Maybe all we really need…

It is so easy to look at our lives and only see what we are lacking.  Maybe it is money.  Maybe it is a lack-luster marriage.  Maybe it is opportunity in career or ministry.  Maybe it is friendship.  Maybe it is a family.

For me, though it seems trite, it was just about chicken tonight… or my lack of chicken.  My thoughts went something like this:  This curry dinner would taste so much better with chicken in it… I sure wish we had the money to run and pick up chicken so we wouldn’t only be eating veggies and rice… We just don’t have enough money to get the things we need when we need them.

Then I had to stop my grumbling thoughts before they started spilling out of my mouth.  I stopped to look around my kitchen and started to do the only thing that helps me pull out of my grumbling funks:

I started giving thanks out loud for what I do have.

Thank you God for the abundance of pears and grapes we picked for so cheap from our friends’ you pick farm.  Thank you God for the bell peppers and squash that someone gave us for dinner tonight.  Thank you God for our bills being paid this month.  Thank you God that You really have never failed me yet…

And as my focus shifted, my mood followed.

“It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today,
A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.” Isaiah 38:19

We get to choose every day, many times a day, what we focus on – our lack or all He has given.

I encourage you to take a few minutes to acknowledge and give Him thanks for all He has done for you.  I will do the same.  Let’s be those who tell others about His abundant faithfulness!  I guarantee you – shifting your focus will change your entire day!

What do you have that you can give thanks for right now?

Tagged as: thanks

Email Author    |    Website About Charis

Charis (Ka-reese) is a 33 year old mom to 5 boys and wife of 11 years to her best friend Bill. They are a full-time intercessory missionary family giving themselves to oversee The Watch House of Prayer in Redding, Ca. She is involved in raising up godly children, pastoring, leading worship, and encouraging people in growing in a life of prayer and pursuit of loving God as the “One Thing” (Psalm 27). She writes regularly at her blog, At the Gate Called Beautiful, where she shares her journeys and encourages other believers to grow in faith together.

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