Hello, friends!!
November is on its way and that means so is Thanksgiving and Christmas!
WHAAAAT?!!!!
I can’t believe this year is almost over or that the holidays are fast approaching! I am gearing up for the holiday markets for my craft biz.
And if you’re a Kentucky resident, I just announced this week that I will be hosting my first ever workshop on Saturday 11/1/2019. The workshop is all about gratitude journaling.
Some time ago I did a series on journaling but this time I feel the Lord leading me to take this teaching to my local community. I’m incredibly nervous and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. It is such a vulnerable act to speak to real live people. You know public speaking is one of those things most people say they’d rather die than do. I so feel that! But I feel this is God’s leading so we’ll see what happens.
There are so many benefits to journaling, but especially so with journaling your gifts or blessings.
Dr. Caroline Leaf mentions a few in her book Think, Learn, Succeed:
“Research on the effects of gratitude has on our biology shows how being thankful increases our longevity, our ability to use our imagination, and our ability to problem-solve. It also improves our overall health.”
Dr. Caroline Leaf –
Why do I have to be thankful? It is easy to see all the bad things that have happened in your life. But there are always good things we can see if we choose.
Choose to see.
Y’all, I’ll be the first to tell you it’s not easy moving away from the negative thinking and choosing to see the good … the good gifts God lays out for you to see. It’s taken me a looooooooong time to come and align my thinking up with what God has called us to do which is:
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thes. 5:18
How can I be thankful?
I really bucked at this verse in my younger years. How can I be thankful after all this bad stuff that’s happened to me? And then I realized why He asked this of me after another devastating blow came into my life. It was to keep me from drowning in self-pity and despair.
Ann Voskamp says this about gratitude or giving thanks,
“Give thanks to keep the gaze on heaven.”
One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp
Why do I have to be thankful? When we give thanks we turn our eyes away from gazing at the bad stuff onto the good. And this is why the practice of counting gifts or documenting your gratitude in a journal is so important and beneficial. It helps you see.
Why do I have to be thankful?
When we give thanks we turn our eyes away from gazing at the bad stuff onto the good. And this is why the practice of counting gifts or documenting your gratitude in a journal is so important and beneficial. It helps you see.
So, y’all! Whether you’re in Kentucky or not, I hope you will join me on this challenge for the month of November!
Happy Thanksgiving! Yep, I said it early. ;-P
Be loved and go love!
In His grace,
Coach C
