Gratitude>Grumbling

I don't know about you, but in my life, it's so easy to fall into the trap of judging others for their grumbling and then justifying my own. 

I see it around me, but am blind to it in my own life. And then I wonder why all the bumps and bruises. It's because I've been walking blind. Grumbling only increases my stumbling in the place I am walking through. 

God is sovereign. 

Not just over the situations I like, but even over the ones I don't. 

God is good. 

Not just in the situations that make me happy, but even in the ones that shake me to my core. 

   

Those simple truths are what fuel my gratitude. 

I have to let the fire of those truths sweep through my heart to refine and purify my heart, my mind, my intentions, my plans, and my actions. 

Gratitude opens my eyes to see not just A WAY but to see HIS WAY- no matter how dark or daunting the place I'm in. 

Gratitude is transformational. 

Grumbling is toxic. 

So what am I choosing: toxicity or transformation? 

Everything I encounter may not be the situation I want, but the ONE I want above all has already seen it, known it, and made every provision for me so I can walk through it victoriously. 

He is sovereign. He is good. And He wants a relationship with me. 

THAT is worth my attitude of gratitude. 

It isn't easy, but it's possible when we focus our mind on Jesus, our eyes on the Father, and our ears on the Spirit. 

Praying that in His strength we can all walk out that #SimpleTruth today. ~Julie

Thankful for the Empty

I remember as a little girl being taught to say "thank you". Some of the "magic words", they say.

My chubby little hands full of whatever thing I had wanted or had been given...it was always supposed to end up with a "thank you".

But no one tells you when you are little that you will have to learn to say thank you with empty hands.

When you are staring at Thanksgiving Day for the first time without a grandparent, it feels empty.

When you are faced with a day all about thanks, but friendships once present are painfully absent.

When you are walking through daily life with the glass of fractured and broken realtionships painful all in your soul, and you're supposed to be grateful.

I'm not gonna lie.

Thankfulness is tough.

Life shoves you up under the water and then you hear a muffled yell, "Be thankful!"...when all you want to do is breathe.

You can only pretend you have air in your lungs for so long. At some point, stuff starts shutting down and you are sinking to the bottom.

Anyone?

Empty places make you feel like that.

And thank you is hard.

I'm not just talking about routine thank you's in the middle of lack, though.

Finding ways to give thanks in the voids of life is one thing. 

But the hard place God has been leading me? To give thanks for them.

Being the good girl, I want to scurry around and stay busy making lists of all that I do have- a good practice...but not without its ulterior motives. 

See, I rationalize that if I keep my mind busy enough, it won't continuously remind my heart of the aching, gaping hole. 

But all the while, the Lord is asking me to stop and stand up right in the middle of that empty place and learn to praise Him for what isn't there.

He wants me to trust Him in the taking so I can believe Him for the filling.

He wants me to be grateful for the absence so I can be more aware of His presence.

Saying thank you as you hand over something you don't want to give away? That's tough.

Saying thank you again and again as you stand empty handed for what seems like forever? It feels impossible.

But God.

His grace will take you where you cannot go on your own- right to the middle of that empty place.

Because I promise that is where I have found-and you will find- His loving arms hold you the tightest, His promises ring the truest, His hope shines the brightest, His presence is the fullest.

So I am learning to take a deep breath of grace, and hold out these hands-remembering the empty hands that Jesus stretched out for me.

Why?

Because His empty hands led to an empty tomb!

The stone wasn't just rolled away so Jesus could get out...it was so we could see in! 

Otherwise, we would have assumed death resided there! 

They had to look at the empty place so they could see that it gave rise to LIFE! 

Jesus gave me an empty tomb to be thankful for so that I can give thanks for my empty places. 

He turns misery into marvel.

He grows a garden of gratitude from the gaping holes of life.

With Jesus, LIFE always comes breaking out of the empty places!

It's true, I'm all grown up now. 

But to be perfectly honest, I still feel periodically inclined to have a tantrum about what isn't in my hands.

But God.

God is teaching me to say "thank you" instead. Not because they are magic words, but because they are words full of power and life.

Maybe you, too, are faced with your empty in this season of gratitude.

Don't lose hope: LOOSE it in the middle of your empty place by thanking God for the life that will most assuredly spring from it.

"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

Isaiah 43:19

"...Abraham was first named “father” and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. ” 

Romans 4:17-18 The Message

"But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened."

Luke 24:12

Share #SimpleTruth today:

"God wants me to trust Him in the taking so I can believe Him for the filling." -@JuliePMac #SimpleTruth #emptyhands #thankfulheart

Give Thanks

I realize now that I didn’t initially put it on my porch for me.

It is the cutest little wood framed chalk board you ever saw, which I added last minute to my front porch Fall decor.

I wrote simply: “Give Thanks”.

Then, I hung it on the back of one of my rocking chairs for approaching guests to admire- amongst my vintage cider jars, an endearing sign about pumpkin spice and lots of burlap….but I digress.

It hung there on the side of that rocker facing toward my steps up to the front door at just the right angle…at least for a while.

Today, as I sat in my favorite chair in my den, I looked out the windows toward the rocker and staring in at me were the words, “Give Thanks”.

My first thought was simple: I need to go turn that sign around. 

A few moments later: Man, I know I am going to forget to turn that sign around. 

A few minutes after that: Stop staring at me, sign! You’re freaking me out!

So I stared back.

And that is when I realized that the words were facing in exactly the right direction.

So many times I only give thanks from the outside in, when I really need to be first giving thanks from the inside out.

We stand on the front porch of other people’s life and circumstances and think how thankful they should be.

But we rarely stand on the inside of our own life mess and give thanks in the middle of it.

We are willing to wear thankful as a logo- a sign hung on the front porch of life for the world to see, yet never knead thankfulness into the fabric of our own heart.

Because somedays, that takes excruciating effort. 

Somedays, it takes looking beyond the crazy of what our eyes see.

Somedays we all need a sign staring at us through the window: Give Thanks.

So today...

Sitting in the middle of your mess, give thanks.

Sitting in the middle of your lack, give thanks.

Sitting in the middle of your loss, give thanks.

Sitting in the middle of your questions, give thanks.

Sitting in the middle of your pain, give thanks.

Sitting in the middle of your loneliness, give thanks.

Sitting in the middle of it all, give thanks.

Give thanks inside out.

Acknowledge Jesus as the Giver and trust Him with what He has given.

Not because it will radically change your circumstance, or even the way the world views it.

Give thanks because it radically changes YOU. 

When Jesus sets your feet on a path, He equips you to walk it with victory.

Give thanks.

When Jesus allows tearing down, He is about to do some building up.

Give thanks.

When Jesus seems silent, He wants you to listen hard for game changing truth He is about to speak.

Give thanks.

When Jesus allows rejection in your life, He is ushering in His protection over your life.

Give thanks.

Give thanks, not because you want Jesus to work in your life...give thanks because He already is.

Give thanks inside out and have your perspective transformed, your life empowered, your mind renewed and joy restored.

Thank you, little chalkboard sign.

When you turned around, you turned me around too. 

#GiveThanks