Cultivate a Heart of Gratitude

Nothing transforms your broken heart like being thankful. Ann VosKamp has already written on this subject. Go today and order her book One Thousand Gifts. It is life changing. Reading it the first time took me about nine months to get through. I was so grief stricken I had a tough time remembering what I was reading. But then God used this work to encourage me at a time I was surrounded by darkness. I did not want to keep living after Nicholas died. Honestly, being there for Drew was my only motivation. But I was tired of living half dead, too. When I picked up this book, the Truths she points to from God’s Word spoke to me in miraculous ways.

Being thankful changed me

How could being thankful so drastically change my outlook on my circumstances? You need to read the book to be fully engaged. But to summarize, when I chose to be thankful, I opened my heart to let light in. The light exposed the broken pieces, which was painful, but necessary. Then the bands of thankfulness wrapped my broken heart and held it together until the pieces had time to mend and grow stronger.

Cultivating a heart of gratitude did not come naturally 

I did not automatically cultivate a thankful heart. It did not come naturally. I had to make myself count things for which I was thankful. Day after day. Counting and recounting. And then, God put them all together into the messy masterpiece of my cultivated heart of gratitude. Many days I did not feel like being thankful, I would much rather complain and wallow. No one would blame me. I had to be thankful anyway. When I could not think of something else to be thankful for, eternal life was always there.

I reflected on what God did in sacrificing His One and Only Son to pay the price for my sin. He is not asking me to endure anything He did not do Himself.  Nicholas knew Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior, so I have Hope to see him again. I cling to the Blessed Hope of Eternal Life.

Show Love

How is it possible to reach out to others all the while my own broken heart is shattered in a million pieces?
I take that heart that has been bound together with the cords of thankfulness, and while I am still basking in its miraculous favor, I choose to act in love. I do something I would not normally do. I show some act of loving-kindness. These acts of love fill in the broken pieces like salve, thus continuing to cultivate the heart of gratitude while the action is taking place. Living this way is absolutely contrary to our nature. And impossible in man’s strength.

But God 

But God. These two powerful words are the antithesis to man’s way of thinking. There are man’s fruitless self-centeredness ways and then there’s God. And all the objections fall flat in the reality of what God can do. When I live with courage every day, looking for ways to show love to others while my own heart is in desperate need, I show a picture of what God’s love can do. I could have the opportunity to make an eternal impact. The significance of this does not disappoint. There is a reason for the pain. There’s hope in the healing.

Three ways I fight to live another day 

If you consider last week’s post with this one, you will see the three ways I stay out of the pit and fight to live another day. 

• Call on my Prayer Warriors
• Cultivate a Heart of Gratitude
• Show Love

The alternative is not to live. And even though that is a choice I have wrestled with on more than one occasion, I cannot bear to merely exist.

A New Song

I waited and waited on Yahweh God. He heard my cry and picked me up out of the pit. He set my feet on solid ground and put a song of praise in my heart. I cannot help but testify to the Truth of this miracle. It is my prayer that many will see and hear and put their trust in Him.
Adapted from Psalm 40:1-3 ESV