Gratitude Builds Resilience

Hey Church,

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite holidays because it focuses on family and gratitude instead of something that is overly commercialized. What a great idea to pause and spend time with our loved ones and focus on the blessings we all have right in front of us. In my profession as a therapist, I am often challenged with clients that are deeply wounded and in a lot of despair and so gratitude is hard to come by. In these cases, even the smallest challenges in life bring panic and anxiety attacks. This is what we call a low sense of emotional resilience. One of the things that helps to build this resilience is making daily gratitude journals. This is proven to be effective to fight depression and build a sense of resilience so that when lesser challenges come you have a reference point for all of the good that is happening in your life and not so much just dwelling on the things going wrong. Paul writes about this in Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

This is where gratitude will build resilience. When we pray, we use the power of thanksgiving and gratitude and then God pours out peace that surpasses human understanding that guards our hearts and minds. That means our emotional well-being will be secure. It doesn't take away problems but equips us with peace to gracefully walk through the fire with Him. 

-Joel

Song List:

Praise- Elevation- https://youtu.be/f2oxGYpuLkw?si=go2LZicU5EqEUEEj

Goodness of God- https://youtu.be/n0FBb6hnwTo?si=Nk7FQshJeqbgBZse

Anchor- Hillsong- https://youtu.be/87GYkLfQQ-8?si=bCIYUZMriyAcWaFG

Reckless Love- Cory Asbury- https://youtu.be/6xx0d3R2LoU?si=i9czaKsVyihi2qP8