Tag: thankfulness

Being Thankful

On By vickleaIn Admonition, God’s blessings, Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

Choose Thankfulness (Daily Refresh, 10-02-25)

For years, nothing in King David’s life looked “good.” His family underestimated him, giants despised him, and his father-in-law spent years trying to kill him. But the whole time, David clung to a promise that God would establish him, and eventually make him king of Israel. 

David never gave up or gave in—he chose to stay close to God and wait for Him to act. And when God showed up, this is how David responded:

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
1 Chronicles 16:34 NIV

David knew that even when life didn’t look good, he served a God who IS good. And this same God is still actively fighting for us now.

Through His Son, Jesus, He has given us continual access to Himself. We can never lose His unfailing love toward us—a love that endures forever, no matter what goes on around us.  

David recognized this, and proclaimed it. And every day, we have the opportunity to do the same. 

Here are 2 practical ways that we can respond to God’s goodness and love:

– THANK HIM IN PRAYER
When Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, he told them to start like this: “Our Father in heaven, help us to honor Your name.” It’s fine to ask God for things, but real relationships include both giving and taking. So at least once a day for the next week, go to God in prayer and thank Him for something He’s done—without asking Him for anything in return. 

– SHARE YOUR STORY
The writer of Hebrews encourages us to honor God by “proclaiming our allegiance to His name.” (Hebrews 13:15-16) So what has God done for you? Where have you seen Him provide, protect, show up, or show off through your life? Look for natural opportunities to share what God is doing in you with someone else. 

Right now, reflect on your life and thank God for His eternal goodness. Nothing you have faced or will face is too much for the God who loves you and died for you. Bring Him your concerns, surrender your expectations, choose thankfulness, and allow Him to reveal the evidence of His goodness in your life.

My Thoughts

I am really thankful that God’s love is always there for me, in the early morning hours and in the late night ones, too. This has been a season that has been different for me. I am the one who picks up dropped items because I am still limber enough to do so. I feed the cat, get her clean water, scoop her litter. All of which requires bending over and stretching. But, then, I broke my foot. What does that have to do with bending? Honestly, I don’t know how it all works together, but I know that it does because since I have been in my boot, I cannot bend over more than a few inches without severe back pain. I can only sleep a few hours without getting up, stretching and awkwardly shuffling around due to the pain in my back. Yes, my foot throbs some, but it is my back that has been giving me fits. I get up early and sit with the heating pad to ease some of the aching. But through it all, God has been close. He lifts me up and comforts me. He is always good and His love is always right there, reaching out to me.

Unlike David, I don’t have enemies pursuing me or a giant to slay. I dare say that you don’t either. Nevertheless, we each have our own daily struggles. This month it’s my foot and my back. Next month it may be something else. (As they say, getting older is not for the faint of heart.) But I know that I know that just as God has carried me this far, He will continue to carry me to the end.

I thought about being thankful and realized that very seldom do I just stop and thank the Lord without also asking for something along with my gratitude. I plan to change that and start just thanking Him, and then being quiet. After all, do we really feel that someone has been thankful when in the first breath they thank us and then the next one they ask for something else? If all I learned this morning is to just stop and say thank you to God, then that is enough.

Tuesday and All is Well

On By vickleaIn Scripture, testimony6 Comments

Those of you who read my posts regularly know that I recently posted that our church was considering a merger with another church that is slightly larger than ours. I am out of town right now and Sunday, I started getting messages one after another on my phone from our Bible Study group. They were all happy about the news announced in church that day. Since I hadn’t been there, I asked “What news?” The news was that the pastors and elders of our church had decided to no longer pursue a merger. Hallelujah! No real details were given about their decision, just “after careful consideration and prayer…”

So, the scriptures prove true once again. No surprise there! We were all in a dither about what we would do if the merger happened, especially since the way it was presented to us, it seemed like a “done deal.” Most of us in our group planned to start looking for another church if the merger came to be. But we all determined to pray, speak out about our reasons for reluctance for change and then wait for God to act. Somehow, in some way, he touched minds and hearts and they changed. It is definitely a God thing to do and we are thankful. So, worrying doesn’t do any good. It just brings stress and anxiety and maybe some health issues. Just turn things over to God and wait for Him to act! I am still very unhappy with the noise level of the bass and percussion at our church, but I am still praying and still expecting God to act. I don’t want to take any action that God is not the leader of. Out of His will is NOT a good place to be!

Knock and keep knocking until there is an answer! Yes, No or Wait are all answers, although they may not be the one we want or expect.

