{"id":14675,"date":"2026-05-19T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/?p=14675"},"modified":"2026-04-09T08:35:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:35:47","slug":"joy-through-gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/19\/joy-through-gratitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy Through Gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two-minute read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give thanks or not? We choose gratitude, even on the darkest days. By doing so, we focus our eyes on the Savior and give our hurts and heartaches to Him. By responding to God\u2019s character and His unending love for us, we will recognize His goodness before anything changes in our circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working through a heartache, my thoughts kept going to the pain. As I drove to a doctor\u2019s appointment, thinking about the situation, a thought popped into my mind. \u201cWhat does God want me to think about it?\u201d I realized, while I spun my wheels about what I thought, what others thought, and what they thought, I hadn\u2019t thought about what the Lord thought. So I asked Him and then waited for the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ teaches us to love others, forgiving them and praying blessings for them. God wants me to put Him first, and trust His plan to unfold as I wait with active trust. The Lord doesn\u2019t want me to focus on my hurt, but theirs. Hurting people hurt people, and bitterness finds targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God wants me to respond with love, as He does to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we anchor our gratitude in the Lord\u2019s character and not our circumstances, we will find healing. As we ask the Savior for His joy, we receive it. God knows exactly what we need and when we need it. Waiting expectantly for Him to move will help us persevere and think the thoughts God wants us to think:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFinally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable\u2014if anything is excellent or praiseworthy\u2014think about such things.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil. 4:8<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord answered my prayer. He told me what to think. With gratitude, I focus my eyes on Him and think about noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy things, all found in our Savior, whose love never ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When your thoughts begin to center on hurt or frustration, how can you pause and ask, \u201cWhat does God want me to think about this?\u201d\u2014and choose gratitude instead?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy Thought:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As I fix my thoughts on God\u2019s goodness and unfailing love, He gently shifts my heart from pain to peace and fills me with His joy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two-minute read. Give thanks or not? We choose gratitude, even on the darkest days. By doing so, we focus our eyes on the Savior and give our hurts and heartaches to Him. By responding to God\u2019s character and His unending love for us, we will recognize His goodness before anything changes in our circumstances. Working… Continue reading Joy Through Gratitude<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14675"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14681,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14675\/revisions\/14681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}