How Gratitude Heals Us and Wakes Us Up to See God

Several years ago, moved by Ann Voskamp’s words in One Thousand Gifts, I began naming what I was grateful for. It’s not as if I really believed it would do anything more than cause me to practice gratitude. But I was surprised by the impact being thankful actually had on me.

Gratitude as a discipline

Since then I’ve made many gratitude lists. I’ve scratched them down in journals, typed them into my phone and even bled them onto napkins. Because it’s not what we write them on that counts, but how we daily carve them into our hearts that makes a difference.

At first it was discipline, but what kept me numbering my thanks were the words of Paul in Philippians 4:6-7. I had read them many times before, but it was different as I laid my list over these verses and they traced themselves back to me.

From the bleakness of a cold prison cell Paul wrote these words:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Gratitude as an antidote to worry and anxiety

Can you imagine Paul chained up in prison and choosing to pen these words? That’s what struck me at first, because I know when I’m suffering or going through something hard my first response is to complain and worry about how hard it is. But that’s not what Paul did.

In one of the hardest situations of their life, how does someone choose to pray and give thanks?

I hadn’t thought of this connection much before. I didn’t realize how a heart filled with thanksgiving couldn’t be filled with anxiety too. That instead we get to choose what we allow to consume our heart. I’m sure I might have known life required this kind of intentionality, because I knew it was true for parenting and in marriage, but what I hadn’t thought of was how this mattered with our hearts too.

I didn’t fully know when I was choosing to be anxious or worried, that I could choose to be thankful too. Everyone of us has two these choices: to give God thanks or to spend ourselves in worry.

Gratitude as healing for grief

Unknown to me, God was laying a foundation to prepare me for the hard and holy days ahead, where he would teach me to number my grief as goodness.

When my Mom unexpectedly died a few years later, I bought my Dad a small leather notebook to list his thankfulness in. I know it can sound counterintuitive to suggest someone neck-deep in grief to count their blessings, but we are thankful not because of our circumstances, but because of who God is.

It’s right there in Paul’s words. Right in the middle of him listing what the Philippians should do he says instead of worrying, they should give God thanks.

I had no idea that just a short time later my Dad would come for a visit and pass away within the walls of my home. And I would be the one who would need to pen my blessings to keep me from sinking into a dark pit. Because I knew if I let all my grief steal my joy it would also steal my purpose.

Gratitude as a way to see God’s goodness

The practice of looking for God’s goodness makes us more aware of what God is doing in our lives.

Instead of looking down at all that is going wrong, I’ve found joy in looking out for the traces of God. This is necessary to our healing, especially for those of us who have experienced trauma. The connection of us seeing God at work in our lives reminds us of his deep love for us. It anchors us to him and restores our trust in him.

Because no matter what happens, being thankful for every good thing always leads us home into the presence of God.

As God works in us, he reassures us that he will never leave us, even if our lives change. It’s there in his daily provisions we feel seen, known and loved by God.

Gratitude as a way to experience God’s love

When we experience these sweet interactions, we know the depth of his love and the extreme distance he will travel to reach us. It’s here God longs to be invited into our hidden wounds and bring us healing from the inside out.

I wonder what goodness you might string upon your list? And where it might take you and how it will bring you healing?

You see, God never wastes his time. He’s always intentional. And he continuously reminds us of truth especially when we may have forgotten it. The daily remembering of his goodness, the emptying of ourselves teaches us to fully live alive, awake and aware of all he is doing. In this we are choosing to be present and never absent from God, whether we remain here or are with him in heaven – we are at home with him.

And this is what it means to live fully present in the heart Christ.