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Thankful, Grateful, Blessed

Did you know there is a difference between thankful and grateful? I was this years old when I figured that out. I even have a wood plaque thinger on my counter in the kitchen that says “Thankful, Grateful, Blessed” It was a gift from a dear friend so I put it up and never really considered the depth of it. I’ve had it for almost 4 years now. I do remember thinking it was a little redundant… silly me.

Thankfulness is often associated with either words or gesture of appreciation.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines thankful as “conscious of benefits received”. It is a conscious act from the person who received the benefits. It can be an automatic response most of the time. Just like a habit, you automatically say thank you to the people who have helped you when you needed it.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines grateful as “appreciative of benefits received”. It is a way of expressing appreciation with or without an act. Grateful is a sense of feeling that happens at a deeper level that comes from within your heart. When you feel grateful for something, you can express your feelings without using words or any physical act. It can be from within.

Have you ever written a grateful note? Nope. It’s a thank you note. The act of writing and sending.
Do you celebrate Gratitudegiving? Nope. Thanksgiving is an act… an event.

Grateful is a feeling while thankful is an act. When someone does something good to you, you feel grateful for him, and you offer your thanks to him as an action.

Colossians 3:12-17 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness,^(Y) humility,^(Z) gentleness,^(AA) and patience,^(AB)13bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.^(AC) ¹⁴Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. ¹⁵And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called^(AD) in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,^[d] singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name^(AE) of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:12 uses both thankful and gratitude. Paul is telling the church to do and be these things, while the condition of their heart is gratitude.

^{Colossians 4:2}Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving.

Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
Hebrews tell us to be thankful with the act of worship. We don’t worship to GET all the feels we worship to show our thankfulness to and for God.

As I’ve shared in previous posts the last 3 years have been especially refining. I can know comprehend and the difference between the two. As I focus less on being critical on every thing all the time I find myself more grateful. A critical spirit has been replaced by a grateful spirit. Which is then followed by doing more things out of thankfulness. Like my little plaque says I now see how “blessed” I am more clearly. They all go hand in hand.

The cool part of this picture is whats around it as well. I have my fig tree (yes… I’ll explain that in another post. 😉 ), my little houses stand that reminds me to make becoming a “Bethany House” duplicatable, and flowers from my mom and girls. All reminders of growth and blessings.

I am grateful.

Stop. Just STOP it.

On Monday at 2:15 pm I posted that I was starting a blog.

At 2:16 pm my anxiety kicked in. I wanted to change my mind and delete it all. I could see and hear it all in my head:

People screenshotting my post and texting it to someone “of course she did… #eyeroll”

“Oh great… now we can hear more about God and all the “great” things. #annoying”

“Who does she think she is?”

“She just wants to be famous…good luck” (I don’t to be clear)

“YAY! Another blog to NOT read! “

Stop it.

Caught off guard by how panicked I felt, I actually flipped to my heart rate monitor on my watch to see just how ridiculous this was. The only perk to my racing heart was maybe burning a few extra calories. I closed my computer, pushed my phone away and grabbed my journal. “God, what is happening? Why am I so freaked out about this? My confidence is in You, not others’ opinions. Please use this for your glory.”

Have you ever done or not done something because you were afraid of what people would think or say? All the stinkin’ time! This blog and many other things would have happened much, much sooner if my own insecurity wasn’t an issue. Naturally, I am a fearful person. Always have been. Do you know what exacerbates that? Being critical.

A while back I found myself in the mode of constantly looking for the bad in things and people. It was a pretty awful place to exist, not gonna lie. It snuck up on me because I could make it funny. So was it critical if people were laughing? I cringe as I admit to it. We all do it…or so I thought. There are TV shows geared to laughing at someone else’s expense. No big deal! That is until I found myself wanting to do things but being paralyzed by my own judgment and insecurity. I had become enslaved and paralyzed by my own criticism. James 4:10-12 tell us to be humble and not judge others. I was failing at this and it backfired! “If I put myself out there people will destroy me behind my back!”

Staaaaahhhhhhppppp IT!

“You are seriously the most insecure person I have ever met.” burned my ear through the phone. Ouch. I didn’t even realize how out of control it was! My insecurity had spiraled into poor decisions and was leaving a path of destruction in relationships. I needed to just jump off the crazy train, tuck and roll style. I read books about insecurity and became a hermit for a while. It hurt and I didn’t walk away unharmed. My heart, my pride… all the things wounded.

The clouds of guilt and shame have since parted. I enjoy people, social events and life in general so much more now. The one opinion that matters most is God’s. That’s not to say my anxiety and these bad habits don’t try to take me down once in a while. But I am aware now, and I ask forgiveness as soon as I realize it. The more I learn about who God is the more peace I have about who I am. He’s got this, my job is to share Him in an honest, noble, pure, lovely, and admirable way. The peace follows. (Phil 4:8,9)

So invite that person to coffee, plan a dinner with friends, go to that small group. If someone is on your heart or mind… reach out. Just go in with a humble heart and walk away without criticism. Let me tell you the joy that comes when you realize God used you for good. It’s priceless.

