about this last year, how I sometimes feel like something should be going wrong in my life when I'm this happy with how things are going. This devotion really made me realize that God wants to bless us and not make us feel guilty for having joy within our days. That's why I've been trying my hardest to be as thankful as can be throughout the entire day. Being thankful in all circumstances in important, whether they are difficult or fun times. Sometimes it's easy to forget about God when your life is going perfectly, but those are the times when we really need to be thanking God. I don't want to miss the opportunity to tell God how blessed I feel. God is so good.

So as an application to this devotion, try to write down things you're thankful for each day: not just generic things, but more specific things. God works in awesome ways, but in order to catch these things, we have to be more aware of what He is doing around us. In my opinion, the more thankful you are, the more joyful you will be on the days where nothing is going right and you're struggling. Yes, I know there are days when it seems easier to just complain, but instead, try to think of something that God has done for you in that day.

"My cup overflows with blessings. Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life"~Psalm 23:5-6