A Grateful Heart

He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and Love your neighbor as yourself.”

-Luke 10:27

We are entering a season of gratitude as we prepare for Thanksgiving with our friends and family. I love the Holiday season! Words of affirmation is my top love language with gifts at a close second, so I love this season of thanks and giving as we focus on what we are thankful for and then the gift of Jesus through Christmas. It is all so precious to me and brings me so much joy.

Do you enjoy the Holiday season? Why or why not?

I like to journal. In the past I have kept a thanksgiving journal where I would list all the things I am thankful for. I got this idea from the book “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp. This is a fun exercise and a great way to rekindle joy inside your heart. However, this year I decided to do something a little different. Luke 10:27 says to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart.” I decided that I wanted to deepen my relationship with God by getting to know the heart of God. I did this by looking for specific ways in which God is working in my life and then journaling about that.

I found a pretty journal at a local grocery store which says, “find joy in the ordinary” and thought this journal would be perfect, especially since my middle name is joy. I began looking for situations in my life where God had worked a miracle or where I could really see God working and then I wrote about that situation and thanked God for the ways he is working in my life. It has become my favorite gratitude journal. And the crazy thing is, the more I look for ways in which God is working in my life, the more miracles I find to thank God for. The more I see God working in my life, the more in awe of him I become, and my heart is filled with a deeper love for my savior.

I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
    I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
    I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

-Psalms 9:1-2

God created my heart. He knows me better and loves me more than anyone else. The best way we can love God, is by getting to know His heart. The more we seek the heart of our Abba father, the more grateful we become. We love God with all our heart when we seek his. Like a child hugging their parent, our gratitude grows as we spiritually embrace our father God.

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

-Galatians 3:26

A big part of being IN Christ Jesus is looking for Him in your everyday life. What is Jesus doing in your life today? Do you see him working in a hard situation? Do you see him in a blessing you recently received? Look for the hand of God in your life, and when you find him, thank him for all the work he is doing. As you continue to look for God and give Him thanks, your love for him will grow deeper. What a great way to celebrate this Holiday season; with a deep love for Jesus.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

-Jeremiah 29:13