Phil 4:8,9 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is love, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

James 4:10-12 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters.

So many questions!

Years ago, I told God I would go/ do/ be ANYTHING for Him. I meant it.

I still mean it. Probably more so now than ever.

The book “Anything” by Jennie Allen was very eye-opening to my willingness (or lack thereof) to be ALL IN committed to the God I have spent my life believing. But what was I doing with my life? Was there fruit from my belief? Did I really believe, or was this all just part of my routine? What fruit was coming from my faith? (John 15:5, 16)

When my sweet grandfather-in-law passed away, I witnessed a funeral of someone who was ALL IN. Grandpa Art lived a life of complete dedication to God and discipling others. I’d never been to a funeral like it. I’ve not been to a lot, but enough to know he lived in a way that I didn’t.

A switch flipped in me that day. No one would say I was ALL IN for Jesus if I died today; My funeral would not be like his. Sweet mercy, I have some serious work to do! I have to stop caring what people think and start caring about what God wants first and foremost.

So many questions rolled around in my head (which is ironic because my oldest asks 700,000 questions a day. It makes me nuts.). 🙂

~ What is it going to be like when I die and stand before Him?

~ Will I have given Him all I’ve got?

~ What about the people in my life?

Recently, a book I was reading asked:

“What would it be like to watch your spouse stand before God? Did you do everything in your life to help (not make) that moment be a ‘Well done’ moment?” Ouch.

Have I done “ANYTHING” to show the people in my life how fantastic God is?

Now the question that has followed me for weeks: What have I done this week with eternity in mind?”

Some days I really do wonder if my head might explode. Please tell me I’m not the only one who runs questions like these on the regular!

#somanyquestions

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What is a Bethany House?

This last summer I had the pleasure of meeting Jill Briscoe after respecting her from afar. I attended an event for her magazine that she was at and decided to host one myself. As if it wasn’t cool enough to have her over, it landed on my birthday! As the night came to a close and people were leaving she leaned over and said “You have a Bethany house here you know,” Instantly I was confused… nothing new there! She could tell. “You know… a Bethany House and your name is also Bethany! It’s perfect!” I only knew that Bethany in the Bible was a town that meant “house of affliction” or “house of figs” (always felt that was kinda lame, like when you got those cards with your name and meaning on it. Mine would say “house of figs.” It was disappointing to say the least.) I never looked into why figs are so often mentioned in the Bible or what a house of them meant. I’ll save that for another day. What I will tell you is these plants don’t grow overnight, and it takes time – their maturity shows that the gardener has been continuously there, tending to their growth over the years. Sounds like a great analogy of our faith.

Besides the obvious answer of my own home… this goes a little deeper. My name was always special in that I was named after my Aunt Beth who was born severely deformed and passed away at 9 months. It was an honor to be named after her.

In the 2 years previous I have been challenged to have people into my home more often. Before then I would have been extremely stressed. It can be messy (after spending hours cleaning), it can be loud and I didn’t always get to enjoy my guests because I was so busy cleaning up the whole time. #MarthaofBethany If I didn’t clean up the whole time I was stuck with hours of clean up after everyone was gone. So we rarely had people over since it didn’t seem worth the crazy. I was so very wrong! I vowed to work on it and I am thankful I did! I can now say that it is a pleasure to have guests in my home. There have been several times where God did obvious work in my heart or one of my guests… I can’t think of a greater gift to a host!

But NOW…. after reading more into this place in the Bible I know that Bethany was a place of rest, a place of faith, and a place of healing. I had NO IDEA the significance of this place!
~ The last foot print Jesus made before ascending to heaven was in Bethany (Luke 24:50)
~He blessed the disciples there (Luke 25 :50)
~ Many times Bethany is referenced where Jesus would go to retreat and rest. (Matt 21:17, Mark 11:11)
~ Mary Anoints Jesus in Bethany at Simon’s home (John 12 1-8)
~His dear friends Lazarus, Martha and Mary lived there.
(John 11:1, 12:1)
~ Where he cursed the fig tree that did not produce fruit. (Matt 21:18-22)
~ It’s in walking distance of the Mount of Olives.
~ He brought Lazarus back from the dead (John 11)

Not only do I pray my home can be a place of rest, encouragement and growth in faith for others. I pray that I, myself can be a person of comfort, encouragement and growth for others. I believe in the God who does miracles and so I intend to share his hope with everyone I can, however I can. This is not to say BE LIKE ME!!! This is to say… BE LIKE JESUS!