God has really been speaking to me about the word “thanks” a lot over the last few weeks. The words “thank you” have always been huge in my life. I frequently use them to show my appreciation to others. In the same way, I enjoy hearing those words said to me every now and then.
A couple of weeks ago, I had gotten home late at night and went straight to my couch to pray before I went to bed. I had a lot on my mind and really just wanted to talk to God. I had an agenda that night and was planning to ask God for all of these different things to happen in my life. For the first time, I really had a list and God was going to hear about all of my request. As I started to pray, I really felt a stir in my spirit to lay aside all of those request and just simply thank God instead. You see, God wants us to come to him with our request but it shouldn’t be because we have an agenda. It shouldn’t be because we want to see issues resolved. It shouldn’t be because we are dealing with heartbreak. We should come to God just because we want to have a relationship with him. That night, my mindset quickly changed. My list of asks quickly became a list of thanks.
I started to thank God for all he has done in my life and all he is going to do in my life. Then I moved on to thanking God for all of the people in my life, well all of the people that came to mind that night. I probably listed at least 50 people and called them by name. Anywhere from family, to close friends, to kids of my friends, to acquaintances. It didn’t matter if they were my best friend or someone I didn’t always see eye to eye with. If God reminded me of them, I thanked God for them. I just kept naming people. And the more I thanked God, the more my attitude changed for the better. I went to bed full of joy because I realized how good I really did have it.
Colossians 3:15 says “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” I really believe that if we change the way we pray and simply thank God instead, we will be filled with peace. Yes, we are going to go through difficult times but we can thank God in those difficult times as well. If we start to thank God instead of just asking him for things, we will be filled with peace because we will see that God has been there the whole time. Just as it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Giving thanks in all circumstances is really huge for me. Some of my greatest trials in life are the things that helped me grow the most. Those trials may have been difficult at the time, but they are also the thing that drew me closer to Christ. They are the thing that helped me see how much I am loved. They are the thing that helped me grow more than I ever thought possible. So can we give thanks in all circumstances? Yes! Even when it’s hard, we can still thank God because he is with us no matter where we are.
The whole next day I was out of town visiting my family and all I could do was thank God. I had a 3 hour drive to my grandparents house and just spent a lot of time listening to podcast and music while worshipping the Lord. When I got to my hometown, I called my mom (who had went on ahead of me) to see where she was. Since we still have a lot of family and friends we are close to in my hometown that we like to visit, I wasn’t sure where my mom might be. She had let me know she was at my grandparents house and that my grandpa was up already, and had been tracking me during my whole trip. My grandpa is able to see my location on my phone so as long as I have my phone on me (which is 99% of the time). At first I was confused why he would get up so early to track me. That wasn’t normal for him. Then my mom let me know that my grandpa was waken up by a tornado warning and the first thing he thought of was me driving. I had no idea there was a tornado warning. I drove through rain most of the way down the mountain, but even the winds weren’t that bad. He later discovered that the tornado warning was way ahead of where I was and that I wouldn’t be going through it. When I hung up the phone with my mom, I just started to thank God again. I had no idea any of this was going on until it was already over, but God had everything under control. I thanked God for having a means in place, where my grandpa can see where I am at all times for situations like this. I thanked God for my family, that really does a deep care for me. And I thanked God for always protecting me, even when I don’t realize it.
1 Corinthians 1:4 is one of my favorite scriptures because it speaks about relationship (my favorite thing). It says “I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.” I will continue thanking God for those he has placed in my life for each season I have been through and I hope you will do the same.
It is also my prayer that I will always continue to thank God in every situation. When things are going great, I will thank God. When things are a little harder, I will continue to thank God. I believe it really is time for us to change our mindset on how we pray and simply just thank God for all he’s done and all he is going to do. Will you join me?