About

Scripture quotations are taken from the NASB. You can find an online copy (and the place from which I copy it) here.

About the Layout

The list of labels along the side is a list of struggles my thankful things speak to. Please see Lists for more details.

Please feel free to post comments on the Community page about what you're thankful for, what a thankful thing has meant to you, your personal encouragements, or new labels you think can be added to a thankful thing.

If something seems to be capitalized at random, scroll over it; it's likely a link to what I'm mentioning, or to an older thankful thing or Weekly Impression.

I have broken down my goal of 1,000 thankful things into sets of 100, and have specific themes for each set. Here is a list of those themes/titles:

• Thankful Things 1-100:  My Thankful Beginning ~ A Shift in Focus (Journal for sale!)  
• Thankful Things 101-200:  Walking in Thankfulness (Devotional Email Series)
• Thankful Things 201-300:  Thankfulness:  It's Intentional 
• Thankful Things 301-400:  Thankful for My Marriage 
• Thankful Things 401-500:  Thankful Prayers
• Thankful Things 501-600:  Thankful for His Grace

Thank you for your interest in my blog! For a piece of my testimony, and the story behind why I started this blog, see The Story below.

The Story

Philippians 4:4-9

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

I struggled with depression from childhood through much of my adult life.  It often seemed as though I walked on an edge that split a dark and endless abyss. One misstep or loss of balance and I gripped that knife-edge with my fingernails. The only thing that kept me from falling was my relationship with Jesus Christ. As a child, I saw Him as the lighted path through the roiling and monstrous dark. Later, I discovered another who saw it this way:  John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress.

I followed these two analogies as a sort of road map through life. There’s only one way you can take the next step and not fall off of the knife-edge; and keep to the middle of the road, lest you veer too far or let the monsters snatch you off the path. The problem for me in following these? The driving force is fear.

Take the knife-edge precipice. You have to worry about walking that edge. Your focus is down on your feet. Your arms are outstretched, but unable to grab anything to support yourself. You must place your foot just so. Don’t make any sudden movements. In this, you lose sight of your destination (Jesus Christ), and your focus is on yourself. Once you’ve made the inevitable mistake and are hanging by your fingernails, you look down for a few heart-stopping moments at the abyss beneath you. You might consider letting go at that point, but if you’re reading this, either you chose not to, or God didn’t let you. At that point, you have to shift your focus up, on getting back up to that edge. This choice denotes a fear - a respect, at the very least - of the abyss beneath you. Your drive is still fear.

Philippians 4:4-9 speaks about having joy in the Lord.  Specifically, verses 6-7 say:  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

So how can I stop that downward spiral? How can I exercise 1 John 4:18 (“perfect love casts out fear”) and cease to be afraid?  How can I stop worrying about every single step?

By being thankful. It is a completely different mindset. Trying to fight the fear gets me nowhere, because that is like “answering a fool according to his folly” (Proverbs 26:4). If you argue with a fool, neither of you will be the wiser. Instead, I must stop focusing on myself and my situation and focus on God, and on what He has done for me.

This blog is my journey to a thankful heart. I am committed to changing my mindset to be constantly searching for God - to see God - and to be thankful for what He has done. I encourage you to join me in my goal of finding 1,000 things I am thankful for. This blog is part of my accountability.

The true goal isn’t 1,000 things; that’s just what I’m using to get to my goal:  a thankful heart. To “set my mind on the things above, rather than the things that are on earth.”  (Colossians 3:2) Because I want that peace that surpasses all comprehension to guard my heart and mind in Christ. Will you join me?

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I am excited and thankful to say I no longer walk that precipice of fear, worry, and depression. Christ has used a combination of this blog, in its spiritual Milk of thankfulness, as well as a wonderful Biblical Counselor to lead me out of that darkness and into His marvelous light of Joy. I find it highly useful to continue in writing about something I am thankful for each day, to help me shift my focus from myself and onto my amazing God. Without renewing my mind, it can be easy to fall back into old habits.

If you would like to seek biblical counseling, I would highly recommend going to an ACBC certified counselor. ACBC stands for Association of Certified Biblical Counselors, and you can find out more about them here. You can find an ACBC counselor by clicking on the tab at the same website, or by clicking here.