Our Perception of God

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

www.bible.com/reading-plans/23192/day/17

In the quest for independence and a feeling that we are able to do everything we need to do without the Creator, many have turned away from God. I personally think that it’s hard to turn away if you are consistently acknowledging all that He has done and is still doing in your life. Thankfulness is a way to keep the door open to all of the possibilities that God has for you. I think it definitely changes your perception of God, from one of a destroyer out to hurt us to the One who loves us best. I have seen both within my family and it hurts to see those I love call on God when their need is desperate but the rest of the time treat Him as though He is of no consequence and perhaps even a bother in their lives.

I want to always be mindful of God’s acting on my behalf. For example, I got up this morning for the first time in almost a week and did not immediately start coughing. Am I completely well yet? No, but I am better, and for that I am thankful. I hated the idea of going to the ER today, getting an X-ray and perhaps being admitted to the hospital, but that is what the doctor said I would need to do today if I were not significantly better. I do not remember praying specifically that I wouldn’t have to go to the hospital, but I am sure God knew that was my desire. I will generally follow through with what the doctors advise but I am reluctant to stay overnight in hospitals. Anyway, I am so much better and so thankful that I am. I slept last night for my regular six hours, but I didn’t wake up repeatedly coughing. I am thankful for that, too! I pray that I have finally turned a corner and that I am indeed improving so that I don’t need to consult the ER. We shall see. But whatever happens, I am thankful that right now I am breathing better and I am very aware that God gives me each breath I take.

If thankfulness can affect our perception of God as the devotional states, shouldn’t we spend more time being thankful and less time making demands of our Father, like the spoiled and entitled children that we sometimes are?

Thankfulness and Our Health

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App1 Comment

www.bible.com/reading-plans/23192/day/12

Each of us at sometime will go through a valley. No, I am not a doomsayer or prophet. Bad things happen, even to good people. Life is hard but God is good and He will take us THROUGH the bad times if we will let Him. One of the ways we can lean into God during the hard times is to be thankful. I’m not saying to be thankful FOR the hard times, but to be thankful IN them. When the going gets tough, the tough turn to God. Last night, as I coughed and choked after having taken all of my meds and still couldn’t sleep, I prayed for relief. God’s Spirit gently spoke a psalm into my heart, the one that says that His love endures forever. I said to myself, “Although I am coughing and cannot sleep, God’s love for me endures forever.” And I drifted off to sleep even though I don’t recall doing it. I want God’s Word to become such a part of me that it is with me when I am getting ready to sleep and when I am fully alert and walking around in a lost world. I want to be fully aware of all that God has prepared for me as I step out so that I am thankful for all of it. I think that is the way to be spiritually healthy and in tune with God.

His Mighty Works

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

God’s hand is and has been all over my life for decades. I cannot think of a single day in which God’s mercy and grace and miracles were close by. He has healed me of devastating illnesses, kept me breathing in spite of asthma that has ravaged my lungs and is still healing me every day as He continues to keep my single kidney functioning. Every day that I wake up, I am grateful to see the sky just changing colors, the trees waving in the breeze and the birds and butterflies around me. I love to watch the seasons change, knowing that this demonstrates the hand of the Almighty at work in our fallen world. It is hard to understand why some people don’t believe in God. They deny the existence of the One who created them and has blessed them with all things that they need. Because I cannot help but think of all He has done, marvel at His greatness and then worship Him for who He is and what He has done and is doing. God is good…all the time!

Remembering all that God is and all that He has done is sure to bring praise to our hearts, minds and lips. Praise the Lord!

Faithfully Serve

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

Friday is a good day to remind myself that I am called to faithfully serve. No matter what else is going on in my life, my primary function is to faithfully serve God in whatever way He chooses for me to do so. Life is tough, but it is in the serving that one forgets one’s own problems and challenges and is able to focus on others.

During our faithful service, we should be thanking God for all He has done for us. It is hard not to be thankful for God’s provision when we are helping others who have very little and yet are still thankful. So, serving and being thankful go hand in hand.

May your day be blessed with faithful service and thankfulness as you serve!

Never Forget

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

It is quite easy to be caught up in the busyness that is part of this season. There is cooking, planning, shopping, wrapping and then the get-togethers. It boggles my mind how every year it all seems to get done and then there is the end of the Christmas season and all goes back to “normal.” What if the normal thing was to dedicate the season to the Lord, just remembering all that He has done for each of us? What if the gifts, big meals and all of the other trappings of the holiday took second place to the King of Kings, the real reason that we celebrate?

