An Attitude of Praise and Thankfulness (A Guest Post)

Tuesday, April 12, 2016
The following is a guest post by Kristie Hillway of IntoHimSee. You can check out her blog here, and I would highly recommend you follow her on Instagram. Her account is one of my favorites, and that is actually where she and I started getting to know each other. If you are looking for a super-encouraging-Christian-cool-kid to follow on Instagram, Kristie is your girl!


You know when things just aren’t going your way and it frustrates you?
Work messed up your pay and your behind on your bills,
Your husband/wife didn’t do the favour you asked,
Your kids aren’t listening and are driving you up the wall,
You lost your job,
You’re going through a break up,
Your car broke down and you now you’re stuck…
These are all things that can cause us stress.

Praising God and thanking Him when things are difficult is hard for us. For some reason we like feeling sorry for ourselves and we allow our circumstances to rule us.
Last week I had a number of things happen that really stressed me out and upset me. I allowed myself to marinate in that frustration and I developed a stinker of an 
attitude!


My boyfriend and I were driving home the other night after a meeting at his church and as I sat there, leaking my horrible attitude. He stopped and asked me what I was thankful for. Then he asked me what my favourite parts about God are and then He got me to pray and praise God and tell Him what I think of Him. At the start I struggled, but after naming a few things I was thankful for and talking about what I love about God, something shifted. Joy entered in.

When I looked beyond what I was feeling and made a decision to thank God and praise Him, it allowed room for the Holy Spirit to raise me up.


“When you complain, you remain. When you praise you are raised.” -Joyce Meyer

If we choose to just sit in our problems and complain about our life, God cannot move within us because we are standing in the way. And how can you see the good that God is doing in your life if you’re just focusing on what is wrong with your life?
Complaining will stunt your growth.
But when you praise God, He raises you up! You might still be in a frustrating situation, but taking your eyes off that and putting them on God, who is so good, gives Him the space to work within you and it releases such joy!

The atmosphere in the car that night shifted as soon as I started praising Him. Suddenly I was not speaking out negative things and complaining, I was full of joy and thankfulness!
My situation has not changed, but my attitude certainly did! And as soon as I was able to stand and praise God and thank Him continually, He lifted me out of that situation.


Praising will raise you. Complaining will hold you down.

In a world that is constantly changing, it is so important that we hold tight to our God is unchanging- the same yesterday, today and forever. And He is so, so good and so wonderful.
He is worthy of our praise. And an attitude of thankfulness will take you far in the Kingdom.





2 comments

  1. Lovely post! Very uplifting words that were perfect for me to read today.

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  2. actions that express our gratitude and awareness of the good we constantly receive. Actually, when we perform these actions, our feelings often turn themselves around. http://rastarailey21.livejournal.com/

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