Having a Heart of Thanksgiving is Gods will for us. He wants us to have a cheerful heart and it pleases Him to be praised. Let’s face it, He deserves it! We all go thru storms, life can get messy and somewhat unbearable. This can make it extremely hard to find something to be Thankful for and it may be the last thing you think about. At this time of our Thanksgiving Holiday there is no better time to start.

Praising through the storms

There may be challenges you face, that are so negative and painful. Even more so in these times of 2020 that bring added fear, depression, the uncertainty of tomorrow/your future (things that may be stealing your joy and taking away your focus from God and the beauty of life). God tells us to be Thankful in ALL circumstances, no matter what. If you are having difficulties, pray and ask God to remind you of His promises. Ask Him to fill your heart with peace and to transform your mind and heart. Focus on the good.

Praise Him in the midst of your storms and you will feel His peace and understanding, trust me it works wonders! You will find that when you take your eyes off the problems and focus on Him, your obstacles won’t seem so challenging anymore. You will start to see victory!

A Thankful Heart is our weapon

A Thankful-Grateful heart is a weapon against the enemy, he wants us to give up and sink into hopelessness. Fight the enemy with praise! I am sharing with you (below is my daily list) how I give my gratitude to God everyday. While I am so Grateful everyday for my Family, Friends, Health and Successes, these are the other things that I praise God for. Things that I needed help with months before my departure of my Ex, now two years later I continually praise Him everyday the same. Why? Because God gets ALL the Glory.

Thank you Jesus

I would not be where I am today without His blessings, my answered prayers. And quite frankly I still and will always need His blessings on these areas. As seasons change and God moves me forward, I know my gratitude’s will also. I will continually be changing & adding to my list. I am beyond grateful, most times I get teared up while Thanking him, his Love overwhelms me.

Write down your gratitude’s

I urge you to try this. If you are in a bad season right now, don’t feel discouraged. Dig deeply, review all the big & small ways God has helped you in the past and write them down. And don’t stop there, Thank Him for things that you are desperately hoping for, things that have not yet come to pass. A Faithful-Loving-Thankful heart does not go unnoticed.

Do not worry or be anxious

As Covid-19 has shut down my business for a full 4 months and cut my business down more than half, for the past couple of months, we just got hit again! Another temporary shut down (due to gathering restrictions, which is of upmost importance as I am in the party/social event planning business) during the beginning of another busy season, the biggest actually. When the pandemic first hit, I cried for 3 days. I was so overwhelmed, I didn’t know what to do as cancellations were pouring in and a big sum of refunds had to be made.

God reminded me (I felt a gentle nudge on the back of my head, this could have been my Mom as she used to do this to smack sense back into us, LOL). He told me “I didn’t get you this far to let you fail. Have faith, you will be alright, I got you”. I stopped crying and I started to Thank God for his reassurance.

I handed my fears & worries over to Him. Jesus reminded me of His words in Matthew 6:34; “Do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of it’s own, Sufficient for each day is it’s own trouble”. See God never promised us that life was going to be easy, trouble will come. But when we Lean & Trust in Him, we don’t have to worry.

Testimony of Tithing

Something I want to leave you with is my testimony of faithfulness and experience with tithing. Through this whole pandemic, I have not lacked for money, all my bills are paid on time and I have plenty of food. And the most important part, I have money to give. I have never stopped my tithing, even gave 10% of the unemployment that I was fortunate to receive for a little while.

In Malachi 3:10 God says: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse (which is the Church) that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord”.

As Christians this should be an important part of our practice of faith. As Jesus tell us in Luke 4:12, “Do not put the Lord your God to the Test. This is the Only time God says “Test” Him.

I am a true believer in tithing, after all it is God’s money in the first place. I am truly grateful of the work he provides for me and for the gifts that he blesses me with. He is blessing me beyond measure.

I stayed in an abusive relationship for many years too long because I believed that I couldn’t manage to be out on my own. God proves evil wrong, he defeats it! For all of you that are worrying about your finances, place your faith & finances in God. Don’t let it hold you back from safety and freedom. Don’t wait, Get out!

2021 Update

HAPPY THANKSGIVING Everyone! Count your Blessings twice. I know I am, even more this year. After I wrote this post last year I got hit with Covid, actually on Thanksgiving night. My 1st Thanksgiving off in 18 years and I was home alone and sick. So this year, I am beyond grateful that I have work and I am healthy! Never thought I would be grateful to having to work on a holiday…see how God works 🙂

Psalm 69:30; I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with Thanksgiving. Give a listen to Ben Retor’s-The Thanksgiving Song…So good and Chris Tomlin’s “Thank you Lord”