Day 41 – Thankful for Today

Since I started blogging, I have read several times about living in the moment.

It makes sense to surrender past hurts, regrets, and offenses to God because there is no way to go back for a do over.

And it also makes sense not to worry about tomorrow but to leave it in God’s hands because He is already there.

Sometimes we have troubles with the “don’t do’s”, like if I say don’t think about an elephant, you immediately think about an elephant.

We are much more able to succeed if we do the do-this-instead’s. Like, do surrender your past to the Lord and leave it there, do trust the Lord with your tomorrow’s, and do live this present day today.

God gives us strength for today to be used for living today. He does not intend for us to squander it on living in the past or the future. No wonder we’re so often exhausted, stressed, and overwhelmed!

The one true God gives me strength; he removes the obstacles in my way. Psalm 18:32 NET

Maybe part of the reason we lose our joy is because we ruminate under the surface, focusing on yesterday’s woes, tomorrow’s fears, and even the negatives of today which seem worse than they really are because we are looking at them through a warped magnifying glass.

My son and daughter over ten years ago

There is beauty all around us, today! We just have to open our eyes and the eyes of our heart and look for it.

“This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:22 NLT

So, today I am thankful for TODAY, and I choose to be thankful for each moment God gives as He gives it! Somehow my heart feels lighter just with that detemination!

What about you? Would you like to feel the heavy burdens lifted from your heart? Surrender them to the LORD, and choose to rejoice and be glad in the beauties of each moment.

Choose Joy!

Photo credit me
Photo credit me

10 thoughts on “Day 41 – Thankful for Today”

  2. We must remind ourselves of our salvation story. When we gave our lives to Christ did we wait until after we got everything in our lives sorted out first to surrender to Him? We all have different conversion experiences, some dramatic, some radical. Many of us struggle to remember the date, we can’t can’t recall the month, the year or the context. Salvation is not something we morphed into, there has to be an experience when you recall when God knocked you down (Just like with Paul) and you realized you were a sinner and needed Christ.
    Our problem is that we tend to forget our salvation story. We forget that we received the Spirit through faith not by works. We forget that within ourselves we are powerless to change anything. And so, we go back to our old ways. We start trying to live the Kingdom life through our own logic and abilities.
    We try to be “acceptable” by keeping the law. We think what makes us righteous is by leading a moral life. Our talents and gifts, we think, makes us righteous Christians. Then we look down on others who don’t “measure up” or who have certain struggles. Or we become anxious when we feel we don’t “measure up.” We live life out of legalism instead of a child of the King. This is one of the ways we can lose joy.
    I’m not talking about being happy all of time, sometimes life is painful. But, even in those moments of hard times we can find comfort in God.

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    1. Yes, Kim, God did a miraculous thing for each of us when He saved us by His “grace, through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9
      When we start forgetting to be grateful for that, we start to go astray from walking in the Spirit, Who is the One who gives us joy. I think Jesus knew we would have that problem, and that’s one reason He instituted the Lord’s Supper, or communion, to give us a visual to help us remember what He did for us.
      And yes, you’re right that we can have joy even in trials, when we walk close to God, for true joy comes from God, and not from feel-good circumstances. God bless!

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