Giving Thanks in All Circumstances (Rachel T. Joyce, Guest Contributor) — The Spacious Place

Would you describe yourself as a grateful person? A happy person?

Did you know that gratitude has a powerful impact on happiness? Harvard Medical School reports, “Gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships” (Harvard Health Publishing).

The Mayo Clinic confirms that choosing gratitude can even change our biology. They note,  “Positive gestures benefit you by releasing oxytocin [which some people call the love hormone], a hormone that helps connect people” (Mayo Clinic).

UCLA Health affirms, “Gratitude can help calm the nervous system.” 

Your choices impact your feelings and your life. With so much at stake, are you choosing gratitude?

My favorite preacher, Bryan Joyce, says, “Gratitude is an act of faith.” When we choose to be grateful for what God has given us, we acknowledge His goodness to us and we step out in faith. Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers and to us, “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). So if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior and belong to Him, then gratitude is God’s will for you.

Thankfulness greatly enhances your well-being because it is the way of abundant living. Above and beyond how it affects you, it also glorifies and honors God and this is what our lives are all about. God made us to praise Him, and when our hearts and tongues are filled with gratitude, He gets the glory and we are blessed.

When I graduated from junior high school, our class gave gag awards; one of the ones I received was an award for whining. Definitely something I’m not proud of. I remember thinking, “That’s not true! I don’t whine!” But in retrospect? I’m pretty sure that complaining and whining were activities I regularly indulged in.

But God has been working in me. And I’m so grateful He has! Through the unwanted gift of chronic pain, He has taught me so many invaluable lessons, including the importance of gratitude and learning to draw from His strength to meet my needs.

He has taught me to turn to Him, to let Him be my all. And He has taught me to be grateful. Every day. For all the blessings He has given me.

How about you? Have you discovered how essential being thankful is to your well-being? The word thankful in Scripture is εὐχαριστέω. According to Thayer’s Bible Dictionary, it means to give thanks, feel thankful, to be grateful, So this little word involves doing, feeling, and being.

Thankfulness is something that God desires us to do, feel, and incorporate into our being. 

When the apostle Paul wrote to the Colossian believers, he brought out the three aspects of thanks being something we do, feel, and are. He said, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). All that we do is to be accompanied by the act of giving thanks to God. Whether or not we feel thankful, we can always choose to give thanks to God as an act of faith because we know He is a good Father who supplies everything we need. 

And as we step out in faith and choose to do the work of giving thanks, our hearts eventually follow our actions. Paul wrote, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly…singing to God with gratitude in your hearts” (Colossians 3:16).

As the consistent act of choosing to give thanks helps us to feel grateful and fills our hearts with peace, it also helps us to become a thankful people. Paul told the Colossians, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…And be thankful” (Colossians 3:15). The writer to the Hebrews said, “Let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28).

As we choose to be thankful, we become thankful people, marked by happiness despite the circumstances. A few months ago, I created a gratitude journal because I had been filling notebooks with my “thankful things” for years and decided that it was finally time to make a real journal that I could use and also share with my friends.

Each morning, I write three things I’m thankful for (along with my focus for the day, my top three priorities, and a prayer of reflection on my verse of the day). It has helped me redirect my focus from my pain and limitations to all the blessings God has given me. 

My counselor friends keep me accountable…I do make space for grief and lament. This is not a Pollyanna approach, rather, it’s a deliberate faith-choice. I grieve and I give thanks. I weep and I praise God for His blessings.

I thank Him for the kindness of the hospital staff, especially the social worker who “just happened by” when I was crying in a private corner of the hallway and had told God how much I needed a hug. She hesitated, not wanting to intrude, and then offered a hug.

So much to be grateful for! Even in the midst of grief, we get to experience the amazing provision of our God. And, I lift up my hands in praise to the One who knows us best and loves us most and will always be there to help us through.