Welcome to Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast. Episode 8. You Tell Us: And Be Thankful.
Hello human.
(click here to listen)
16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. Ephesians 1:16-17
Remember this, my perfect prayer for how I will love? Ephesians 1:16-17 I am saying it every day through 2023. I have put it on my bathroom mirror. Old school.
Because giving thanks for you, and everyone God surrounds me with, has everything to do with how my Witness Resolution sails in deeper water in 2023. If you are working on a spiritual resolution, has a scripture made its way to your heart? If you want to refer to scriptures on BUOY, I publish Show Notes on my website. Giving thanks is a stronghold for our spiritual resolutions we are making from deep within, all in, to Him.
A Place to Rest in Gratefulness
Today I am working toward a place of resting in my gratefulness.
To prepare, I am thinking about the mystery of God’s Will, the thievery of anxiety, and the gratitude that takes me beyond. Beyond to loving others more. To loving more “others.”
God’s Will is an open question in my head. But one sure thing we know about God’s Will for each of us: to be thankful in everything.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
I can reflect on people and life events in a more positive light when time has illuminated that which was good about my past. Nostalgia softens the emotional, psychological blow sometimes. Reflecting has its rewards, but being thankful in the throes of the moment, in any circumstance, all circumstances, is rooted in humility, and courage. Meeting God’s Will for me in that moment with gratitude.
Anxiety, on the other hand, steals the present from us. I am an expert on this.
Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Yet, God gives us a spiritual response to anxiety: embed every request in thanksgiving. Find the gratitude and lose the worry-tude. Anxiety about anything robs us of the present, and that humility and courage that keeps us in God’s will through a grateful heart.
Where does gratitude come from?
We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
Our gratitude comes from God’s first move. His love for us.
For some people, feeling unloved is a way of life. An entangled, overgrown path to lonely. If gratitude prepares the heart for more, what turns the heart from feeling unloved? We do. Through God’s love. We can discover and deepen gratitude by walking on paths other than our own. We can thank God for the people that cross our path who feel unloved. Who we are not naturally drawn to.
And I can thank God for when I struggle to feel loved. You can thank God for when you struggle to feel loved. When families struggle to love. Why? Because He is there for us.
Colossians 3:15
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
The “we” in this gratitude prayer is you and me. And anyone that is seeking a grateful heart.
Let’s pray.
A Gratitude Prayer
Gracious Heavenly Father,
Thank you for listening. Your Son thanked you for hearing Him when Lazarus was raised from the dead. We remember.
Help us to live in your will by being thankful in all circumstances. Give us the humility to live in the moment, and the courage to face our daily life—the present—with a grateful heart. Because the battle is won. You tell us that we fight for nothing other than to bring others to you. We need you for this.
Give us courage to be thankful in the moment. To be gracious to our circumstance. And the people in it.
Thank you for telling us how powerful being grateful is, that we bring every request to you with a thankful heart, that this frees us from anxiety about everything; you tell us that nothing in our lives has the power to take away the grace that enfolds us. Your grace.
We pray for clarity on our spiritual resolutions, that you will lead each of us on a path of growth that honors you and serves others with love. Help us be all-in for You, Lord.
We pray for our loved ones, families, for traveling mercies—and the tense conversations that come from relationships that need forgiveness. We know difficult family relationships are redeemable through you. Help us replace tough words with love words that show how thankful we are for family.
Help us Lord, to be thankful for our neighbors. Those we live physically close to. However diverse in how we each approach life. We see the same landscape, traverse the same in-and-out road. We prepare for weather together. Watch the same birds take flight. Exchange greetings that lift our spirits. We are at the neighborhood “well” every day. Because of our gratitude for what you have done, they are welcome in our homes. Loving them is an ongoing conversation. Help us keep that connection strong, a chronic condition of our hearts because of how divinely you love us.
Father, we are grateful for the unloved you put on our path. To love each one, to see the unspoken need and take care of it. Lord, strengthen our gratitude – give us discipline—to be steadfast—to just keep going until our gratitude turns into loving the person we need to love.
Sometimes the people we love, feel unloved. Unloved by someone. Maybe sometimes they feel unloved by You, Lord, though we know this is not true. We pray for your strength in our weakness. That you flood our hearts with the love that sent your Son to die for us.
You tell us to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, that this brings peace.
You tell us: And be thankful.
Sometimes we feel inadequate, Father. But you know that. Your unconditional divine love changes everything. It is beyond the human heart to fully understand, that you sent your Son to walk an earthly walk with us. There are moments when our spiritual reach back to you falls short. Thank you for always reaching as far as we each need to connect.
Thank you for being a Sovereign God. In a hurting, seeking, often thankless world, we are grateful.
In Jesus’ redeeming name, we pray. Amen.
Happy Thanksgiving, human.
His grace. My gratitude.
See ya on the Buoy.
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You can find me at kathrynbise.com and @buoykathrynb on Instagram.
Buoy is a Life in Deeper Water podcast.