Gratitude: God’s Prescription for Anxiety

Can you believe we are approaching the end of 2021? Another year of twists and turns, highs and lows, and so much to wrestle with! As I sat this morning reading the blog on anxiety that I wrote last year, I had a few thoughts I wanted to share. Lest you think I have mastered this practice of thanksgiving, let me assure you I am still a work in progress; however, I can without a doubt assure you that thanksgiving truly does produce more peace. On that note, God has certainly given me many opportunities to practice this year. From a soon to be unemployed husband with no job on the horizon to an international move that involved coming down with COVID and finding our new construction home was in fact a fixer upper, I have certainly wrestled with God and struggled to see the blessings many of our circumstances. For a brief period, I lost my focus and neglected to continue practicing gratitude. That is the season that I struggled the most with deep sadness, anger, and anxiety. I have since adjusted my outlook, spent more time literally singing praises to Him (truly – the kitchen is the perfect place to sing and dance!), and made a conscious effort to find the blessings each day holds. Our heavenly father is good, and He has given us so much to be thankful for. I am currently studying Matthew and recently spent some time in Matthew 6:25-34. If you have grown up in church, this will be a very familiar passage, but don’t let that keep you from meditating on it. God knew that we would be prone to worry – that’s why he says to us in these verses TWICE, “do not worry”.

Similar to how we often try and distract our children when we know they are distraught over something, often something that doesn’t seem to be worth the drama they are displaying, we can distract our own mind by shifting our focus and thoughts away from those things we are fretting over and worrying about to the things we can thank Him for.  Throw in a little jam session to your favorite praise music and your heart will feel lighter!!  I promise! Try it!  

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and enter his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” 

Psalms 100:4

As I have wrestled with my feelings of anxiety during the early months of this year and leading into the summer, the Lord has led me to some truths that are slowly but steadily calming my anxious heart. I was beginning to feel very down and burdened by the challenges life was throwing my way, and I struggled with the lack of control I felt over my life.  In addition to all that was going on externally, there were challenges in my own home as well. My husband and I were trying to come back from a challenging year for our marriage, one in which he wrestled with some big life questions and I began to struggle with the way I was relating to him. I knew this wasn’t God’s desire for me and that I needed to adjust my perspective, but I wasn’t quite sure where to start.

In my Bible reading, the Lord opened my eyes to some scriptures that emphasize the importance of thanksgiving.  Some of these passages are 

As these scriptures were providing newly seen direction and insight to my weary soul, the Spirit was impressing on my heart to begin journaling and to include in those things I am thankful for each and every day. At first I thought, “There’s no way I can come up with four new things to be thankful for each day and last more than a few weeks.” As I sit here typing, I have been journaling, with an emphasis on thanksgiving, for a solid two months now and it’s not only getting easier to think of things most days but there are also days I feel like I could list a dozen things I am giving thanks for on that particular day.  Turns out, adopting an attitude of gratitude is just like any other habit in that the more you do it, the easier it gets until it just becomes second nature. Oh but that we, Christ’s children, would be a people known for their thankful hearts!  

There is a little Veggie Tales song that we sing sometimes in our house. The chorus goes something like this – “A thankful heart is a happy heart. I’m glad for what I have, that’s an easy place to start.”  This simple children’s song holds such truth. If, deep in our hearts and minds, we can truly adopt an attitude of thanksgiving, how different might life be for us?

You see, what God our maker, who has infinite wisdom, knew we needed was to focus on all that He has given us – which is more than any of us deserve.  He gave His LIFE! And He has given US life! In Philippians 4:6-7, we see that giving thanks precedes peace.  When our hearts are thankful, first and foremost, we have less room in them for all the wondering and worry. We can certainly bring our petitions to Christ, but we are to do so with thanksgiving.  THEN, the peace that transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and minds. In this crazy world, peace is often elusive, yet so very needed.  As a Christian, I desperately want to be a beacon of peace. I want to reflect that quality of Christ to the world, but I knew I wasn’t! I’m getting better at it though…..It is truly amazing what a shift in thinking can do!  

In 1 Thessalonians I see that we are instructed to give thanks in all circumstances. Anyone else struggle with that? Maybe some days, all we are thankful for is the air we have to breathe and enough food to sustain our life. Yet the reality is that most all of us probably want for very little, and though we no doubt have challenges, we are truly blessed beyond measure.  

Curious if there was any science to back up what I was experiencing personally, and what scripture was telling me, I did a quick online search for “how thankfulness affects the mind.” At least a dozen findings popped up showing me that thankfulness really does make a difference. “If [thankfulness] were a drug, it would be the world’s best-selling product with a health maintenance indication for every major organ system,” said Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, head of the division of biological psychology at Duke University Medical Center. (in an article on ABC written by Mikaela Conley on Nov 22, 2011)  There is much more that showed up, including some interesting studies, but this quote pretty much sums it up.  

So my challenge to you is to be intentional in looking for things in your life to be grateful for.  

Not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day – especially the hard ones!  Something I am learning is that in nearly every situation that I find irritating or stressful there is an element that perhaps I can even be thankful for! I pray that with enough practice and the Holy Spirit’s help, I will be able to look at challenges in my life and truly see the blessing in them and even be able to express gratitude for them. In this way, I pray He will allow me to be a beacon of His peace to this world. Praise God He’s not done with us yet!