Heart Choices: Thankful Thursday ~ Random -->

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Thankful Thursday ~ Random


The theme for this week's Thankful Thursday is random. First of all, I want to thank Iris of Grace Alone, who is the host of Thankful Thursday's. It's been a blessing to participate each week, especially since this has been a very challenging time in my life.

Making the choice to focus my attention on all the things for which I can be grateful has been so helpful.

It's all a matter of perspective. How do you view life? Do you see the glass as half emtpy or ...is it actually half full?

My desire is to view my life through a lens of gratefulness. And it starts with a simple choice.

The Bible says in Philippians 4:8 "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

So, instead of thinking about all the bad things that could possibly happen, what if instead ...you begin to focus on what is praiseworthy?

May I suggest that you consider keeping a thankful journal? This is a great way to focus your attention on what is good, right and lovely in your life.

And then if you have a difficult and challenging day, you can open your thankful journal and remember how good God has been to you in the past. And that will give you hope for today.

I am thankful that I had a day to spend with my friends from San Antonio, Texas. I had been sad when this family moved away from Arizona. But, I'm thankful for the times when they come to visit their family and that they take the time in their busy schedule to spend with me. Thank you Todd and Jamie!

I'm also excited and thankful that today I am going to the Phoenician resort for Christmas tea. My friend Terri has invited me each year and it's become an annual event that I look forward to with great anticipation. I will take pictures and blog about it tomorrow. The Phoenician is always so beautifully decorated for the holidays. With good food and great friends, what's not to like? And it's one more thing I can write about in my thankful journal.

How about you? Do you see the glass as half empty or half full? Will you make the choice to focus on all you have to be thankful for today? I want to hear from you.

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Debbie Petras
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13 comments:

  1. May you be sweetly blessed dear.

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  2. Amen Debbie, I have recently found on the internet someone from my hometown who is a motivational speaker. I agree with the things he says and can relate very well and probably practice a good portion of what he says; however, his seminars do not contain scripture and I can understand he is not a preacher. I just have a hard time not giving God the glory for everything. And when I leave a seminar like that I leave feeling it lacked something. I say that to say this, thank you for including God's Word in your motivational blog.

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  3. Have a great time today, I have been there maybe twice. Beautiful!! I love the idea of a praise journal, it is so easy to focus on what is not going right instead of all the things that HAVE gone right.

    Have a great day.

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  4. I agree with all you said about staying thankful and how a journal can help with that. I've been keeping a running list of Thanks to the Lord as a part of my prayer journal for years. I try to write 2-3 things each day that I'm thankful for. When I need a little reminder of how good God has really been to me, I pull that out and am always blessed.

    Having a thankful heart makes a big difference in life! :-)

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  5. great idea about a "thankful journal"! It's so important to focus on what's good. My daughter had to go to a rough high school, when we moved to IL & she saw so many horrible things. I'd ask "how were things today?".. she tell me all the horrors of that day. So after she'd tell me of her day, I began asking "what good thing happened today?" the conversations ended on the upbeat & it seemed to help her put things in perspective.

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  6. I have heard about the Phonecian! Enjoy that tea. :) Thank you for sharing your thankful heart this Thursday. Be blessed!

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  7. What a great idea about the journal. Whatever it takes to think on what is good and lovely. I hate it when my mind gets stuck on the mountain instead of the Mountain Mover! Have fun with your friend!

    Love,
    Beth

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  8. Yes, what a great post on perspectives....

    Hope you have a great time at your tea. I do this with my friends each Christmas too.

    Blessings♥

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  9. The Journal is a great idea. I've kept a 'thought and blessings' journal for many years - to remember the little things in my life - a thoughtful gesture, advice in a time of need etc. When I read back I get to see the amazing things I can be thankful for. The journal helps me to remember my blessings. (How can you be thankful for what you have if you can't remember?) The best part too is that I can share these memories with my kids and maybe they can also learn from the stories of my life.

    Nice post. God jul.

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  10. Debra,

    In the back of the book I wrote I put a thankful journal - knowing that as people made changes they would need to keep track of the progress they made and be thankful for the littlest achievements - because when it gets hard - which life and change always is - we can look back and see how faithful God continues to be!

    Hugs and blessings. So glad you were able to spend time with your friends.

    Enjoy your evening!
    Love,
    Jill

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  11. Hi Debbie. You have such a thoughtful post. I enjoyed it. This stuck out to me.....
    My desire is to view my life through a lens of gratefulness.

    Can you imagine how different people would be if we all worked to make this our goal in life? We do have a choice!

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  12. Love your "Thankful Thursday"!! And I now view the glass as half-full where I used to view it as half-empty!! What a chance this has made.

    I started a "Gratitude Journal" right before Thanksgiving. I journal quite a bit, but this journal is set aside only for thankfulness. Every evening before I go to bed, I write one thing--just one--big or small--that I am thankful for during that day, and then include my thanks to God in my prayers.

    This has worked wonders in my life--looking at the positives instead of the negatives. It's so easy to focus on the negatives, and they do nothing but literally eat us alive.

    Focusing on the positives, however, make us feel the love from God, how He has provided for us, the beauty of His creation, and His great love for us.

    Beth

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  13. Came from Sandy's blog because I liked your smile :-). I am so glad I did. I'm going to log off right now and make my list of things to be thankful for. It is SO easy to get caught up in fear (all day so far!!)and worry about everything that is going wrong. It will do good for me to remind myself of all the beauty and joy in my life and hold onto that fact that God gave me that, and will protect me from the fear and worry. Thanks for the encouragement!

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I love to read your comments! I know you have something to share so join in the conversation. And thank you for taking the time.

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