Break Forth

"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!" Psalm 98:4

I've been noticing that a lot of my Facebook friends have begun sharing one thing each day that they are thankful for. It has become somewhat of a Facebook tradition during the month of November. As I see each of these posts, my heart smiles because it was 3 years ago, on November 1, that I began my journey of thankfulness. In November of 2010 I posted one thing each day that I was thankful for. I remember, when I started, someone asking me if I could really think of 30 things I was thankful for. I took that as a challenge. 30 days later, I still had tons of things that I was thankful for, so I decided to start a blog. I called the blog, "A Year of Gratitude." Every day, beginning on January 1, 2011, I shared at least one thing I was grateful for. After that year, I realized that gratitude had changed my life. Constantly searching for things to be grateful for had altered my perception. Instead of complaining about every little thing or being pessimistic about situations, I had my eyes wide open, looking for all of God's blessings, each and every day. So, I decided to continue the blog. Its now called "A Life of Gratitude" because this has become a lifestyle!  I'm not quite as strict about writing every day now but I do write a few times each week. I absolutely love writing this blog because it helps me stay focused on God and His constant involvement in my life.

Today, as I have read so many posts of gratitude, I've wanted to yell out Psalm 98:4. Make a joyful noise to the Lord! BREAK FORTH into joyous songs! Don't keep quiet!! Sing HIS praises! I pray that each of my friends, and so many others participating in this time of gratitude, will realize that these blessings are gifts from God! I pray that this will be the beginning of a life of gratitude for each of them.

Today I am thankful for this blog and how God has used it to help me stay focused on Him and His many gifts. I am also thankful for the lives this blog has touched. When I look at the audience statistics for this blog, it shows that I have readers in China, Taiwan, Ukraine, all over the United States, Canada, India, Switzerland, and even Bangladesh. Oh my stars!!! I can't believe that!! God is using my little blog and brings such joy to my heart! My prayer is that my gratitude will be contagious; that it will cause my readers to search for the many reasons they have to be grateful as well!

Gratitude overflows in my heart and it causes me to break forth into joyous songs!