Benefits of Being Thankful and Grateful

Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. [Psalm 100:4] 

QUOTE: If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough (Oprah Winfrey).

Being outdoors gives me a very close connection to the Lord. There are moments when the beauty around me and the gratitude for what God has done for me will move me to tears. There is an overwhelming sense of awe for those times when I could barely breathe: what the Lord has taught me, what He has brought me through, what he does for me daily, and what is yet to come.

In January 2020, I was walking and speaking out loud all the things I was grateful for as tears came streaming down my face. There was an abundance of peace and gratitude that overwhelmed me, to the point I had to sit down and just be in the moment. There is nothing like being in God’s presence in creation at a beautiful alpine lake, with the sun shining, the mountains glistening, and a doggie licking your face!!

I aspire to be someone who lives a life of thankfulness and gratitude. I have found being thankful and grateful always helps my thoughts to be more stellar! When you have negative or ungrateful thoughts that come into your head, may I encourage you to start thinking about what you are thankful for? I have found that just saying a few things for which I am thankful can turn my thinking in a different direction. I believe the most important time to remember to be thankful is when the biscuits are flying.

Giving thanks and having gratitude does amazing things for us physically but there are also some spiritual benefits too:

1. Gives us a sense of awe of who God really is.
2. Reminds us of the great love God has for us.
3. Helps us become closer to God.
4. Can change our stinking thinking to Stellar Thinking
5. Provides us with a sense of peace.
6. The act of being thankful is honoring to God.

A mentor of mine, John C. Maxwell, in one of our private live events mentioned there is a difference between being thankful and having gratitude. Being thankful is recognizing what we currently have. Where being grateful is having anticipation of the greater things that we are praying for in the future. Either word you want to use, it is all about CHOOSING to have the spirit of appreciation for what we have been given and what is yet to come.

Not only is being thankful good for our minds but there are also some scientifically proven physical benefits of being thankful. Here are just a few of the benefits mentioned by Psychology Today.

RELATIONSHIPS: Being thankful improves relationships and opens doors for more relationships. We all have experiences where we chose to be thankful and that turned a situation around that could have been a disaster. Remember to acknowledge people wherever we go; say thank you to those at the grocery store and other service people. Send notes or cards. My mom is an example of someone who always sends physical cards, yes, those tangible cards that you get in the US mail. Personally, I think that is a ministry on its own, because so few people do that today. Appreciate people’s contributions in your life and the friendships that you have (study published in Emotion).

PHYSICAL HEALTH: We all know that we “feel” better when we are thankful. There are so many ways that being thankful can help us physically, including providing more energy, less stress, we are more likely to exercise, fewer aches and pains, positive changes in the immune system, quicker recovery time, and much more (study published in Personality and Individual Differences).

PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH: Being thankful reduces several toxic emotions from envy, resentment, and frustration, to regret. It increases happiness and reduces depression. Don’t you find that being thankful helps you be calmer and not as tense?

ENHANCES EMPATHY: Being thankful enhances our empathy for others which in turn reduces that little anger or frustration bug, which also helps us be kinder to one another and more sensitive.

BETTER SLEEP: It’s proven that writing what we are thankful for fifteen minutes before we go to sleep will provide a deeper sleep (Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being). Now that’s fifteen minutes well spent!

INCREASED MENTAL STRENGTH: When we are thankful, it can help us overcome trauma, and tragic events, and provide more resilience. Also, it reminds us where our real strength comes from (God almighty)! (study published in Behavior Research and Therapy.

BOOST OUR BUSINESS: Being thankful for sure can make us better leaders and business owners, which helps increase decision-making abilities, increases productivity, more networking options and opportunities and helps us achieve our goals. This can in turn boost our business bottom line.

INCREASE CONNECTIONS: Being thankful for someone brings us closer to that person instead of pointing out all the things they do wrong. Being thankful makes us less self-centered, and most importantly, it helps us feel closer to God.

Wow, that’s just a short list of how living a life of being thankful and grateful can help us.

THANKFUL AND GRATEFUL: I’d like to wrap up with some commentary on this week’s main verse Philippians 4:6-7, because to me these are the biggest benefits of all. I love this passage because it shows us if we come to God with our requests in a spirit of thankfulness we will experience peace that transcends all understanding, He will guard our hearts, and He will also guard our minds.

This is so amazing that God will guard our minds and hearts if we come to Him with a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude. This is another powerful biblical tool for me to have Stellar Thinking and to believe that I AM WHO GOD SAYS I AM.

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DAILY ACTION STEP
Say to yourself out loud
I AM WHO GOD SAYS I AM
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FRIENDLY REMINDER: take out your journal and write down your thoughts, takeaways, and progress for this week!

 TAKEAWAY GEMS

• Being thankful can immediately change our stinking thinking to Stellar Thinking.
• Being thankful is showing appreciation for all God has done for us.
• Being thankful reminds us of God’s great love for us.
• Being thankful improves our relationships.
• Being thankful increases physical health.
• Being thankful helps us to have empathy.
• Being thankful provides sounder sleep.
• Being thankful boosts our ability to think.
• Being thankful can improve our business.
• Being thankful can help us make better connections.
• Being thankful can bring us closer to God.
• Being thankful can bring us peace.
• Being thankful can help us listen more to God.
• Being grateful and thankful causes God to protect our MIND and HEART.

QUESTIONS TO “THINK ON”

1. What are some additional physical or spiritual benefits of being thankful?
2. What type of reminder or habit can you put in place to be sure you are thankful every day?
3. What are your thoughts on having your mind protected? What does this mean to you?

ACTION STEP: THANKFUL/GRATITUDE LIST: because we are doing so many journals already, I think creating a one-page thankful list will be fantastic. Also, I encourage you to make this list into something creative to hang in your home. This will be in a place so that when biscuits hit the fan, you have this beautiful reminder of all the many things you are thankful and grateful for.

DAILY SCRIPTURES

DAY #1: Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. [1 Chronicles 16:8]

DAY #2: Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words! [2 Corinthians 9:15]

DAY #3: There will be joy and songs of thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people, not diminish them; I will honor them, not despise them. [Jeremiah 30:19]

DAY #4: I always thank my God when I pray for you, Philemon [Philemon 4:4]

DAY #5: Then I will praise God’s name with singing, and I will honor him with thanksgiving. [Psalm 69:30]

DAY #6: Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. [Psalm 100:4]

DAY #7: Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His faithful love endures forever. [Psalm 136:3]

 

***Please note that several websites mentioned are all noted in the resources at the back of the book.