Every day should begin with a praise to the Lord and a reason why you are thankful that day. I have to be purposeful in my thanks because I have a tendency to jump right into what I need instead of praising Him for what He has already done and is still doing. That is particularly true during this busy season. I have to slow down and take time to just be grateful for all He is doing in my life.

This has been a hard season for me, with only a short time at home, enjoying the quiet and the solitude that I crave before I jump back in my duties in another state. But, in this, too, I am thankful that I have my health and strength and can provide help when it is needed. The circumstances may not be my first choice, but I believe that they are God’s first choice for me, to show me how I can be useful even at my advanced years.

The second part of this verse truly speaks to my heart. God is absolutely trustworthy and has always been faithful and kept His promises. I am so thankful that I know Him as He is, the God who came down to mankind and reached out. And He is still reaching out to me and to you and to all who recognize His sacrificial love.

Have the best blessed day ever, remembering all of God’s promises and faithfulness to you. He is worthy to never forget!

Thankful for the Hard Times

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song, testimony4 Comments

When things get hard, I get closer to the Lord. I push in and almost try to become a part of Him as I pray, sing, whatever I have to do to get as close as possible to the only one that I know can help me.

This morning, I read the testimony of a young woman who went to be with the Lord in February. Her dream was to sing for a wide audience and sing she did, with all of her heart, on an American show on which she was a favorite. She never got to win the final prize or record in a big studio or become famous because she died. But it is her testimony of how she faced the hard times of cancer, and a husband who left her in the midst of her illness, that has stayed with people and crossed the internet repeatedly. I share that with you today just to ponder if you, too, think that you should be thankful in the hard times.

God Is On the Bathroom Floor

The testimony is not perfectly written, but it is heart-wrenching and a true testament of turning to God when things get hard. I cannot imagine what this lovely soul went through, but I know that she went through it with God.

It has always been easier to be thankful when things are going well, when the sky is blue, the weather is perfect, the kids are all healthy and other relationships are in the right place. But that is when I have found that sometimes I forget to be thankful, just because everything is so good. Then, along comes something difficult: a lost job, a staggering economy with high prices, illness, or any number of other things. At those times, I don’t hesitate to go before the Lord and thank Him for His guidance, provision and love. So, why am I (and probably you) so accustomed to going to God readily in the hard times? Because we know that He is our shelter, the only real refuge we have from the onslaught that is life.

I have never suffered as Nightbirde did, but I have faced hard times. And I know that the only answer is finding and holding on to faith in God, no matter whether you find Him in the bathroom, your bedroom or out walking around in the woods. In a world that is spinning out of control, I am thankful that God is stable and holds out His hand to each of us to keep us stable, too. God holds us up if we just call on Him. Our call starts with thanksgiving for His loving presence, in the good times, in the hard times, at all times.

“Hold On To Me “ by Lauren Daigle

Night Watches

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song2 Comments

Are you a morning lark or a night owl? I have always been a morning person, no matter how late I stay up. I awaken at about dawn and get up to start my day. However, there are many nights when I cannot sleep, tossing and turning, going to the bathroom, drinking water, etc. I discovered years ago when I am unable to sleep that it is a perfect time to talk to God. During the late night or early morning hours, with my husband sleeping next to me, I just tell God all that is troubling me and then I listen for Him to speak His loving reassurance into my heart. Sometimes though, my night watch becomes a praise session, thankfulness for all that has gone right recently in my life. I have found that these nighttime prayers, although rare for me, invigorate me for the new day when I awaken to face it.

God’s promises are many and I have found that as I speak them back to Him, I am not reminding Him of His promises, but rather, I am reminding myself of what is already in His Word and there for me. Psalm 91 is a favorite of mine to recite in the night when I cannot sleep. Hiding under His wings gives me comfort and often I fall asleep meditating on those verses or on a chorus that encourages me.

The night watch is a good time to intercede for loved ones as well as for strangers that I have encountered during the day. God knows their needs and I think He leads me to pray for those who need it most. Pouring out my heart before God is good for me; it allows my heart to be emptied and ready to be filled by His sweet presence again.

If the Son of God spent the night praying to God, it should not be hard to imagine that God may at times call each of us to spend time in a night watch. Perhaps a few minutes, an hour or more, or all night. That is between you and God. I just encourage you to be open to God’s speaking to you at night when you are having difficulty sleeping. Perhaps a better use of your time than tossing about is to just talk to our Heavenly Father and release any burdens you have left from the previous day, knowing that He is there listening no matter how late it is.

In Jesus’ Name by Katy Nichole

The Prayer by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli