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Can I be honest for a moment? Sometimes I struggle to be grateful.

The busyness of life, the cares of this world, and frankly, my own laziness, can keep me from focusing on gratitude. I find myself complaining about the weather instead of being thankful for a world that has four beautiful seasons and everything in between. The traffic or the crazy drivers irritate me instead of praying for them to know Jesus better. Having to make all the decisions of my life without my husband instead of being grateful that the Creator of the universe promises to give me wisdom. And my list goes on and on.

Can you relate?

We are going to focus our thoughts for the next few weeks on gratitude as we approach the Holidays.

This week we will consider unexpected blessings that we can be thankful for. Take a moment, close your eyes, and just ask God to show you some. Take a deep breath. Just sit quietly for a moment as you do this. And if right now isn’t a good time, set a reminder on your phone to come back to this in an hour or so.

Your list will be different from mine and that’s okay. God is showing each of us what He has sent in our directions that we might have missed.

Now grab your phone’s note app or sheet of paper and jot those unexpected blessings down. Just allow God to bring as many to mind as you can.

As you sit quietly with the Lord, listen to this song about Blessings.

Now write down some thoughts this song brings to mind in your own widow journey. Writing them out is a beautiful step in healing your hearts. Allow the truth of God’s character to wrap around you as you let your heart speak.

When you have written what needs to be written, let’s meditate on these verses about the blessings in our lives. You can write them down as well or record yourself reading them to play over and over. Jot them on sticky notes for your mirror or your steering wheel. Choose whatever works for you.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:17 (ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 1:3 (ESV)

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
Jeremiah 17:7 (ESV)

Join us for part 2 next week. Gratitude is so important in the Believer’s life that we want to commit a month to focus on it. And email us here if you want to share some of the unexpected blessings God showed you today.