Do you ever struggle with gratitude?

Do you ever struggle with gratitude? I know I do. Sometimes, I want to just grumble and complain. Oh God forgive me! My mom Olive Kathy Warren is blessing me so much as I watch her journey a very difficult season. Literally, she oozes thankfulness and gratitude. She is having to figure out a new norm and when we talk she tells me of the simple joys she had that day. 

This morning as I read 1 Chronicles 23, I read again that the priests were given the task to start the day and end the day with giving praise and thankfulness to the LORD. As I prayed over our family asking God to make us a people that start our day and end our day in praise and thankfulness, I was reminded of how praise and thankfulness are a gift to us mentally, emotionally, socially, physically, and even spiritually.

Did you know that scientists have done research and that patients that give thanks and gratitude release serotonin and dopamine the feel good hormones? Science supports what God has already shown us. 

"Give thanks to the LORD for He is good. His love endures forever!" (Psalm 136:1-2).

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16

When I taught at the University of Houston in a lab school, we used to have a saying on really bad days when it seemed like the whole classroom was in complete chaos, "He/she has good bones." No matter how bad it got, we could find something good to say. Even if it was simply someone has good bones. They couldn't do what they were doing if their bones were not functioning well. Lol.

What can you give thanks for today? How can you praise God? Thankfulness and gratitude are gifts of God that give back to you. Give them freely and give them generously. Blessings will over flow inside you because of it! 

By the way, I praise God for you!

Written February 4, 2022

God was with Joseph

God was with Joseph

Have you ever felt like every time you turn around someone else is doing you wrong? If anyone could give this as a complaint it is Joseph in the Bible. Yet, we are told God was with Joseph! Literally, every time something bad happened Joseph had this way of landing upright on his feet even when sold into slavery, thrown into jail, and while being forgotten! Through it all, God was with Joseph. What was it that made Joseph such a blessing to those he served? 

This recording is one of the longer ones. I imagine most won't even take the time to give it a thorough listen. Ain't nobody got time for that! But, the reality is that we all need to listen to and read Joseph's story more often. 

There are life principles we need to grasp with the first one being that we recognize that through it all GOD IS WITH US! HE ALONE IS THE ONE WHO BLESSES US! 

Greg asked me how my morning was going when he came home for lunch. I shared with him that I had to record this over and over, but through it all, I felt so blessed. Each time, I discovered a new thought and nuance to the story that weaved its way into my soul! I love the mornings when I get a chance to record. They are my personal soul food!

The spiritual discipline of storytelling

God showed me how He took a struggle and fear into a spiritual disciple that became an act of worship. 

Click on this to hear what God taught me: The spiritual disciple of telling a Bible story