Cultivating Thankfulness

There was a time in my life where I would spend hours reading and studying my Bible in the quietness of my room. My journal pages were full of heartfelt prayers. Sometimes I would even look up different verses in different translations of the Bible, just to gain a better understanding of scripture.

It was wonderful, and I will always look back on that time in my life with fondness.

But now I'm a mother. I don't have hours upon hours to quietly study scripture. In fact, most of the quiet hours that I do have, I'm asleep!

While I do still try to keep up a journal, I'm definitely not as consistent as I once was.

Nowadays most of my prayer time feels like I'm constantly sending out flares.

"Jesus, please help me speak with a kind voice."

"Lord, give me grace to not snap in anger towards this child."

"God, I can't do this, I'm so tired, please give me the strength and energy I need to get through this day."

I'd venture to guess I'm not the only mom whose prayer life looks like this. It's praying without ceasing at it's finest.

Something I've been thinking about, and convicted of is that my prayer life is almost always centered around requests(mainly requests for help.) While I should be constantly asking God for help, and relying on his grace to get through the day, I've also been feeling led to remember to thank God for the random things that happen throughout the day.

"Jesus, thank you for this precious baby with the adorable belly laugh."

"Lord, thank you for allowing me to be home with these children, and for giving me the opportunity to point them to you. Thank you for blessing me with a hardworking husband."

"Oh, Father, they are so cute writing stories! Thank you for their imaginations, and for allowing them to be such good friends."

The amazing thing is that the more I strive to be more intentional with being thankful, the more joy I start to have. The more joy I have, the more peaceful our home is.

And isn't that the kind of home we all long to give our families?

It's a beautiful thing to show our children not only how dependent we are on Jesus, but also showing them how thankful we are for them and the things around us.

Be sure to enter the giveaway for ABC Say it with Me!

If you enjoyed this post, I would be honored if you followed my blog via email or"liked" my page on facebook. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Linked to A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Raising Arrows, Walking Redeemed, Raising Homemakers, Modest Mom