Happy early Thanksgiving everyone! We are getting ready to go on fall break, and I am so excited for the rest and family time coming up, but I'm most excited for the opportunity to slow down, pray, and reflect. This is such a special season for us to praise the Lord in and really remember all the ways He's blessed us. Ever since the beginning of the month, the Holy Spirit has given me such an attitude of gratitude, and there's so much joy bubbling up in my soul, and that's really what I want to talk to you about today.
If I'm being honest, I wouldn't typically consider myself a grateful person. I struggle with complaining and having a negative attitude often, so Thanksgiving time is usually a time where I come to the Lord repentantly and ask Him for grace. I try to pivot for the holidays, readjusting my perspective to praise instead of complaining. I make lists of the things I'm grateful for and think about it for a day or so, but it doesn't really stick. My attitude quickly goes back to what it was before Thanksgiving.
Recently though, being grateful hasn't been so much of a challenge, and that's only by the grace of God.
And it's started with being grateful for everything. I look around me and I'm so thankful for everything around me. All of the little things, the most mundane things, fill me with so much joy and a desire to worship God with everything I have. This type of joy is so unfamiliar but so sweet, and I want you to be able to experience it too.
You have to recognize that all of the things you usually take for granted in your everyday life are gifts from God. A warm bed, clothes to wear, indoor plumbing, brushing your teeth, driving, the lights in your room - all of it is a gift from God and not everyone has those luxuries. Even the things that we complain about, like laundry, school, our own appearance, are blessings. There is evidence of the Father's goodness all around us if we only open our eyes and allow His Holy Spirit to show us.
There have been a few instances lately when God has really just wowed me with His kindness and creation, and I want to share those with you because they were such genuine, simple moments, and they brought me such closer to the Lord.
A couple of weeks ago, I was cheering on my teammates at practice in a nearby park. It was an early fall day and kind of windy, but the temperature was perfect. I looked up and saw the changing colors of the leaves swaying in the wind, and I heard the rustling of the leaves that had already fallen, and my heart was overflowing. It was in that moment that I had such a beautiful picture of what it looked like for all of creation to worship the Lord, and I wanted to join in the beautiful symphony.
God is so intentional with His design, and you can see it all throughout nature. Honestly, nature is one of my favorite and easiest ways to recognize the Lord's handiwork. From the unique design of each leaf, to blooming flowers, to the painting of every sunrise and sunset, you can see the Father's creativity and love through every aspect of nature, and I just love it. I'm so in awe of how God has gifted us and entrusted us with such a beautiful world.
But the outside is not God's only beautiful creation. We are. I was getting ready for bed one night, taking my hair out of braids and my makeup off, and I looked in the mirror, and I just felt the Lord remind me that I am His most special creation. That He took His time when crafting me and weaving me together, and that when I look in the mirror, I can see His fingerprints all over me.
How beautiful is that, friends?!
We can praise God for who He made us to be. We can praise Him because He was so kind and careful when creating us, and He wouldn't change a thing about us. We can praise God because we are evidence of His love and intentionality, and I am so beyond grateful for that.
And this is only the tip top of the iceberg. God has blessed us in so many miraculous ways, big and small, and my heart is overflowing with thankfulness for that. I want to sing and dance, giving Him all the glory, because He is beyond kind. I look around my home, my community, and I see His generosity to us in a million ways. I see a safe place to live, cozy blankets and cars to drive. I smell fall candles, homemade meals cooking in the kitchen, and the fresh air. I hear laughter and music and I can't help but smile because of how good this life is that God has given us. I wish I could put into words all of the ways that I see His gifts to us, and I want to continue to try, because that's what He deserves, but I pray that you would see it in your own life too. I pray that He would open your eyes to the ways He is intentional about blessing you and lavishing you in an abundant life, and that you too would be filled with this unbelievable joy.
Because to be honest with you, life is so much more magical and beautiful when you get to walk in this joy.
So, this Thanksgiving, I pray that this would inspire you to recognize all of the beauty around you. I pray that this post was able to show you some of the gifts from God that we may have begun to overlook in the mundanity and busyness of our daily lives. I want to be grateful for the small things, because that gratitude multiplies when we get to see the big ways that God moves. God is so kind to us, friends, and I pray that we would be able to give Him the glory for that.
What are you thankful for this holiday season? Let me know down in the comments below; I'd love to praise God alongside you!
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